TIGER DASHES HOME HOPES

The 2005 Open witnessed another imperious Tiger victory at St Andrews but it will also be remembered for Monty's closest-ever brush with the Claret Jug

- MARK TOWNSEND

There are few guarantees in Tiger Woods' golf these days. But one certainty is that he will be back in Fife in July to play in his 22nd Open, at his favourite course, and as a two-time champion at the Home of Golf.

The Old Course is where he won his first Open in 2000 (by eight shots) and where he made it to Major double figures five years later when he dashed the home challenge, consigning Colin Montgomerie to the fourth of his five runner-up finishes in golf's Major Championships.

As a result of his five-shot victory, Woods completed a second lap of the Grand Slam in the same week that the only other male golfer to have achieved the feat, Jack Nicklaus, finally waved farewell to Major golf from the pulpit of the Swilcan Bridge. In a neat addendum, Woods would win all four of the Majors where Nicklaus decided to sign off - here and the Masters in 2005, and the US Open and US PGA in 2000. That number could actually be taken as five given that Nicklaus had originally 'retired' from The Open in 2000, when Woods spent the week staying out of all 112 bunkers.

Woods' 2005 Open success, like any, was built on a multitude of factors. This was the second year of a swing rebuild with Hank Haney; it came during a spell from 2004-10 that brought six Major gains; and Woods was at a course where he had played his first Open in 1995.

"That experience allowed me to have the success I had in 2000 - to have a chance to play such a different, unique game. I never had the opportunity before in the States. I never played a course like this. To run the ball and use any creativeness to get the ball around, I just got such a rush out of it," Woods said at the start of his week in 2005.