Three British golfers head up the official world rankings as Germany’s former no.1, Martin Kaymer drops to fourth after failing to finish in the top eight in the BMW International Open in Munich yesterday.

Following his U.S Open victory Rory McIlroy moves up to a career best third place behind Luke Donald (first) and Lee Westwood.

This is great news ahead of the 140th British Open Championship which this year is being held at the Royal St. George’s Golf Course in Sandwich in Kent, the Garden of England on the south-east coast, in two weeks time.

Rory McIlroy will go into the British Open as one of the favourites, and it will be good to see how he copes with the pressure post that fantastic display of golf at The U.S Open when he led from round 1 and never once showed a loss of concentrate or bottle as he had on the final round of the U.S Masters in April at Augusta.

The U.S Open was Rory McIlroy’s first major win after several near misses and five years of dealing with the heavy burden of expectancy and praise from many of his contemporaries and commentators alike.  Unfortunately, I think if anything the pressure is going to be greater as everyone looks to see if Rory McIlroy can begin to pull away from the rest of the field and dominate the next few years of golf in the same way as Tiger Woods had before him.

If anymore incentive was required, it has been announced that the winner’s cheque for the British Open is now £900,000 as prize-fund money increases to £5m.

Some high profile PGA players will be missing the AT&T National in the U.S to play The Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness as a warming up for the Open Championship.  Those PGA players making the trip across the pond include Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker, who join English golfers Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose.

The Barclays Scottish Open starts on Thursday 7th July with Round 1 of The Open commencing on Thursday on 14th July.

I am really looking forward to this year’s British Open and hope the heat wave continues so the top golfers in the world can do battle with each other, rather than the conditions.

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But yesterday Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic, but only just.  At one point on the final day it looked like he was going to throw it away again.  McIlroy had led from the first day, and on the final round, with six holes to play was leading by six shots.  But Justin Rose made a last minute surge with three bogeys, and finished in second place just one shot off the lead.

Speaking to reporters after the victory Rory McIlroy admitted:

“It has taken monkey off my back, having lost in play-offs … It is nice to hold it together on the last with a great up-and-down for the victory. To beat a field of this quality is very satisfying.”

Rory McIlroy now moves to 14th in the world rankings and is looking forward to a practise round with Tiger Woods at the US Masters.

The 21 year old finished an astonishing fifth in this year’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and he seems to be the latest crop of European youngsters to grace the game in recent time.

Many similarities have been apparent with Justin Rose. Rose has taken around nine years to establish himself amongst the highest elite of golf after famously finishing fourth in the Open as an amateur.  And with Chris Wood finishing fifth ten years later, he would be hoping that he could emulate the success Rose has endured throughout his career.

Justin Rose began well in the European Tour before taking the plunge into the US Tour as his form suffered considerably. Rose, now aged 28, has redeveloped his game to push on as a professional golfer and now he looks an accomplished player.

Chris Wood’s career has began well as he managed another top ten finish at the Portuguese Masters and has starts to strengthen his credibility amongst his peers.

Darren Clarke will be able to give pointers on how to handle pressure and how to play consistently well, especially on the difficult courses. The veteran is still popular throughout the golfing circuit and Wood’s sheer awareness on getting the Irishman on side gives clear indication that his head is in the right place.

It is important that Chris Wood has a figurehead to look up to and the mere fact that he is willing to learn is a sign of a true sportsman, and he has managed to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

Wood has to go through the motion that any newly turned professional has to do, as his ambition now is to achieve his European Tour Card for 2009 and battle with the elite. In terms of european golf betting in 2009 though – keep an eye out for this man.

Justin Rose won the European Order of Merit last year, and suggested that it was last year’s PGA Championship that was used as aspringboard to his success.

Rose was joint leader with Trevor Immelman after the first round of the US Masters this year but failed to capitalise on his good start.

This is Justin Rose’s first tournament in the UK this year and it sounds like he is revving himself up for Wentworth.

Rose is paired with last year’s US Open champion Angel Cabrera and 1994 champion Jose Maria Olazabal.

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Justin Rose has led after the US Open first round twice before, including last year when he finished fifth.

ose is joint first with South African Trevor Immelman one ahead of the rest with 4 under par. The chasing pack is led by Brian Bateman, Brandt Snedeker and England’s Lee Westwood.

The start of the first day’s play was delayed due to fog. But once it began it was a memorable day for another Englishman too. Ian Poulter made a cracking hole-in-one on the 16th par 3.

Poulter’s dream shot helped him finished in sixth with a solid 2 under par.

Tiger Woods will start the second day back in 19th place after he finished level with a fairly unconvincing 72. But when has that ever stopped him winning before?

With the Volvo Masters victory, Justin Rose also wins the 2007 European Order of Merit.  Justin Rose now sees winning a Major as his main target for 2008.

The triumph in the European PGA Tour’s season-ending finale has lifted Rose to a career-best seventh in the world rankings, the top European golfer.