Just before nine o’clock this morning, Justin Rose will walk the 100 yards from the clubhouse and putting green to the first tee at Muirfield, where he will shake hands with Shigeki Maruyama and Tiger Woods. He will then fulfil an ancient and honoured golfing custom that is as important a piece of etiquette in 2002 as it was in 1802. Rose will look his playing partners squarely in the eye and say to each of them: “Play well.”

Peter Baker will have hit the first ball of the 131st Open Championship just over two hours earlier, but it is match No 12, starting at 9.01, that will capture the attention. It brings together a Japanese player who wears a cowboy hat and a cheery grin and two men who have been booted and spurred for the game’s biggest prizes: Rose and Woods.

At 26, Woods already has greatness draped elegantly over his shoulders. Victory on Sunday would bring him his ninth major championship and his third of the year, keeping him on course to achieve what no one has done before: the completion of the grand slam.

Rose, 21, has the potential to become a great player, having finally matured from the tall and callow amateur who finished fourth in the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale to a man who has triumphed in four tournaments on three continents this year. The rounds today and tomorrow in the company of the world No 1 will reveal how much the Englishman has improved as a ball-striker and how well he can control those demons that will nag his subconscious at all the wrong moments.

Rose has never played with Woods in competition. The difficulties he will encounter over the next two days centre more on making sure that he keeps his ball in play, hits it to the positions from where he can attack and makes as few mistakes as possible. These are the questions asked by the examination that is an Open at Muirfield.

At 7,034 yards, the course is not inordinately long, but the way the holes twist and turn — only three successive holes go in the same direction — means that accuracy is essential. So is a cool head. As if that is not enough of a test, Rose must do all this while carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders and playing alongside the greatest golfer in the world.

Few players, thrust alongside Woods for the first time, have survived unscathed. It will be to Rose’s advantage that he is doing so in front of his own supporters. Eduardo Romero remembers playing with Woods in the World Cup in Buenos Aires two years ago. The Argentinian said: “When I got on the first tee with Tiger, I thought to myself: ‘You Tiger, me Romero. Wow!’ I watched every shot of Tiger’s. The second time I was learning even though I still paid too much attention to him.

It took me three or four times before I was able to concentrate on my own game.”

Older players were united yesterday in imploring Rose to do likewise and not to be dazzled by Woods. “You can learn from Tiger, but not how to play golf, because I have not seen anyone play the way he can,” Thomas Björn, the Dane who has played with Woods more than any other European player, said. “He plays a different game from the rest of us. He can hit a two-iron 270 yards.

“What you learn from Tiger is the way he prepares. When I have played with him I have watched him, but I have been aware that I must not get impressed by him. I think to myself how good he is, but I know I must not let it interfere with my own game.”

Rose gave every impression of relishing his appointment with destiny. “It is going to be harder in terms of everything else going on around the golf — the bigger crowds, more noise — but it also makes it more fun,” he said. “It is something I want to do. I want to compete against Tiger sooner rather than later and I’ve got to play with him for the first time at some stage, so to do it in the Open Championship in front of British fans, there is no better place.”

Mark James has no doubt that Rose can cope with all that is thrown at him over the next two days. “It should not be a problem for Justin,” James, the 1999 Europe Ryder Cup captain, said. “He has shown himself capable of dealing with this sort of thing. Also, he is an extrovert. He should chat on the way round if he wants to.”

Rose has always believed that he was destined to play golf with the world’s best and Ken, his father, has spared little to that end. It was what Rose Jr has wanted since he played off plus three when he was 14.

Ken Rose, battling leukaemia, will summon every ounce of energy and determination to support his son around every one of Muirfield’s 18 holes. It is one of the most important days in the life of his son. He would not want to miss it for the world.

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