Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - For the first time in over a decade, we have a wide-open major championship.

The reason, of course, has to do with Tiger Woods. After gutting out a U.S. Open victory in 91 holes on a decimated leg, he underwent surgery and shut it down for the remainder of the season.

Whatever will we do without Tiger?

For one, we can all enjoy a major with an air of unpredictability. All majors have some level of the unknown attached to them -- think surprise winners Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Michael Campbell and even Trevor Immelman at the Masters.

Tiger was in the field for all of those, but he will not be there on Thursday morning. We have a major without the player who will go down in history as the greatest ever.

Not only do we not have Tiger, we don't have the historic feel. Royal Birkdale last hosted the Open Championship in 1998, where there was a playoff for the claret jug.

It will be hard to drum up support for that year's winner, Mark O'Meara, this time around. He hasn't even won since joining the Champions Tour and the playoff loser, Brian Watts ... well, who knows where he is.

Heck, we don't even have the best player in the sport at the moment.

Kenny Perry has won three of his last five starts. but declined to play the British Open. He's trying to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team, a team he's already basically made, and elected to play in the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

See, Perry's got a great record in Milwaukee with all top-15 finishes since 2000, so that will get him more points for this Ryder Cup team he's all but made already.

(It's worth noting that Perry has three top-16s in five starts at the British Open.)

So if not the world No. 1, or the chap with course history on his side, or the hottest player on the planet, who are we watching?

Phil Mickelson, as the No. 2 player in the world, has the most to gain. He's got two Masters titles and a PGA on his resume, but the British Open has always eluded him. Lefty's record in this major is poor other than a third in the summer of '04 or as I've called it, "The Summer of Phil."

This British Open will mark Mickelson's best chance. He stood up well playing with Tiger in the first two rounds of the U.S. Open, but Mickelson has traditionally played a little below average when threatened by Woods in majors.

Let's not jump up and down on Mickelson because Bob May and Rocco Mediate are about the only golfers to really go toe-to-toe with Woods in a major.

Ernie Els could really use another major and he's won this one before. His British Open record is dazzling with more top 10s than anyone. When the 2008 campaign started, Els was under the microscope. The Big Easy had not titled since 2004, but a win at the Honda and he was back.

Els missed the cut at the Masters and tied for 14th at the U.S. Open. He finished strong at Loch Lomond on Sunday and is a legitimate contender for his second claret jug. If Els can avoid big numbers that sometimes haunt him, especially in majors and especially when he's considered a legitimate threat to win said major, then he will do well.

It'll be hard to ignore the principals from last year's Open Championship -- all three of them. Try to remember Carnoustie and don't you recall someone else held the lead on Sunday before faltering and allowing Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia in the door?

That man was Andres Romero and he's gotten even better in the last 12 months. He won on the PGA Tour this year in New Orleans and gets better and more prepared to win a major every week that goes by.

Seemingly, the defending champion should get a mention. Harrington has not played spectacularly since his major breakthrough, but he wasn't playing all that great last year either and look what happened.

Garcia is the intriguing name of the week. When he won the Players Championship, everyone predicted grand things for the artist formerly known as "El Nino."

It's amazing what one decent week putting will do for one of the game's worst putters. Garcia still ranks 134th on tour with the flat stick despite his win at Sawgrass.

Other than Els, Garcia has the best British Open record in the field, and you can't discredit that. He's the game's best driver and maybe one of the best ball-strikers, which will help at windswept Royal Birkdale.

Since Harrington became the first European player since Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open to win a major, could it signal a free-for-all? Perhaps, if three players who have been great this year, but not winners, get over the hump.

Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Robert Karlsson have been spectacular in 2008, but none have visited the winner's circle. That could change come Sunday because Westwood nearly made the U.S. Open playoff, Rose tied for fourth at Birkdale as an amateur in 1998 and Karlsson has been the steadiest player on the European Tour all year.

The list goes on and on. Justin Leonard, Stewart Cink, Anthony Kim, Boo Weekley, Vijay Singh or K.J. Choi could walk off with the trophy.

While Tiger's dominance has been good for the game of golf -- for everything from purses to ratings -- it's going to be interesting to see how everyone comes out Thursday without seeing Woods lurking.

You could see some guys play in a different manner since they know in the back of their minds that Woods won't just pass them.

That's the beauty of the Tiger-less major. Anything can happen.