Different course, similar strategy for Woods

Turnberry, Scotland:

The sea breeze in his face was not nearly as important to Tiger Woods as finding the best route around three pot bunkers on the 10th hole at Turnberry.

He aimed his tee shot to the right, on the high side of two bunkers, then pulled his 3-wood just enough that the ball bounded along the links until it stopped rolling just three yards short of the sand.

This was OK.

"That's the whole idea," Woods said. "Some of these holes sucker you into trying to take it over the bunkers."

A bold tee shot would leave a shorter approach into the green, perhaps a greater chance at birdie.

"But can you do that over four days?" Woods replied.

He doesn't appear willing to take that chance.

Woods has captured the British Open three times on two links courses. He won his first claret jug at St. Andrews in 2000, a victory as much famous for his career Grand Slam as his four rounds without once playing out of the bunker.

His most recent victory was three years ago at Hoylake, where Woods hit driver only one time in 72 holes. He chose that week to play mainly long irons and the occasional 3-wood off the tee, anything to keep him short of the bunkers.

"I don't think I've ever been able to reach the green from a bunker," Woods said. "It's a one-shot penalty. Even if you can advance it 60 yards, you still have a 6-iron left to the green."

Turnberry is a far different venue. The strategy is no different.

Woods makes his return to the British Open, missing golf's oldest championship last year while in the early stages of recovering from knee surgery that kept him out for eight months.

He had never seen Turnberry until arriving on Sunday, and he played the last of his three practice rounds Tuesday morning beneath a mixture of clouds and sunshine, fickle weather that likely will continue for the week.

Three days should be enough time to cram for this test, just as it was for Hoylake.

What he has learned, as has the rest of the players who were not at Turnberry in 1994 when it last hosted the British Open, is that it is more important that ever to keep the ball in play.

Beyond the fairways is grass so thick that it might be difficult to get it back into play, if it can be found.

Even so, the bunkers are what stand out as the threat.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera is among the big hitters in golf, and he spoke of caution.

"I think I'm going to be playing short of the bunkers pretty much all week," Cabrera said. "That will be my strategy."

They are not alone.

Padraig Harrington will be going after a third straight British Open - no one has done that since Peter Thomson in 1954-56 - and he tuned up for Turnberry the way he did his previous two victories, by playing links golf in Ireland and winning the Irish PGA.

Harrington is no stranger to this brand of golf, and he says there's no secret to succeeding.

"My whole links golfing life, I've avoided the bunkers at all costs," he said. "Bunkers are like water hazards on a links course. You're chipping out. Avoid at all costs."

Woods remains without a major since his return from reconstructive surgery - the first time since 2004 he doesn't have one in his possession - yet is pleased with how far he has come in the five months he has been back. His victory two weeks ago at his AT&T National was his third this year, more than anyone else on the PGA Tour, as many as anyone in the world this year.

"I remember looking at the year just trying to get back playing," he said. "Hopefully, I can play. And hopefully, I can play at a high level. And to sit here and say I was going to have three wins halfway through the year ... if anyone would have looked at my situation, they would have said, 'You probably might be reaching a little bit.'

"Granted, I haven't won a major," he said. "But I've come close. I've put myself in position to win the first few, I just haven't done it."