Jordan Spieth describes The Open as the 'easiest' major to win

Jordan Spieth has described The Open as the 'easiest' major to win ahead of The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale.

Spieth, who finished in a tie for 30th place at Royal Troon last year, is aiming to improve on his best finish (tied for fourth place) at The Open which came in 2015 at St Andrews.

The two-time major winner, who will join defending Open champion Henrik Stenson for the opening two rounds, clarified his comment by saying the draw plays a pivotal role.

"I've kind of seen a bit of everything in four years' time," said Spieth. "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.

"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 23-year-old, who is competing at The Open for the fifth time, comes into this week's third major of the year on the back of a victory at last month's Travelers Championship and believes the weather will have a big impact on the tournament's outcome.

"It could be anybody this week," said Spieth. "At this tournament it tends to fall on half the field. You kind of cut half the field, depending on the draw. Sometimes it's more or less 75 percent.

"But most of the time there's at least a group that gets the worst weather. And it's almost impossible to win in that circumstance at an Open Championship."

Spieth singled out Jon Rahm's impressive performances this year, including this month's victory at the Irish Open, and believes he has a big future at the top of the game.

"I think you look at a guy like Jon Rahm, how does he deserve not to be in a conversation like that?" Spieth said in response to a question about the perceived 'top four' in the men's game.

"What he just did at the Irish Open and what he has been able to do this year, he did it two weeks ago at links golf. He destroyed the field. Won by six or seven, right? I don't think he would have been someone that you would put there if you were about to name four guys."

Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka, who won the US Open at Erin Hills last month, is looking forward to this week's test of links golf having missed out on last year's Open at Royal Troon through injury.

The American, who played on the European Tour between 2013 and 2015, believes his game is well suited to hitting shots which require a greater degree of thought process.

"I love links golf," said Koepka. "I think it's the best kind of golf you can play. So much imagination that goes into it. You can play 10 different shots from the middle of the fairway and I think that's so cool.

"You've really got to be creative. It's not just a stock shot like it is in America. Over here you can run it up, you can fly it there, too, if you want.

"The way my mind kind of works, it benefits me. And playing over here for two years, you play a lot of links golf and you learn to love it and I have."

Koepka took a pre-planned four weeks off following his first major victory and believes the sequence of seven first-time winners may continue this week, highlighting the depth in world golf.

"There's so many good players now," said Koepka. "The younger generation, you look at how many good players there are. You look at how it was at Erin Hills.

"Everyone up there hadn't won a major up there pretty much. Rickie, Justin, Hideki, they haven't won majors, and I think everyone in this room knows they're going to win one. It's only a question of when, not if."