TIGER WOODS

THE champion is the hot favourite in every event he plays.

Sometimes the standard of Woods' putting has been overshadowed by his power off the tee, but between 8-15 feet, his putting has been absolutely amazing. It is that which has stretched him out ahead of anybody else, not his distance from the tee.

His power is what instantly attracts the public to him, but it is the fact that he is not missing any short putts at all that makes the difference. After all putting is more than 40 per cent of the game.

Lytham is the type of course that because of its length (it is only 6,905 yards long) and the tightness of the fairways, will nullify the huge length he gets when he uses his driver. He will have to use irons off most of the tees and therefore. will not be 30 yards further than anybody else down the fairway.

That will bring him back to the field a little. The premium is on accuracy and the short game.

Even if he wins I can't see him blasting the field away like he did at St Andrew's last year. There his length was such that he could carry all the hazards. They are not hazards to him, they don't exist and may as well be filled in as far as he is concerned. The course is obsolete now with all the new equipment.

To counteract this Lytham has rearranged some of the bunkering where you have got to hit irons off the tees. Last year Tiger did not land any balls into a bunker in his four rounds, which was amazing. At Lytham there are more than 170 bunkers which is twice as many as most courses. Many have been made deeper around the greens and the way they are raked makes them a lot tougher.