Calendar grand slam on Tiger's mind at Muirfield

The possibility of a complete sweep of this year's four major championships by Tiger Woods is the intriguing sub-plot for the 131st British Open, which starts at Muirfield next Thursday.

The 26-year-old American is already halfway towards completing the first professional grand slam of all four majors in a calendar year following his triumphs at the U.S. Masters in April and at last month's U.S. Open.

But Muirfield next week will provide his biggest test so far as he chases his ninth career major - and his eighth in 12 starts.

Public expectation of a calendar grand slam is heightening, the pressures on Woods are increasing and the British Open is arguably the most difficult of all four majors to win with its unpredictable weather and the vagaries of bounce in links-course golf.

If anyone can prevail, it is Woods. He began the year as a 50-1 shot to complete the calendar grand slam and his odds were cut to 4-1 by British bookmakers William Hill after his U.S. Open victory at Bethpage Black.

He has never played Muirfield but he had not played Bethpage until shortly before this year's U.S. Open and, of current golfers, he is by some distance the most thorough and disciplined in his preparation for a particular event on a particular course.

Woods, who cruised to victory by eight shots in the 2000 British Open at St Andrews, has studied videos of past Muirfield British Opens to get an idea of what to expect next week.

He has especially looked at footage of the last British Open to be held at Muirfield, Nick Faldo's one-shot victory over American John Cook in 1992, but is anticipating course conditions to be very different for this year's championship.

"They've gotten so much rain over there, it's not going to play the same," he said earlier this week. "They've had a very wet summer and the rough will be a lot more lush."

FAIR TEST

Peter Dawson, secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) which organises the British Open, wants Muirfield to provide a fair test of golf.

"If we get the weather, it will be a fast-running links, and let's hope we also get a reasonable amount of wind," he said.

"We want the rough to be tough but fair."

Par-71 Muirfield, which will be staging its 15th British Open, has been lengthened by 64 yards since Faldo's 1992 victory and the layout now measures 7,034 yards.

The par-three 13th has been extended from 159 to 191 yards while the par-three fourth hole is also longer -- up from 180 to 213 yards.

Bunkers remain one of the course's trademark features and they are difficult to avoid. There are more than 150 of them and most are fairly small with steep faces.

World number three Ernie Els, who tied for fifth at the 1992 British Open, played a couple of practice rounds at Muirfield on Monday and was most impressed.

"The course is just set up brilliantly," said the 32-year-old South African. "The R&A and the club have done a great job getting it into this condition.

"It is not an overly long course and it is not too narrow. But it is so well-designed and the layout is so good that you can run the ball into every hole -- just the way links golf is meant to be played.

DUVAL DOLDRUMS

"If we don't have any wind, we are going to have a wonderful championship and, if we get the breeze, it will be a good championship because it will be very tough. I think there might be a close finish on Sunday."

Els, who has finished in the British Open's top 10 six times in 11 starts, is one of several likely challengers at Muirfield to the grand slam hopes of Woods.

Defending champion David Duval will be hoping his return to links-course golf can revive his game after several months in the doldrums while fellow Americans Justin Leonard, the 1997 winner at Royal Troon, and Jim Furyk both tend to perform well at the British Open.

Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal, Irishman Padraig Harrington, Germany's Bernhard Langer, Britons Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke and three-times champion Nick Faldo, 1994 winner Nick Price of Zimbabwe and 2001 U.S. Open titleholder Retief Goosen are all quite capable of challenging strongly.

World number two Phil Mickelson has run Woods the closest in the first two majors of the year but he has never produced his best golf at the British Open with a highest finish of tied for 11th at St Andrews in 2000.

The gifted left-hander, who placed third in this year's U.S. Masters and finished second in the U.S. Open, knows Woods will be the player to beat at Muirfield.

"I think the thing about Tiger is that he's the only leader (with whom) you don't have the hope that he'll falter," he said.

"When other guys are up there, if you can just stay around there, there's a good chance they might come back two or three shots. But Tiger doesn't ever seem to do that."

"We all know he's a great player," said Duval. "Combine his ability to play on all courses with his focus, and you have a recipe for success."