It Could Be Old Hat on Old Course

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland —  There is a new twist to the Old Course for the British Open that begins today on the most famous layout in golf. It’s longer, in fact some 182 yards longer than the 1995 Open played here.

It’s an interesting matchup, all right, sort of like a heavyweight prize fight.

In this corner, at 7,115 yards, the Old Course.

And, in this corner, No. 1 in the world, Tiger Woods.

Oh, and there are 155 other guys here too.

For some reason, the British Open has boiled down to Tiger Woods and then everybody else, at least in the mind of the general golfing public. The first golf report this week on BBC Radio was about “Tiger Woods and the rest of the players” showing up to play the Open Championship.

Of course, Woods isn’t going it alone this week, even if most of the attention will be directed his way. Woods has history waiting for him if he wins Sunday because a victory would mean a victory in all four of golf’s modern majors. He won the U.S. Open last month by a record 15 shots.

The Old Course that the players go up against was lengthened in 1997 and first used in the Dunhill Cup later in the year.

Five holes were listed as “main changes” from 1995, when John Daly won, but only four of them are noticeably longer. The third hole is 26 yards longer, to 397 yards; No. 10 is 37 yards longer, to 379 yards; No. 15 is 43 yards longer, to 456 yards and No. 16 is 42 yards longer, to 424 yards.

Whether the added distance plays a significant role is not known, but if the course remains as firm as it has been during the practice rounds, fireworks are expected.

“If we have four days like this,” Robert Allenby said, “we are going to shoot 20 under.”

That would beat Nick Faldo’s record of 18 under that he set here in winning the 1990 British Open.

Woods says no matter the conditions, accuracy off the tee should not be underestimated.

“People say all you do at St. Andrews is aim left and hit it,” Woods said. “That’s not the case. With the fairways being as fast as they are, you need to position your golf ball off the tee because the ball will run. If you keep the ball on the left too much, there are pot [bunkers] on the holes coming in that you share the fairway with that you can run right into.”

And with each of the 112 bunkers redone and many of them made deeper, landing in the sand is a worse idea than ever before.

“The best advice is to steer clear of them,” Faldo said.

While Woods is the clear favorite this week, he has plenty of competition from a number of players who have done well lately, including Ernie Els, who won last week at Loch Lomond.

Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Jim Furyk are expected to figure prominently in the proceedings and they are all noteworthy because none has won a major.

Faldo has, and so have Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Nick Price and Justin Leonard, who are highly thought of . . . at least right now.

Westwood is regarded as Faldo’s successor as England’s top golfer and he took last week off to prepare himself for the Old Course. That was enough time to formulate a master plan for the place.

“Stay out of the bunkers,” Westwood said. “That will be the main point of the week.”

Jack Nicklaus agrees. Nicklaus, 60, is making his last trip through all the majors and revisiting the site of his 1978 triumph.

“They really outdid themselves on the bunkers,” Nicklaus said. “They’re very, very, very difficult. Toughest I’ve ever seen.”

Even if he stays out of the bunkers, Westwood still begins the week with a poor attitude, although he says he likes the course.

“Seve [Ballesteros] and Tom Watson say they have come here and have not particularly liked it and it has grown on them,” Westwood said. “I can see that happening to me. I am going to learn to like it this week.”

Meanwhile, Woods already likes the place. He played his first British Open here in 1995 as a 19-year-old amateur and tied for 68th. In the 1998 Dunhill Cup on the Old Course, Woods shot 14 under and he and partner Mark O’Meara tied for third in the two-man team event.

Woods has won five times this year in 14 events and has had been out of the top 10 only twice--he tied for 18th at the Nissan Open and tied for 23rd last week at the Advil Western Open.

Butch Harmon, who is Woods’ coach, contrasted Tiger now with the Tiger at Pebble Beach.

“I think his ball striking is a little better,” Harmon said. “His putting isn’t. We’re not really happy with the release of the putter.”

Woods has been downplaying the prospects of completing the career grand slam at 24. Harmon was asked how important Woods really believes it be.

“Very important,” Harmon said.

Woods says all the right things about the Old Course, which goes down well with the golf history-mad locals around here.

“I have the greatest of admiration for this golf course, the conditions and traditions this golf course has and the history behind it,” he said. “That is one of the great things about the golf course . . . so many things to learn.”

If things work out, Woods can learn one more thing, how to lift the Claret Jug.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tee Times

Pairings and tee times (PDT) for the first two rounds of the British Open today and Friday on the Old Course at St. Andrews (a-amateur):

Today-Friday: Golfers

* 11p.m.-3:30 a.m.: Desvonde Botes, a-Philip Rowe, Andrew Oldcorn.

* 11:10p.m.-3:40 a.m.: Jesper Parnevik, Steve Pate, Nicholas Henning.

* 11:20p.m.-4 a.m.: Chris Di Marco, Jarrod Moseley, Miguel Angel Jimenez.

* 11:30p.m.-4:10 a.m.: Hirofumi Miyase, Phil Mickelson, Dennis Paulson.

* 11:40p.m.-4:20 a.m.: Darren Clarke, Justin Leonard, Naomichi Ozaki.

* 11:50p.m.-4:30 a.m.: Fred Funk, Shigeki Maruyama, Patrik Sjoland.

* Midnight-4:40 a.m.: Lee Trevino, Thomas Bjorn, Hal Sutton.

* 12:10 a.m.-4:50 a.m.: Kyi Hla Han, Jeff Sluman, Frederik Jacobson.

* 12:20 a.m.-5 a.m.: Craig Parry, Gary Orr, Loren Roberts.

* 12:30 a.m.-5:10 a.m.: Paul McGinley, Steve Stricker, Yoshinori Mizumaki.

* 12:40 a.m.-5:20 a.m.: Notah Begay, Lee Westwood, Jeff Maggert.

* 12:50 a.m.-5:30 a.m.: Jim Furyk, Sandy Lyle, Tom Lehman.

* 1 a.m.-5:40 a.m.: Paul Azinger, Bob Charles, Andrew Coltart.

* 1:10 a.m.-5:50 a.m.: Per-Ulrik Johansson, Mark O’Meara, Yasuharu Imano.

* 1:30 a.m.-6 a.m.: Nick Price, a-David Gossett, Tiger Woods.

* 1:40 a.m.-6:10 a.m.: Nick Faldo, Scott Dunlap, Gary Player.

* 1:50 a.m.-6:30 a.m.: Mark Brooks, Retief Goosen, Christy O’Connor Jr.

* 2 a.m.-6:40 a.m.: Tim Herron, Alex Cejka, Corey Pavin.

* 2:10 a.m.-6:50 a.m.: Brian Davis, Darren Fichardt, Lucas Parsons.

* 2:20 a.m.-7 a.m.: Stewart Cink, Peter Senior, Padraig Harrington.

* 2:30 a.m.-7:10 a.m.: Chris Perry, Eduardo Romero, Sam Torrance.

* 2:40 a.m.-7:20 a.m.: Simon Dyson, Michael Jonzon, Gordon Brand Jr.

* 2:50 a.m.-7:30 a.m.: Jose Manuel Carriles, Greg Owen, Ian Garbutt.

* 3 a.m.-7:40 a.m.: Mark McNulty, a-Luke Donald, Jean-Francois Remesy.

* 3:10 a.m.-7:50 a.m.: Paul Affleck, Marc Ferry, Paul Dwyer.

* 3:20 a.m.-8 a.m.: Manny Zerman, Dean Robertson, Pierre Fulke.

* 3:30 a.m.-11p.m.: Colin Gillies, Yeh Wei-Tze, Jamie Spence.

* 3:40 a.m.-11:10 p.m.: Robert Karlsson, Bob May, Robert Allenby.

* 4 a.m.-11:20p.m.: Scott Verplank, Kirk Triplett, Nobuhito Sato.

* 4:10 a.m.-11:30p.m.: Steve Flesch, Shingo Katayama, David Frost.

* 4:20 a.m.-11:40p.m.: Paul Lawrie, Fred Couples, John Huston.

* 4:30 a.m.-11:50p.m.: John Bickerton, Nick O’Hern, Bob Tway.

* 4:40 a.m.-midnight: Steve Elkington, Ted Tryba, Jean Van de Velde.

* 4:50 a.m.-12:10 a.m.: Mark Calcavecchia, Jarmo Sandelin, Jose Coceres.

* 5 a.m.-12:20 a.m.: Jose Maria Olazabal, Tom Kite, Mike Weir.

* 5:10 a.m.-12:30 a.m.: John Daly, Michael Campbell, Steve Jones.

* 5:20 a.m.-12:40 a.m.: Bernhard Langer, Tsuyoshi Yoneyama, Rocco Mediate.

* 5:30 a.m.-12:50 a.m.: Angel Cabrera, Mark James, Jack Nicklaus.

* 5:40 a.m.-1 a.m.: Colin Montgomerie, Davis Love, Tom Scherrer.

* 5:50 a.m.-1:10 a.m.: Stuart Appleby, Seve Ballesteros, Bob Estes.

* 6 a.m.-1:30 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Jim Carter, Vijay Singh.

* 6:10 a.m.-1:40 a.m.: Kazuhiko Hosokawa, David Toms, Dudley Hart.

* 6:30 a.m.-1:50 a.m.: Steen Tinning, David Duval, Ernie Els.

* 6:40 a.m.-2 a.m.: Carlos Franco, Phillip Price, Lee Janzen.

* 6:50 a.m.-2:10 a.m.: Ian Woosnam, Tom Watson, a-Mikko Ilonen.

* 7 a.m.-2:20 a.m.: Steve Webster, Adam Scott, Brian Marchbank.

* 7:10 a.m.-2:30 a.m.: Katsuyoshi Tomori, Simon Kahn, Adilson Da Silva.

* 7:20 a.m.-2:40 a.m.: Paul Eales, David Sutherland, Jamie Harris.

* 7:30 a.m.-2:50 a.m.: Jyoti Randhawa, Stuart Little, Lionel Alexandre.

* 7:40 a.m.-3 a.m.: Philip Golding, Tony Johnstone, Gary Emerson.

* 7:50 a.m.-3:10 a.m.: Raymond Russell, Maarten Lafeber, Scott Watson.

* 8 a.m.-3:20 a.m.: Stephen Leaney, Ian Poulter, Roger Chapman.