AP News
(2010-07-14 18:08:53)
ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - Briton Justin Rose was given the chance to show off his inspired form before the biggest galleries for the first two rounds of the British Open at St Andrews after he was paired with Tiger Woods. Rose, who burst to prominence when he finished tied for fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale, has won two PGA Tour events in the last month and he, Woods and Colombian Camilo Villegas tee off at 0809 GMT in Thursday's headline grouping.
Woods has won the Open three times -- twice by handsome margins on the famed links of the Old Course -- and comes into the event as the favorite despite failing to win a tournament since his return to the game in April after a self-imposed exile following a string of revelations about his private life.
American Stewart Cink will start the defense of his title in the event's 150th anniversary year alongside former champion Ernie Els and England's world number eight Ian Poulter, two groups ahead of Woods at 0742.
Tom Watson, the five-times champion who came within a whisker of another Open win before losing to Cink in a playoff at Turnberry last year, is paired with Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa and Ireland's twice champion Padraig Harrington in the grouping after Woods at 0820.
World number two Phil Mickelson starts his campaign for a first Open crown with home favorite Colin Montgomerie and South African Retief Goosen at 1320.
England's Lee Westwood, ranked three in the world and chasing a first major after several near-misses, is scheduled to tee off at 1242 but his participation remains in some doubt as he struggles with a calf problem.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who last month ended a European drought dating back 40 years with victory in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, gets under way with American Jim Furyk and Australia's Geoff Ogilvy.
Fittingly, the honor of the first tee shot at 0530 goes to Scotland's Paul Lawrie, the last Briton to win the British Open when he snatched victory after Jean Van de Velde's spectacular collapse at Carnoustie in 1999.
(Editing by Sonia Oxley)
