Woods adjusts swing for Royal Troon test
By Brad Townsend
The Dallas Morning News
TROON, Scotland - Tiger Woods got his first look at Royal Troon
on Monday. His impressions, however, will not be known until his
customary Tuesday pre-tournament news conference.
"I'll talk to you all tomorrow," Woods said as he
left the 18th green.
But no one needed Woods' narration to see that he was playing
a different brand of golf Monday. Normally a prodigiously high
hitter, Woods hit mostly knockdown approach shots in preparation
for this week's 126th British Open.
"I don't think you can play here if you can't bring your
ball flight down," said Butch Harmon, Woods' Houston-based
coach.
If Woods' play Monday is an indication, the extra hours he
and Harmon spent last week lowering Woods' ball trajectory have
paid off. Woods seemed to have little difficulty navigating the
famed Ayrshire coast links course.
Then again, the westerly breeze coming off the Irish Sea was
relatively tame Monday. That is, the gusts were "only"
about 25 mph. Forecasts call for stiffer winds when the tournament
begins Thursday.
"You've got so many different wind conditions," Harmon
said. "You can't just stand there and flail away. He's worked
very hard at controlling his trajectory, and I think that will
be a great asset for him this week."
Woods hasn't played competitively since winning the Western
Open two weeks ago. But he has had a whirlwind past two days.
On Sunday morning, he arrived in Gibraltar and was taken to the
Valderrama course in Cadiz, Spain, site of this September's Ryder
Cup.
After a Sunday round at Valderrama in nearly 100-degree temperatures,
Woods arrived at 55-degree Troon on Monday morning.
"I am already looking forward to playing (Royal Troon),"
Woods said before leaving Valderrama. "I think Troon requires
a variety of shots, which means it will bring imagination back
to the game of golf."
This is Woods' first British Open as a professional. As an
amateur, he tied for 68th in the '95 British Open and tied for
22nd last year.
But at least one of the world's top golfers, Steve Elkington,
calls the 21-year-old Woods and 119-year-old Royal Troon a perfect
match. Noting that most of Troon's fairway bunkers are 250 yards
off the tee, Elkington labeled Woods the favorite.
"I think he hits the ball so far that these bunkers aren't
even in play for him," Elkington said. "I mean, this
course is very old. He wouldn't even notice if there was a guy
lying in there (in the bunkers) dead as he walked by."
Woods' ability to hit high-trajectory shots has been an advantage
on many courses, including Augusta National, where he won the
Masters by a record 12 shots in April.
But windy conditions have hindered his ability to gauge distances
at some venues. That includes this year's MasterCard Colonial,
where he suffered two double-bogeys while in contention on Sunday.
(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.
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