Sandwich (England), July 13: Tiger Woods is without a major title to his name for the first time in four years. He has been forced to radically alter his preparations for the 132nd Open championship as he struggles with a troublesome left knee.
But that will not stop the rest of the field viewing the world number one as the man to beat at Royal St George's.
Ordered to cut back on his schedule following knee surgery at the end of last year, Woods has played just ten tournaments so far in 2003. But given that he has won four of them, suggestions that the world number one has lost a bit of his competitive edge would seem to be misplaced.

The precise extent of the problems he has with his left knee is unclear but it does seem likely that the need to rest it lay behind his decision to forego his traditional pre-Open trip to Ireland this year.
Instead, Woods was expected to fly straight here from his home in Florida on Sunday. That will give him three full days of practice on the Royal St George's links before getting down to the serious business on Thursday.



Only then will it be possible to assess whether Woods has suffered from having had less practice at playing golf in blustery seaside conditions than he traditionally does in the lead up to the British Open.



Woods has generally spent the entire week before the Open playing great Irish links courses such as Ballybunnion and Portmarnock as well as enjoying a spot of fishing in the company of his close friend Mark O'meara.


Bureau Report