SOUTHPORT, England _ Don't get him wrong.
Jordan Spieth is not saying the British Open is a breeze.
But Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, said this week that the British might be the easiest major to win.
His rationale? It's often the case that the weather is so unpredictable, so susceptible to change between the morning and afternoon, that there's a luck-of-the-draw element, depending on tee time.
"I've kind of seen a bit of everything in four years' time," said Spieth, who has finished tied for 30th, fourth, 36th and 44th in the British Open. "To say that it may be the easiest of the majors to win, if you had to pick a major, just because the draw can take out half a field. But the type of golf you have to play is totally different than what we see in the other three majors. You have to have a lot of imagination and a lot of ball-flight control.
"So I'm not saying it's easy based on competition or anything like that, I'm strictly saying that because a lot of the time some of the field is thrown out and you're actually playing against a smaller field, your percentage chances go up."
The oddsmakers at Ladbrokes certainly believe in Spieth. They had him as the favorite to win at 14 to 1, ahead of Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia, at 16-1, and Jon Rahm at 18-1.
