British Open awaits Woods

April 28, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

LONDON

Tiger Woods has not yet entered the British Open, but organizers expect him to try to become the first player to win the title three times at St. Andrews on the tournament’s 150th anniversary.

Woods is one of five players to have won the Open twice at the Old Course — taking the last two majors played there in 2000 and 2005 — and returned to competitive golf recently at the Masters after a long layoff following a sex scandal.

“Tiger Woods has not yet entered, but in a normal year he would not have done that anyway, so I am absolutely certain he will be with us,” Royal and Ancient Club chief executive Peter Dawson said in a briefing Tuesday.

The deadline to enter is May 27. The British Open is July 15-18.

Dawson also downplayed concerns that Woods’ appearance after his highly publicized extramarital affairs might create security difficulties at St. Andrews.

“By the time the Open comes around, Tiger’s return to the game will be well established,” Dawson said. “He’s got quite a playing schedule in front of him and so the novelty factor of Tiger being back will have worn off to some degree.

“The Masters had a major problem in really having no idea what to expect, but we will have the benefit of several Tiger events behind us prior to the Open. I am very pleased that we are not the guinea pigs in this.

“We will be watching what happens with Tiger and other players between now and July and will be discussing the whole security position as we always do with the police. We always act on police advice in these matters.”

Assuming he decides to play, Woods has also been invited to participate in a special four-hole event on the day before the championship, open to all Open champions to mark its 150th anniversary.

That includes Seve Ballesteros, who has accepted an invitation even though he is still recovering from brain surgery, and Jack Nicklaus, another three-time winner who has not yet confirmed he will attend. Neither has Greg Norman, who recently had shoulder surgery.