World No 1 Tiger Woods delivered a chilling message to his 155 rivals on the
eve of the 129th Open Championship at St Andrews - he's in the same mood as
he was last month when he won the US Open by a stunning 15 shots.
"I felt pretty good going into the US Open. I'm feeling pretty good going
into this championship," said the 24-year-old who will become the youngest
player to win all four Majors if he triumphs over the Old Course this week.
"My past experience here means I know where to go. Going into this
championship I have a better understanding of what to expect," he added.
Only the Open is missing from his set of major titles and Woods does not rule
out another record score.
"It is possible - Yes," he stated.
Woods has been studying videos of previous Opens played at St Andrews as well
as old Alfred Dunhill Cups as part of his preparation.
"You just go about your business, get you work work done leading up to
Thursday so you are as prepared as you need to be for the tournament," he
explained, adding that he felt would be the key this week rather than putting.
"With the fairways being as fast as they are you need to position your ball
off the tee because the ball will run. You have to place it correctly. The
fairways are so fast you cannot get away with any misses," he explained.
Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara stride over the bridge at the 18th during a practice round yesterday. Allsport.
Woods has no doubt that if the wind gets up he will be booming out 400-yard
drives.
"If the wind blows that won't he hard to do," he said.
And he believes that the wind will be one of his greatest allies.
"I think
any time the wind blows on any golf course it seperates the players who are
playing well a lot faster and more dramatically than when it is calm. I
personally hope it blows."
On dramatic changes to the height of the pot bunkers that could wreck any
round, Woods commented: "You are going to see some guys having no shot
forward or backwards. They're going to have to come out sideways because they
can't get a club on it any other way. There are going to be some interesting
shots out there."
But the Florida-based Californian is determined not to let the thought of
completing the Grand Slam spoil his chances.
"When it comes to Thursday I couldn't care less about the Slam. It is time to
play and I need to focus on the shot at hand and get the job done. It is nice
to have an opportunity to complete the Slam at St Andrews but if my career
goes as long as I hope it will I think I might have a few more opportunities
to complete the slam.
"But as I said before the US Open, if there are two tournaments you want to
win it is the US Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St Andrews, so
this is a wonderful opportunity. I played a Dunhill Cup here in 1998. I
believe I shot 14 under and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We had some tough
conditions, it was cold and really windy, but the greens and fairways weren't
anything like as hard and fast as they are this week
Some bookmakers have Woods at an amazing 15-8 to win come Sunday - the
shortest odds in Open history. But after his performance at Pebble Beach, few
people can question the bookies' judgment.
