UNITED KINGDOM: GOLF - Tiger Woods prepares for the British Open

Twice champion Tiger Woods believes he is back in the competitive flow for this week's British Open, despite playing just two tournaments since the death of his father Earl on May 3. The world number one missed his first cut as a professional in a major at last month's U.S. Open but lifted his form at the Western Open two weeks ago where he tied for second. Woods, who coasted to his second British Open title by five strokes at St Andrews last year, relishes playing links course golf. However, he expects a tough task on a Hoylake layout running fast and firm after several weeks of baking sunshine in north-west England. "We don't play golf courses like this each and every week, and we certainly don't play golf courses this fast," the 10-times major champion said. "on the few rare occasions we do those times you have to be able to control your golf ball in the air, you've got to control your spin, its not like you can go out there and hit a marginal shot and expect it to be okay, you come in with the wrong spin into the fairways or even into the greens you're going to pay a consequence for that." Asked whether he had come to terms with the death of his father, Woods replied: "There's not a day that I don't think I'll ever go through life without thinking about my Dad. "I love him dearly. The bond that we've had, you know, I think it transcended just a normal parent-child relationship. "That's probably why I will think about him more and especially when I'm out here playing and practising because all the fundamentals that I learned were from him." Earl had battled prostate cancer since 1998. Tiger, who was introduced to golf as a young child by Earl, has often attributed his mental toughness in tournaments to his former Green Beret father. The 135th British Open starts on Thursday.

ITN Source | July 19, 2006

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