They’re Not Just Tourists in Scotland : British Open: Watson and Faldo have winning on their minds at Muirfield. Daly wants to learn something.

Tom Watson is here, hoping to regain the magic touch he had in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Nick Faldo is seemingly confident as the consensus favorite.

John Daly is here for what he calls a learning experience.

There are different agendas for the 121st British Open, which begins Thursday at Muirfield, home of the world’s oldest golf club, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

Watson has won five British Opens, including his victory here in 1980. He hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since 1987.

“The bottom line is that I feel I can win again,” said Watson, 42. “I have (even) changed my putting style a little to cope with the wind.”

The wind is expected to be a factor here, and it has challenged the players in practice rounds.

Watson’s putting has betrayed him in recent years, much as putting betrayed such other renowned players as Ben Hogan and Sam Snead when they got older.

So, a phase of the game that Watson once took for granted is now tormenting him, and he is experimenting with a new putting style, saying he has been taking the putter back too far.

In any event, he’s eager to play. So eager that when he and his wife, Linda, were watching from their hotel window as players tried to qualify on Sunday at nearby North Berwick, he wanted some of the action.

When the course was deserted, he and Linda, volunteering as his caddie, went out to the 16th hole.

A greenskeeper was ready to order the couple off the course, then recognized Watson and allowed him to have some unauthorized fun.

Watson maintains that the players who can best cope with the wind that blows in from the nearby Firth of Forth will be in contention.

“In this wind, it takes a golfer with feel,” Watson said. “You can throw the yardage book out the window. You have to battle the urge to fight (the wind) and go with it, use it as much as you can.”

British bookies post odds on every player, and Watson is a longshot at 33 to 1. Still, he likes his chances.

Faldo has won four major championships since 1987--two British Opens and two Masters titles. At 34, he is in his prime.

He became prominent here during the final round in 1987, when he made 18 consecutive pars and won the British Open, as Paul Azinger faltered on the finishing holes.

“It was the start of a new phase of my career, a nice feeling,” Faldo said.

Faldo finished in a tie for fourth in the U.S. Open last month at Pebble Beach and said it was an uphill battle.

He also climbed a tree during the second round, trying to retrieve a ball he couldn’t find.

“I enjoyed Pebble Beach, but the greens got too firm and hard,” he said. “When you can’t stop anything from any distance, that is getting severe. Even chip shots from 20 yards would land on the front of the green and go to the back. If you were aggressive, you made a bogey, which was demoralizing.

“Here, I can be aggressive. You can bounce the ball in from 20 yards. It’s no problem, you just have to know how to play it.

“I have been preparing for this one, and things are going well.”

Whereas Faldo is quietly confident, Daly, the 1991 PGA champion, said he doesn’t give himself much of a chance.

“This is only my second year on tour,” he said. “I’m learning a lot of things, a lot of new golf shots. I’m not expecting too much out of myself. Just give it a shot and see what happens. It’s a different game of golf (on a links course) than what I’m used to.

“I may shoot 85 here, but I’m going to learn something. That’s why I came here.

“I played a practice round with Gary Player. I tried to knock the ball on the green, instead of landing it short and rolling it on. I hope I can play with a European this week. I might learn something.”

Daly, who will play the first two rounds with defending champion Ian Baker-Finch and Sam Torrance, hasn’t made much of an impact on the U.S. tour since he came out of nowhere and won the PGA championship last August.

He said his life has been like a soap opera. He was referring to the threatened palimony and paternity suits brought by his former girlfriend Bettye Fulford. They are married now.

Whenever Daly is interviewed, he is asked about his prowess with his driver.

“I’ve got a new driver this week called the ‘Killer Whale,’ ” he said. “I hit it 10 to 15 yards farther and I hit it high.”

He added that he will have to make some adjustments in his game here.

“I may have to hit 70 or 80 yards wide and and hope the wind will bring (the ball) back somewhere on the planet.”

British Open Notes

Paul Azinger had a one-stroke lead over Nick Faldo here in the 1987 British Open. Azinger then bogeyed the last two holes and Faldo won. “When I left here, I was heartbroken,” Azinger said. “I could have looked on it as a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but I looked at it as a measuring stick. Instead of letting it devastate me, it gave me confidence. A boxer doesn’t get tough until he is knocked down. Before 1987 nobody knew who I was.”

Seve Ballesteros has won three British Opens, the last in 1988. He finished in a tie for 23rd at the U.S. Open and said Pebble Beach wasn’t to his liking. “I think the rough there was a little too severe,” he said. “The course favors the people who hit the ball straight from the tee. I was playing well until the last round, when I shot a 79.”

Phil Mickelson, who turned professional before the U.S. Open and missed the cut, failed to qualify for the British Open on Monday at North Berwick, shooting 80-68--148, and missing a chance to compete by a stroke. If he had remained an amateur, he would have qualified automatically, because U.S. Amateur champions for the last two years are exempt. Mickelson won the U.S. Amateur in 1990.