The Open Championship 2001

As if the wind whipping off the Irish Sea and the 196 bunkers at Royal Lytham & St. Annes were not enough, Tiger Woods got another reminder that a new challenge awaits at the British Open.

Royal & Ancient Golf Club secretary Peter Dawson called Woods' agent Tuesday with an important message: We need you to return the claret jug.

How long it leaves Woods' possession is uncertain.

``I'm trying to get ready and hopefully play well this week and have a chance on Sunday,'' Woods said. ``That's my main focus.''

After spending a week in Ireland fishing and playing in the elements common to golf's oldest championship, Woods began preparing for defense of his British Open title with a practice round late Monday afternoon.

Along the way, a few fans trampled across the lush, dense rough as they tried to get a better view of the world's No. 1 player.

``One of the officials scolded them for going through the rough,'' Woods said. ``They want to keep the rough up.''

There was hardly any rough at St. Andrews, where Woods set a British Open record by finishing at 19-under 269 to complete the career Grand Slam. There were plenty of bunkers, not that Woods could tell -- he never hit into one last year during his historic romp.

Lytham is a different test with its sharply bending fairways and 196 bunkers in the fairways and around the greens, ready to swallow up even the slightest mistakes.

``The bunkers are more close to your landing areas and more close around the greens,'' Woods said. ``So it's going to be quite a test to stay out of all of them. If you do, then you're more likely to have a good chance of winning.

``It is a very different test than St. Andrews.''

It's a different British Open, for sure.

Woods no longer has history on his mind, having completed the Grand Slam a year ago and seen his streak of four straight major championships end last month at the U.S. Open.

This is just another major, although it is no less important as Woods continues his rapid pursuit of 18 majors, the standard established by Jack Nicklaus.

If anything, his 12th-place finish at Southern Hills -- followed by two PGA Tour events outside the top 10 -- has left some people wondering what kind of game he will bring to Royal Lytham when the tournament begins Thursday.

Not to worry, Woods said.

``It was something very small in my swing, which unfortunately led to other breakdowns within the swing,'' Woods said. ``Once I fixed that, everything has seemed to come back, and I'm starting to hit the ball the way I know I can.''

Thomas Bjorn can attest to that.

He finished second to Woods at St. Andrews -- by eight strokes -- beat him in Dubai earlier this year and was paired with him the first two rounds at the U.S. Open. He joined Woods, Adam Scott and Mark O'Meara for a practice round Tuesday at 6 a.m.

Not that Bjorn needed to be impressed, but ...

``He looks very confident,'' Bjorn said. ``He looks very relaxed. When he is like he is right now, he is very difficult to compete with. He is capable of doing things that no other man on this planet can do with a golf club.''

Bjorn sized up the 156-man field as a test among 155 ``good'' players and ``one that is just a bit out of this world.'' He figured 30 or 40 players should be considered legitimate contenders, a number that shrinks to two or three if Woods is on top of his game.

``But saying that, it is the British Open, and anything can happen,'' he said.

Woods arrived so early Tuesday that the clubhouse wasn't even open. The gallery consisted of a few off-duty policemen and club officials, but it slowly increased to a few thousand people once word got out that Woods was on the course.

On several holes, he watched videotape shot by Butch Harmon's son, Claude, making sure his swing was where Woods wanted it.

All is not perfect in the world of Woods, but it is never too far off. After all, he has won 21 of his last 44 official tournaments around the globe, a staggering rate of success in a game where perfection doesn't exist.

Woods has fond memories of Lytham. He played here as a 20-year-old amateur in the '96 Open and had a 66 in the second round, a turning point in his career. It was a moment Woods knew his game was ready for the next step.

``All of a sudden, it felt like it came together,'' he said. ``I was able to play well, then went on to win the (U.S.) Amateur that year. Then, I knew it was time to go.''

Some argue that Lytham doesn't suit Woods as well as St. Andrews. It is among the shortest courses in the British Open rotation at only 6,905 yards, and requires far more precision because of the bunkers.

The rough has drawn comparisons to Carnoustie, although the fairways are much wider and the tall grass likely won't come into play as frequently.

Woods heard the same arguments at the U.S. Open, that Southern Hills wasn't as good a fit for him as Pebble Beach, where he won by a record 15 strokes.

That's one perception he would love to change this week.

``For any player, I don't care if it's a short course or a long course,'' he said. ``If you're playing well, you're going to score well.''

And if he scores like he did last year, the R&A will give him back the claret jug.

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