A new Tiger expected in British Open

HOYLAKE—Tiger Woods was an hour into his practice round Tuesday at the British Open when he stood on the fifth tee with a foreign object in his hand. In golf vernacular, it's called a driver. Woods smashed it into the wind on the 528-yard hole and didn't need to watch where it landed to realize it was in the middle of the fairway. Later in the round, he hit another driver off the tee. That's twice as many than he hit over 72 holes when he won at Royal Liverpool eight years ago.

“This is a different golf course when what we played in '06,” Woods said. “It was hot, ball was flying. It was very dusty. Now we're making ball marks on the greens, which we weren't doing then.” But it’s not just the golf course. Woods is not the same player, having gone through three operations since — two on his left knee, the most recent surgery March 31 on his back. He used to win majors at a rate slightly better than one per year. Now he has gone six years without, dating to his 14th at Torrey Pines in the 2008 US Open. (AP)