July 19, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 03, 1428

CARNOUSTIE (Scotland), July 18: Never mind three in a row, Tiger Woods is capable of winning the British Open eight times in succession. That is the opinion of Australia's Peter Thomson, the last man to collect a hat-trick of claret jugs between 1954 and 1956.

“He (Woods) has got a chance to win eight in a row,” Thomson told reporters at Carnoustie where the tournament starts from Thursday. “I'm telling you, I'm serious about it.

“I think he has got an excellent chance ... as long as he keeps his interest and he's willing to go through that preparation that he does. He'll get sick of that one day.”

It was a case of so near, yet so far for the world No 1 in the opening two majors of the year.

Woods finished joint second behind fellow American Zach Johnson at the US Masters in April and suffered a repeat dose of disappointment when sharing the runners-up spot behind Argentine Angel Cabrera in last month's US Open.

Immediately after his Oakmont title bid, Woods's Swedish wife Elin gave birth to their first child, daughter Sam.

The 12-times major winner acknowledged this week that it was difficult to be parted from his family.

“I miss them, there's no doubt,” said Woods. “Elin and Sam are doing fantastic.

“They are at home. Everything has been going great and we are very excited to have Sam in our life.”

Asked if the baby's arrival would be a positive for his golf, Woods replied: “I don't see how it can be negative”.

His title rivals will doubtless hope otherwise.

Fellow American Phil Mickelson, back up to second in the world rankings, sought early acclimatisation for the testing challenge represented by the Carnoustie links by playing in last week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, albeit a parkland course.

Whether it was quite the warm-up he wanted is open to debate after the left-hander spurned a dominant position at the top of the leaderboard with a series of late errors.

South African Ernie Els, a regular claret jug contender, will have been heartened by a closing 65 that earned him third place at Loch Lomond.

World No 3 Jim Furyk is just the type of steady player unlikely to have his feathers ruffled by the vagaries of Carnoustie.

Britain's Paul Lawrie returns to the scene of his finest golfing hour but is a long-shot to repeat his 1999 victory here.

Lawrie's win eight years ago was the last by a European in a major championship.

“It's amazing it's been that long,” said the 38-year-old Scot.

“It's not down to a lack of talent we have on our tour or even the Europeans playing on the PGA Tour, the recent Ryder Cup results tell you that.”

Swede Henrik Stenson and Padraig Harrington of Ireland are the men most likely to end the European hoodoo although British trio Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Paul Casey and Spain's Sergio Garcia also hold realistic championship ambitions.

The locals, and the romantics, will hope Scottish golf's favourite son can end his own major jinx.

The 44-year-old Colin Montgomerie may have won the European Tour's order of merit eight times in a glittering career but the tag he most covets, that of major champion, continues to prove elusive.

Montgomerie, however, rolled back the years with a popular victory at the European Open in Ireland two weeks ago, gaining a timely confidence boost ahead of Carnoustie.—Reuters