Tiger Woods awaits second major

Tiger Woods has added patience to his considerable armoury as he awaits a second major.

He knows it will come -- if not at this week's British Open, then soon.

"Am I getting impatient? No. Whenever it happens it happens," he said on Tuesday.

"You can't force it. You just have to put yourself in a position to win and hopefully you will win."

Woods, who stormed to his U.S. Masters success more than two years ago, pointed out that he was in position to win the U.S. Open at Pinehurst last month until he dropped back to finish joint third, two shots behind winner Payne Stewart.

"I gave myself a chance. That's what you want to do, give yourself a lot of opportunities in order to break through. If you do that, you will have your time to have it happen."

Woods has regained the world number one slot from fellow American David Duval, thanks to his victory at the Western Open two weeks ago, just in time to make himself favourite for the Open.

He is happy that he played Carnoustie as an amateur in the 1995 and 1996 Scottish Open, even if he finished joint 48th the first time and missed the cut a year later.

"I think anybody who has played here has an added advantage because they have seen it under different conditions. The only difference is that they have not seen the golf course the way it is prepared now," he said.

He agreed that it was tough. "But I think it is one of the best, one of the fairest courses because there is only one blind shot, on the 14th.

"The difficult part is going to be getting to the greens. Once you do, they are very simple to read."

Woods, who has made significant changes to his swing over the past two years, feels they had not bedded in last year at Royal Birkdale, were he finished third.

"I had to change to be more consistent," he said. ``You can see that my whole swing is completely different to that in '97. In 1998 it was kind of in the middle. I was still fighting some of the changes I had made but I was able to adjust and get away with some shots.

"But I also hit some good shots with the changes, so I was very pleased. Now the changes have taken hold and I feel they're almost natural. I don't have to think over every shot."

Now 23, Woods feels experience and maturity are two of his biggest assets.

"I've played more golf under these conditions. And as more time goes by I will get better playing links golf because you need experience."

He said that what he learned at Royal Birkdale last year at the Open helped him at St Andrews later in the year in the Alfred Dunhill Cup, where he shot 14-under-par in three days.

"And I've grown up a lot, though I have a lot more growing up to do."

Reuters