Tiger Set To Win Open at Turnberry

Lucky Ryo Ishikawa, the young 17-year-old golfing phenom from Japan.

He, along with England's Lee Westwood, is paired with Tiger Woods in, as they say in Scotland, "Game No. 15" (pairing to Americans) at 9:09 AM on Thursday. Then again in Game No. 41 on Friday at 2:20 PM.

What an opportunity so early in one's golfing career to see in person perhaps the world's best ever golfer to compete in the world's most historic golfing competition.

Tiger is all set to win the Open at Turnberry.

He is fully recovered from his reconstructive left knee surgery a little over a year ago and completely confident after winning three "legends" golf tournaments this year: the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament and his very own AT&T National at Congressional CC outside Washington D.C. two weeks ago.

Fully rested, he hopes to improve on his post surgery Major record of a T6 at the Masters at Augusta National and the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.

A "W" as he says at Turnberry would end all doubt he is back, all the way back.

It really was not too difficult for the three-time British Open Champion to miss last year's Open. He was in too much pain trying to simply get from the bed to the couch and back to the bed again. Though he was restricted physically, he was in too much joy with the birth of his son and having abundant family time.

No worries that it is his first time at Turnberry.

Remember Royal Liverpool at Hoylake in 2006 where he won though having never seen the golf course? There he developed the three-wood stinger shot and hit nearly never a drive off the tee.

Tiger can do it again this week winning his fourth Open and 15th Major title.

A fourth Open would put him ahead of modern golfers Nick Faldo, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus, who have three to their credit. He would be one behind Tom Watson's five and two behind Harry Vardon's record six Open victories.

Tiger winning at Turnberry gets him one Major closer to Jack's record of 18 Majors.

That would be a Major step, one step closer to being the undisputed best golfer of all time.

There is no disadvantage not having played here previously as long as he does his homework during the practice rounds.

Being its only late Tuesday morning of Open week and Tiger has already played Turnberry three times in the last three days with different wind direction each day one would say he is all ready for final examination.

Heck he may have already passed the test for all we know.

Remember Arnold's tournament. Heavy rains Saturday night. Tiger practice putting only uphill slow putts prior to the final round to make the transition to the new conditions complete. Forget about Sean O'Hair's five stroke lead. He had already made that dramatic 20-footer on the 18th green prior to the round.

Experience counts, especially in Majors.

One of the world's all time best ball strikes full swing and putting stroke Tiger may have already won the Open at Turnberry. Nobody prepares more than he does and he has prepared more than usual for this week.

Turnberry churns out the best ball strikers: Tom Watson (1977 over Jack Nicklaus), Greg Norman (1986), Nick Price (1994) all Open winners here at the famous sea side links with the iconic white lighthouse behind the ninth tee.

Norman shot 63 in terrible weather missing a putt on the last hole. Maybe Tiger has a historic 62 in mind this week?

After all his first time playing links golf was at Carnoustie then St. Andrews the Old Course. He knows links golf and that the ground over here across the pond is your friend and ally.

Knowing he's carved out a nice life for himself and his family Tiger never wishes he was someone else only that he had more anonymity.

Will he be contending at age 53 like Norman did last year in the Open?

His response is only that at age 53 "it would be nice to be above dirt."

A sign of humbleness and one who thoroughly enjoys the gift of life and the thrill of competing against and beating the best golfers in the world.

His caddie Steve Williams is doing the driving this week. The Kiwi is use to driving on the left side of the road as they do here in Scotland. Though a race car driver he hopefully will not drive too fast for the narrow roads with tight turns.

Hopefully Tiger drives it long and straight this week, Ryo Ishikawa gets to watch and learn. We will all be entertained and in awe once again as Tiger Woods wins a Major championship and continues marching down the fairway to eclipsing Jack's record 18 Major Championships.

Tiger is all set to win the Open at Turnberry.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, FL near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]