Tiger, Bear on Loose in Scotland

By Thomas Bonk

July 14, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland —

The 134th edition of the oldest major championship in golf begins this morning at the Old Course, where there will be a new look and a last goodbye from an old friend.

The skies are supposed to be friendly fly zones for the power hitters at the beefed-up links that hug St. Andrews Bay, with four new tees adding 164 yards to the 7,279-yard layout, which Tiger Woods tromped at 19 under par to win here five years ago.

Woods is the strongest challenger and is acting like it, having caved in the face of his driver on the ninth hole during a practice round Tuesday.

As usual, Woods draws the most attention, the case at every major, but he will share the spotlight with Jack Nicklaus, who is playing in his last major championship.

Nicklaus, 65, a three-time British Open winner, is saying farewell at St. Andrews, where he won in 1978, through a favor from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, which moved the Old Course forward a year in the rotation so Nicklaus could end his career here. The tournament has a 65-year-old age limit.

Nicklaus has said he may continue to play his Memorial tournament in the future, but he also has hinted he may never play again.

Nicklaus said it would not be difficult for him to focus on the task at hand, of being a competitor and not “a monument,” as club secretary Peter Dawson said.

“That’s why I’m here; I’m here as a competitor,” Nicklaus said. “And we’ll find out whether that competitor can play through to Sunday and try to do the best he can.

“And once the competition is over for me, obviously I still look at a scenario when I walk down [the 18th fairway] somewhere late Sunday afternoon. That may be not the most realistic scenario, but I still look at it. At that point in time, it will be something different, it will be looking at my last tournament.”

This is Nicklaus’ 38th British Open, but his first since the last time it was played at St. Andrews, in 2000 when Woods won in a breeze.

Chances are that there will be a breeze of a different kind on opening day as the weather forecasters predict showers in the afternoon.

Dawson was asked what kind of conditions he preferred, either calm and sunny or wind and rain.

“Sunny and windy,” he said.

Whatever the conditions, the 156-player field is going to find an Old Course slightly different from the 2000 version. Not only is it longer, but the bunkers that had been relegated to afterthoughts have been brought back into play.

The tee at the par-four second hole is located slightly to the right and 40 yards back, making the distance 453 yards. That means Cheape’s bunker is open for business again. The par-four fourth is 16 yards longer, to 480 yards, and will call for players to aim left or right of the mounds in the central landing area.

The par-four 12th hole is 34 yards longer, to 348 yards, and hidden fairway bunkers are back in play. At the 465-yard par-four 13th, the carry over the Coffins bunkers has been extended from 250 to 285 yards.

But the biggest change is at the par-five 14th, which is 37 yards longer, and at 618 yards is the longest hole of any British Open course. What’s more, the Beardies bunkers and the Hell bunker are in play again, and the out-of-bounds threat on the right side has increased.

Woods, like everyone else, says he is ready to take on the Old Course. He is the only one, however, who hopes for the same old result, at least the one from five years ago. In all four rounds, he didn’t land in any of the 112 bunkers.

“Two factors in 2000,” Woods said. “I hit it well and I got lucky a few times. There’s absolutely no doubt about that, because I probably should have been in three or five bunkers easily, just off the tee shots alone.

“It happened to hop over a bunker, catch a side and kick left or right of it. Little things like that. That happens. Fortunately for me, it was happening that week.

“So this golf course, it’s kind of funny, you play along here and you think, ‘What is a bunker here for?’ Then, all of a sudden, the wind switches and you go, ‘Oh, there it is.’ And I think that’s the beauty of playing here.”

Woods is coming off a tie for third at the Memorial, a second at the U.S. Open and second at the Western Open. This is his 11th British Open, his ninth as a pro, and he has four top 10s in addition to winning here five years ago.

But Woods isn’t the only top player taking aim at the ancestral home of golf. The conventional thinking is that someone from the head of the class is going to hold the Claret Jug this time, ending the two-year run on upset winners, Ben Curtis at Royal St. George’s and Todd Hamilton at Royal Troon.

Vijay Singh, the leading money winner on the PGA Tour, has already won three times this year. But his British Open record isn’t that great, although he did tie for second at Royal St. George’s in 2003. He has only one other top 10 in his 16 appearances in the Open.

Ernie Els seriously considered skipping last week’s Scottish Open after he tied for 15th at the U.S. Open, but he shot three rounds in the 60s, wound up 11th, and figures he’s in good shape if his putting comes around.

“I feel I’m striking the ball really well and I know the course really well. It’s all systems go,” he said.

Phil Mickelson has won three times on the PGA Tour, but since the Byron Nelson, where he tied for 14th, Mickelson has been trying to find some consistency. In his last four tournaments, he tied for 26th at the Colonial, tied for 29th at the Booz Allen, tied for 33rd at the U.S. Open and tied for 44th last week at the Scottish Open.

Mickelson was third last year at Royal Troon, but that’s his only top 10 in 12 trips to the British Open.

“It’s been a very good start, I just haven’t continued at the pace that I started through the Masters,” he said. “I guess it needs to get going again. It needs to pick back up here in the last two majors.”

Retief Goosen hasn’t won on the PGA Tour or European Tour this year, but his British Open record is solid with five top 10s in 10 appearances, including his last three. Goosen tied for seventh at Royal Troon.

After crashing out at the U.S. Open on the last day when he shot an 81, Goosen pulled himself together at the Smurfit European and tied for 13th. He tied for 44th last week at the Scottish Open.

There are others who promise to be in the mix, a healthy list that includes Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Adam Scott, David Toms and U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell. Wherever the winner is found, the Old Course will decide another major champion, while Nicklaus, the greatest major champion of all time, chooses the right place to call it a career.

This week

ROYAL & ANCIENT GOLF CLUB OF ST. ANDREWS: British Open

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: St. Andrews, Old Course (7,279 yards, par 72), Scotland.

* Purse: $7,028,640 (4 million British pounds). Winner’s share: $1,265,155 (720,000 British pounds).

* TV: TNT (Today-Friday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. (delayed); Saturday, 4-6 a.m.; Sunday, 3-5 a.m.) and Channel 7 (Saturday, 6-11:30 a.m.; Sunday, 5-10:30 a.m.).

* 2004 winner: Todd Hamilton.

* Next site: The 2006 tournament will be played at Royal Liverpool.

PGA TOUR: B.C. Open

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: En-Joie Golf Club (6,974 yards, par 72); Endicott, N.Y.

* Purse: $3 million. Winner’s share: $540,000.