Wednesday, July 18, 2001
Woods doesn't want claret jug out of his
hands for long
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England (AP) — As if the wind whipping
off the Irish Sea and the 196 bunkers at Royal Lytham & St.
Annes were not enough, Tiger Woods got another reminder that a
new challenge awaits at the British Open.
Royal & Ancient Golf Club secretary Peter Dawson called Woods'
agent Tuesday with an important message: We need you to return
the claret jug.
How long it leaves Woods' possession is uncertain.
“I'm trying to get ready and hopefully play well this week
and have a chance on Sunday,” Woods said. “That's my
main focus.”
After spending a week in Ireland fishing and playing in the elements
common to golf's oldest championship, Woods began preparing for
defense of his British Open title with a practice round late Monday
afternoon.
Along the way, a few fans trampled across the lush, dense rough
as they tried to get a better view of the world's No. 1 player.
“One of the officials scolded them for going through the
rough,” Woods said. “They want to keep the rough up.”
There was hardly any rough at St. Andrews, where Woods set a British
Open record by finishing at 19-under 269 to complete the career
Grand Slam. There were plenty of bunkers, not that Woods could
tell — he never hit into one last year during his historic
romp.
Lytham is a different test with its sharply bending fairways and
196 bunkers in the fairways and around the greens, ready to swallow
up even the slightest mistakes.
“The bunkers are more close to your landing areas and more
close around the greens,” Woods said. “So it's going
to be quite a test to stay out of all of them. If you do, then
you're more likely to have a good chance of winning.
“It is a very different test than St. Andrews.”
It's a different British Open, for sure.
Woods no longer has history on his mind, having completed the
Grand Slam a year ago and seen his streak of four straight major
championships end last month at the U.S. Open.
This is just another major, although it is no less important as
Woods continues his rapid pursuit of 18 majors, the standard established
by Jack Nicklaus.
If anything, his 12th-place finish at Southern Hills — followed
by two PGA Tour events outside the top 10 — has left some
people wondering what kind of game he will bring to Royal Lytham
when the tournament begins Thursday.
Not to worry, Woods said.
“It was something very small in my swing, which unfortunately
led to other breakdowns within the swing,” Woods said. “Once
I fixed that, everything has seemed to come back, and I'm starting
to hit the ball the way I know I can.”
Thomas Bjorn can attest to that.
He finished second to Woods at St. Andrews — by eight strokes
— beat him in Dubai earlier this year and was paired with
him the first two rounds at the U.S. Open. He joined Woods, Adam
Scott and Mark O'Meara for a practice round Tuesday at 6 a.m.
Not that Bjorn needed to be impressed, but ...
“He looks very confident,” Bjorn said. “He looks
very relaxed. When he is like he is right now, he is very difficult
to compete with. He is capable of doing things that no other man
on this planet can do with a golf club.”
Bjorn sized up the 156-man field as a test among 155 “good”
players and “one that is just a bit out of this world.”
He figured 30 or 40 players should be considered legitimate contenders,
a number that shrinks to two or three if Woods is on top of his
game.
“But saying that, it is the British Open, and anything can
happen,” he said.
Woods arrived so early Tuesday that the clubhouse wasn't even
open. The gallery consisted of a few off-duty policemen and club
officials, but it slowly increased to a few thousand people once
word got out that Woods was on the course.
On several holes, he watched videotape shot by Butch Harmon's
son, Claude, making sure his swing was where Woods wanted it.
All is not perfect in the world of Woods, but it is never too
far off. After all, he has won 21 of his last 44 official tournaments
around the globe, a staggering rate of success in a game where
perfection doesn't exist.
Woods has fond memories of Lytham. He played here as a 20-year-old
amateur in the '96 Open and had a 66 in the second round, a turning
point in his career. It was a moment Woods knew his game was ready
for the next step.
“All of a sudden, it felt like it came together,” he
said. “I was able to play well, then went on to win the (U.S.)
Amateur that year. Then, I knew it was time to go.”
Some argue that Lytham doesn't suit Woods as well as St. Andrews.
It is among the shortest courses in the British Open rotation
at only 6,905 yards, and requires far more precision because of
the bunkers.
The rough has drawn comparisons to Carnoustie, although the fairways
are much wider and the tall grass likely won't come into play
as frequently.
Woods heard the same arguments at the U.S. Open, that Southern
Hills wasn't as good a fit for him as Pebble Beach, where he won
by a record 15 strokes.
That's one perception he would love to change this week.
“For any player, I don't care if it's a short course or a
long course,” he said. “If you're playing well, you're
going to score well.”
And if he scores like he did last year, the R&A will give
him back the claret jug.
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