Experience Is Preferred for This Championship

So the player who won the Masters, the first major of the year, was Mike Weir, the first left-hander and the first Canadian to win there and someone who had never won a major before. The U.S. Open was the next one and Jim Furyk won it, the first player with a swing that was found in a box to win there and another player who had never won a major.

Now we arrive at Royal St. George’s, a big, lumpy sandbox awaiting the next newcomer to the big time lugging some sort of oddball baggage on the way to his first major title.

Or maybe not.

Chances are that the player who wins the 132nd British Open, which began this morning, is going to have some serious local knowledge percolating, great chunks of luck dropped in his lap and valuable experience that decides to work overtime on his behalf.

Maybe that’s why Ernie Els is thinking about his opportunity and at the same time looking over his shoulder for Tiger Woods.

Els is the defending champion, winning his title last July at Muirfield in tricky conditions as well as a four-way playoff. Woods already had won the Masters and the U.S. Open and was chasing the Grand Slam but wound up tied for 28th.

So it’s a different year, Els said.

“It’s nice for once that [Woods] hasn’t got a [major],” the South African said, “but saying that, I don’t think he’s changed much. I think he’s still probably playing at a very high level. I just think he probably hasn’t put everything together at the majors. And that’s not saying too much, either.

“Other players have broken through, have broken the ice in their own minds and games. I’m talking about guys like Mike Weir and Jim Furyk. They got the success they needed.

“Myself, same thing. I think other players are getting better, but Tiger is still there.”

Woods arrives with all the attention he expects and deserves. He has won four times in 10 tournaments since February and his eight major titles are two more than anyone with world ranking points. Nick Faldo, ranked 65th, is closest with six majors.

What Woods does not have, however, is a major title to defend. He is without one for the first time since July 1999. In August 1999, he won the PGA Championship and has dominated the major scene since.

Woods says he is not concerned about his major shortcomings of late. He reasons that if he plays well, things will take care of themselves. What worries Woods is Royal St. George’s, with its lumpy fairways and mounded greens.

“I think everyone will probably say these are probably the most severe fairways we are going to play, as far as the bounces go,” he said. “Not too often you hit the ball down the middle and you end up in the bunker or the rough because of the bounces.

“And that’s just the way it is. You understand you’re hitting good shots, you’re going to get bad bounces, hit marginal shots and get great bounces.”

Els played at Royal St. George’s for the 1993 British Open at 23 and tied for sixth with a 274, seven shots behind winner Greg Norman. Nick Price tied with Els in that tournament.

Price, 46, is in his 25th British Open, starting in 1975 at Carnoustie when he was an amateur. Lately, he has experienced a rejuvenation in his game and is ranked 11th in the world.

He has six top 10s this year and says he could be a factor this week, depending a great deal on how Royal St. George’s treats him and everyone else.

“It’s unpredictable,” he said. “Patience is such a key here at the Open. It doesn’t matter if you hit the ball mediocre. If you’ve got the patience, it can still tide you through.

“But the big thing for me is the putter. If the putter works for me, I’ll have a chance. If it doesn’t, I’ll be teeing off very early on Sunday morning.”

Rain is forecast until this morning’s start, but Price said it would take a deluge to soften the fairways much. The expectations are that Royal St. George’s will remain dry and firm and very unpredictable.

It is the prototypal links course, seaside to the English Channel, loads of sand, mounds in the fairways, quirky caroms, bad breaks, lucky bounces and greens with lumps.

Kenny Perry has won three of his last four tournaments and is playing better than anyone in the world right now, but his jaw dropped once he took a look at Royal St. George’s.

“I thought I was on the moon,” he said. “I felt like I was on another planet, which I am, I’m from another part of the world.”

It’s possible that Perry can pull himself together in time to play well here this week, but there are plenty of others who have a chance to score well and challenge for the title.

They’re pretty much the usual prospects -- Woods, Els, Price, but also Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Davis Love III, Retief Goosen, Justin Rose, Thomas Bjorn, Weir and Furyk.

Love says there are at least 15 players, probably more, who have a chance this week. He believes he’s one of them. If the Masters and the U.S. Open are any indication, why wouldn’t he?

It’s an open Open this week.

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THE FACTS

* What: 132nd British Open golf championship.

* When: Today-Sunday at Royal St. George’s.

* Length: 7,106 yards. Par: 71.

* Format: 72 holes, stroke play. Playoff: Four holes, stroke play.

* Purse: $6.24 million. Winner’s share: $1.12 million.

* Television (times PDT): Today-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., TNT (tape); Saturday, 6-11:30 a.m., Ch. 7; 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., TNT (tape); Sunday, 5-10:30 a.m., Ch. 7; 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., TNT (tape).

* Defending champion: Ernie Els.

* Last year: Els outlasted Thomas Levet in the first sudden-death playoff in British Open history. Els, Levet, Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington each finished at six-under 278. Appleby and Elkington were eliminated after the four-hole playoff, and Els won by saving par from a bunker on No. 18, the first sudden-death hole. Tiger Woods, going for the third leg of the Grand Slam, shot an 81 in the wind-ravaged third round and finished six strokes out of the playoff.

* Open champions at Royal St. George’s: J.H. Taylor (1894), Harry Vardon (1899, 1911), Jack White (1904), Walter Hagen (1922, 1928), Henry Cotton (1934), Reg Whitcombe (1938), Bobby Locke (1949), Bill Rogers (1981), Sandy Lyle (1985), Greg Norman (1993).

* Tiger tale: Tiger Woods comes to the British Open without owning any of the major championships for the first time since the 1999 PGA Championship.

* Anniversary: Ben Hogan won the only British Open he played 50 years ago at Carnoustie, making him the first player to win three professional majors in the same year. He could not play in the PGA Championship in 1953 because it was held at the same time as the British Open.

* Noteworthy: In the last 20 years, Woods, Mark O’Meara, Nick Price and Nick Faldo are the only players to have won at least two majors in one season.

* Quoteworthy: “If you’re a high-ball hitter ... if you’re a guy that doesn’t like playing in the wind, the British Open is going to be a tough place to play.” -- Jim Furyk.