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Tiger Confident Again at Royal Lytham
Jacklin Sees Open Win for Westwood
It's Open Season on Damp Lytham's Deep Rough
Tiger Confident Again at Royal Lytham
LYTHAM, England, July 16, 2012 (AFP) - Tiger Woods comes to the British Open confident in his game and aware of the dangers on offer at Royal Lytham, where dense rough, 205 pot bunkers and rain will test the 14-time major champion.
Woods, chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, has won three US PGA events this season, capturing the National on July 1 after taking the Memorial in June and the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March.
While he disappointed in the majors after his triumphs, sharing 40th at the Masters and 21st at the US Open, he was a 36-hole co-leader last month at the US Open and is playing as well as he has since before his infamous sex scandal.
"Feel good about my game," Woods said. "It feels good to step up and hit the drive I know I can hit when I need it."
This week's Open is the third for Woods at Royal Lytham, where he shared 25th in 2001 behind winner David Duval and shared 22nd in 1996 as an amateur when he matched England's Iain Pyman with the low-amateur record total of 281, aided by a second-round 66.
"That gave me so much confidence," Woods said. "It gave me confidence that I could do it at a high level. And the fact that I shot that low round, I made seven birdies in a 12-hole stretch, I thought for an amateur in a major championship that was a big step."
Woods and caddie Joe LaCava toured the course early Sunday morning in sunny conditions and were shocked at how record rainfall in the area had created severely difficult rough.
"I've never seen the rough this high or thick and dense," Woods said. "It's just that you can't get out of it... in some places it's almost unplayable."
Woods, 36, has not won a major title since the 2008 US Open. He has not finished in the top 10 at the British Open since winning at Hoylake in 2006, his third British Open crown after 2000 and 2005 triumphs at St. Andrews.
And while he has been inconsistent this season, missing the cut twice including earlier this month at the Greenbrier Classic, he remains a favourite even among rivals like Bubba Watson, the reigning Masters champion who played alongside Woods for the first two rounds at the US Open.
"He's going to be strong any time he steps up, any time he tees it up," Watson said. "He's the greatest player that has ever played.
"He has won three times this year. So I think he's doing pretty good. I've only won once. It just happened to be a major, so everybody thinks that's a big deal. I would rather win three times than one time."
But no, Watson would not trade his one win this year for the three that have pushed Woods to the top of the US PGA money list at $4.22 million.
"He has got 14 majors, so I'm going to keep my little one that I have," said Watson. "He's got 14 to spare, so I don't want to get rid of the one yet."
Royal Lytham, a relatively short 7,086-yard layout playing to par 70, opens with a par-3 hole and closes with six par-4 holes, most of them into the wind or a crosswind that can play havoc with even the best of shotmakers.
"I like the layout. It's fair," Woods said. "They don't have to trick it up. They don't have to do anything with it. If it's calm, we can shoot some good scores. If it's wet, lush, you've got to be more aggressive.
"Each British Open has its own little quirks. You can have so many different weather conditions. You just don't know. That's one of the unique things about the British Open and why it's my favourite major championship."
Jacklin Sees Open Win for Westwood
LYTHAM, England, July 16, 2012 (AFP) - Lee Westwood has a golden opportunity in the British Open at Royal Lytham this week to smash the jinx that has prevented him from winning a major title, according to English legend Tony Jacklin. 
Back at the course where he won his first major in 1969, ending an 18-year drought for British players, Jacklin said the English World No.3 was a perfect fit for the Lancashire links course where accuracy off the tee is capital.
Asked to assess the chances of Westwood and England's other top hope, World No, 1 Luke Donald, Jacklin had no doubts.
"Lee, I think of the two, would be the one I would point towards," he said.
"He's a good driver of the ball. His ball striking is fantastic. Luke is not the straightest driver on the Tour.
"Lee, this should suit him down to the ground, the conditions of the golf course and the way it's playing.
"But you never know. It's a nerve-wracking thing. And it's a daunting task, but he has got all the experience in the world now and he's surely up for it, but at 39, the clock is ticking.
"I keep my fingers crossed for him, because I think he really deserves it amd it would look terrific on his resume -- Open Champion."
Jacklin's win at Lytham in the summer of 1969 bookended a superb year for him as 11 months later he went on to win the US Open at Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, leading from wire to wire.
He never won another major title, although he went on to earn huge respect and success as the captain of four European Ryder Cup teams from 1983 to 1989.
Looking back on his glory years as a player, Jacklin recalled how very different the situation was then for European golfers to what it is now.
"Back in 1969, as far as I'm aware, Peter Townsend and myself were the only players playing in America for a start, and Peter didn't manage to win anything over there," he said.
"Now you look at the World Rankings, I mean, it speaks for itself. Luke Donald, capable of anything. He's got to get in the mix in a major. That's Luke's big thing now.
"We see him play steady golf from week to week, but the experience the likes of Luke, Lee, we've got the fancy dresser lad, what's his name? (Ian Poulter). To say nothing of the lads from Northern Ireland, (Graeme) McDowell and (Rory) McIlroy."
Jacklin, the last Englishman to win an Open Championship on English soil, had words of advice for all of the English contingent.
On hearing that Poulter had commented on his Twitter site that he would need a snorkel this week and other grumblings that the rough was too punishing due to the record rainfall in the northwest of England over the last few weeks, Jacklin said that it was the same for everyone.
"Somebody is going to win, I'll tell you that," he said.
"No matter how unplayable it is, somebody will win. You really don't get the guys who are in with a shout complaining about conditions of golf courses.
"Golf courses are to be played... and you cannot get out of the fact that it's controlling the golf ball that wins you major championships and that's the examination."
It's Open Season on Damp Lytham's Deep Rough
LYTHAM, England, July 16, 2012 (AFP) - Record England rainfall has produced a dense and deep rough at soggy Royal Lytham for the 141st British Open, with major golf champions warning rivals to stay in the fairways or stay away.
"There are a few patches out there where it's absolutely brutal," defending champion Darren Clarke said. "If you start spraying the ball around this week you might as well go home. There's no chance coming out of this rough at all."
With 206 pot bunkers as well as the deep grass, there are few safe spots for errant drives. Even the temporary car park area where the late Seve Ballesteros landed in 1979 on his way to an amazing birdie at 16 and a victory is no more.
"I've never seen the rough this high or thick and dense," said 14-time major winner Tiger Woods. "It's just that you can't get out of it... in some places it is almost unplayable."
Masters champion Bubba Watson, who hooked his own jaw-dropping shot onto the green from the trees in a playoff to win his first major title last April, has had to change his long-hitting style to adapt to the unforgiving links course.
"The rough is pretty bad," Watson said. "You hit it in high rough like that, hit it off line, it's very difficult. Hopefully you can find your golf ball.
"It's all about hitting the right shot off the tee to avoid some of the bunkers, avoid the high rough and hitting some quality iron shots into the greens."
Escaping the rough at Royal Lytham is one thing and avoiding the bunkers is quite another task on the par-70 Lancashire layout.
"It's just a nightmare," Clarke said. "They are very penal, very tough, those bunkers. They have reverted a lot of the faces, so some of them are a little bit more penal than others.
"There's going to be occasions this week where I think you're going to have to see guys taking penalty drops out of them because they won't be able to move their ball anywhere. It's very heavily bunkered in the landing areas where we really need to hit the ball.
"Accuracy is going to be the key this week. It's not really length. It's keeping it on the fairways. There are a few holes out there where prudence may come into play. If you have 220 to the green for your second shot, it's better than having to chip it out sideways or backwards out of the bunkers."
More downpours are expected all week, the drenching adding to the misery for players whose patience is already being tested.
"Nobody wants to play in those conditions, but it's one of those things," Watson said. "It's just another challenge the course is going to bring to you. You just have to try to stay dry and make pars. When the weather gets that bad, sometimes bogeys are good."
Watson does not see any edge for European players who are more accustomed to dreary weather.
"It's whoever can control their mind and not get frustrated about the weather and the situation," Watson said. "No matter where they are from, everybody has got to deal with this weather.
"It's not whether you've played in the rain more than somebody else. It's just about calming your mind and knowing it's going to be difficult."
Weather can play havoc with one set of players and turn benign for another during the same day, giving an edge to one portion of the draw or the other.
"Being on the right side of the draw always plays a part in the Open," said Clarke. "You get good sides, bad sides. The scoring can differ massively because of those weather conditions. But that's part and parcel of the Open."
Woods, seeking his first major title since 2008 and first British Open crown since 2006, paired alongside Spain's Sergio Garcia and England's Justin Rose.
They tee off at 9:42 on Thursday morning in round one and at 2:43 in the afternoon on Friday.
Clarke will be joined by South African Ernie Els and American Zach Johnson three groups in front of Woods and just ahead of Watson, Japan's Yoshinori Fujimoto and World No. 2 Lee Westwood of England.
World No. 1 Luke Donald, seeking his first major title like Westwood, tees off in the opposite end of the draw with Australian Geoff Ogilvy and four-time major champion Phil Mickelson.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, the 2011 US Open champion, will start two groups before Donald with 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley of the United States and 2010 British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.