Ludvig Aberg vs. Robert MacIntyre

MacIntyre has the kind of year that travels well into a major: a win, a runner-up finish at last year's U.S. Open, and the accuracy off the tee that this rebuilt Birkdale demands with its tightened fairways. Aberg has posted a string of respectable major finishes, but he missed the cut at last week's Scottish Open and has slipped outside the top 50 in tee-to-green form over the last month, which is the wrong direction to be trending heading into a course that punishes any drift from the fairway. MacIntyre's short game and scrambling numbers hold up in the wind, and firm, fast conditions have suited him before. Aberg's ball-striking is elite when it's on, but "when it's on" hasn't been the case for him over the last month. Take MacIntyre.