The shadow they must all follow

There is nothing in golf more dangerous than a Tiger with a sore head, and Woods remains the man to beat

Its name – Royal Lytham and St Annes – makes the venue for the 130th Open Championship sound far more aristocratic and imposing than is necessarily the case. Hidden as it is away from the sea among architecture that ranges from grandVictorian to austere modern, this Lancashire links has an egalitarian side to its nature. There are no added extras, just a brute of a golf course but, added Bernard Darwin, "a just brute".

Players of genuine flair, from Bobby Jones to Seve Ballesteros, have triumphed here, but so too have more utilitarian performers, who have ground out their victories with earnest endeavour. Tom Lehman, the winner here in 1996, is just such a player and the American can see the similarities between Lytham and last month's US Open venue, Southern Hills.

Whether this Open will unfold in a similar manner remains to be seen. The last time Tiger Woods left a major tournament without taking the trophy with him he was so mad that he went out and won the next four. It is unlikely that the ending of his historic streak will rouse his ire to such an extent again, but, of course, the world No 1 remains the player to beat.

For those who wait in his shadows it must be difficult to know whether Woods is more dangerous when he is on one of his winning runs or when he has been made to wait for more little tin cups.

Following a burst of five wins in six events, including that momentous victory in the Masters in April, Woods has not finished in the top 10 in his last three appearances, a sequence that had not occurred since 1998.

The trend of 12th at the US Open, 16th at the Buick Classic and 16th at the Western Open looks worrying but is of relatively little concern. Certainly don't mention the "slump" word. "People make too much of it when I play well, and too much of it when I don't," Woods said. "Even though I am not playing the way I know I can, I am still kind of there. All I need to do is get a couple of good shots going."

It emerged after Southern Hills that Woods had been struggling with a sprained ankle, which might explain some of his erratic iron shots. But even this genius of a 25-year-old could not keep defying the odds endlessly. His focus for this year was exclusively on the Masters, just as it had been on Pebble Beach and the 100th US Open last year. Such was the commanding nature of his victory there the momentum continued to St Andrews and the US PGA.

Not only did the glories that are Pebble and the Old Course visibly inspire Woods, but both courses were there to be overpowered by him. Southern Hills was not and at Lytham, with all 196 of its bunkers, Woods will be once more relying on his two iron to keep him out of trouble. The course may not play like the hard, fast-running links it was in 1996 and the Royal and Ancient had been hoping for, but the rain this winter and spring has left the rough a severe hazard in itself.

"It is not a bombers' course like St Andrews where you can take all the trouble out of play if you hit it 300 yards," said Lehman. "It is the kind of course where everybody has to deal with the bunkers and so it suits anyone who can keep it in play. That's the biggest thing. It doesn't matter what you hit off the tee, you've got to keep it in play. I fell in love with Lytham the first time I set foot on it. It is right in the middle of town, not by the sea, and has a unique atmosphere. In '96 it was like a freeway because it was so hard. It brought all the trouble into play.

"Lytham is like Southern Hills because length is not an absolute premium but accuracy is. Courses do not have to be long to be challenging. Southern Hills was only 6,950 yards, not long by Tour standards, but only four people shot under par. What it required was for every shot to be hit with precision. It was the ultimate course in terms of rewarding a good shot and penalising a bad one."

It was a 66 in the second round at Lytham in 1996, where he finished 22nd to be the low amateur, that persuaded Woods he could turn professional and succeed on Tour. But if he does not regain his top form, there are now plenty of others ready for him to slip up. The invincible tag that has surrounded Tiger since Pebble has been punctured sufficiently to encourage his rivals, the more significant of whom seemed caught off guard by his failure in Tulsa.

"I think the Open will be a better tournament now that Tiger hasn't won the US Open," said Colin Montgomerie. "The anticipation is greater now that there is more of a chance for people to perform at Lytham. It is not a cut-and-dried affair and that is why people will switch on the television and why the interest will be greater." It is a little harsh to suggest that there would not have been much interest had Woods been trying for a sixth straight major but perhaps Montgomerie's words are more honest than others might be willing to admit. Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and David Duval all fell away on the final day of the US Open and will be determined not to let the same happen again.

Garcia, at 21, is the most exciting of Tiger's potential challengers and after his first two wins on the US Tour is in prime form. Mickelson's season has been bizarrely mixed. He has finished in the top three nine times but won only twice.

At least he has been far more consistent than Duval, who has gone from not being able to win, to winning everything on Tour, to contending just in the majors, but who continues, with Mickelson and Montgomerie, to find the biggest prizes elusive. As for Ernie Els, second in three majors last year, a back injury has hampered his preparations but he may be inspired by returning to the scene of his near-miss five years ago, when the South African got within touching distance of Lehman before bogeying two of the last three holes. And if Nick Faldo is any judge, Els' compatriot, Retief Goosen, although a surprise winner of the US Open, may not have finished his major collection.

Mickelson says he is "tired of beating myself up time after time" at the majors. "If I happen to win the Open or the US PGA this year, that would be great. And it's something I'll be gung-ho for and working hard for. But if it doesn't happen, I'm tired of beating myself up. I want to win some majors because then I can be looked on differently rather than as a player who has won a lot of events.

"I really feel as though I've been playing a little bit better, a little bit different than I have in the past. It has been a goal of mine to become more consistent in getting in contention and the nice thing is when I head into the Open, I don't feel as though it is a hit-or-miss thing. If I just play the way I have been and don't have to do anything exceptional, I'm going to have a shot on Sunday. That's a nice feeling."