HOYLAKE, England – The British Open once again lived up to its fickle, unpredictable weather reputation, and doesn’t half the field at Royal Liverpool know it.

Ideal weather greeted morning groups Thursday, but the wind picked up in the afternoon. On Friday, those same afternoon golfers got the worst of gusty morning conditions.

By midday Friday, the wind died down, creating similar conditions for the same lucky golfers who benefited from good scoring opportunities Thursday morning.

That left George Coetzee, who shot 69 Friday, as the only player among the leaders who drew the unlucky Thursday afternoon-Friday morning double.

Those guys shouldn’t despair: Padraig Harrington experienced battering wind and rain during his first round at Royal Birkdale in 2008 and shot 74. Three days later, he won his second British Open.

U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer shrugged his shoulders when asked Friday about his unlucky draw over the first two rounds – a 1:38 p.m. start with gusting winds Thursday and even worse conditions Friday when he began play at 8:37 a.m.

“I can’t take care of the weather,” Kaymer said. “I just take it the way it is. That is what The Open is about.”

Darren Clarke, the 2011 champion at Royal St. George’s, was on the lucky side of the draw. He agreed with Kaymer.

“You get good sides, and I’ve been at enough Open Championships where I’ve had the bad side of it as well,” Clarke said. “They all even out.”

Adam Scott, among the few players who were on the leaderboard after playing in the afternoon on Thursday, saw more of the same on Friday. Except worse.

“Today was much tougher out there, just the slight direction change and the gusts,” Scott said. “All of a sudden there were holes where I was hitting 6-iron from in the 140s (yards). That’s when you know it’s pretty windy.”

Justin Rose, who played in Scott’s group, saw the change immediately.

He has just finished his morning round and was doing media interviews when he pointed to a television monitor showing a limp flag at No. 2, and said: “When I was playing the second hole, it was howling.”

Both Scott and Rose play on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, where conditions usually become tougher for the afternoon golfers and the luck of the draw usually isn’t an issue.

The forecast for Saturday? Rain and possible thunderstorms. But at least it should be a near-level playing field for the leaders going off late in the round.

Jason Day, who shot rounds of 74 and who was in Kaymer’s group, says “you take what you can get” when it comes to the weather.

“You can come over and play social rounds and get used to the course this way, but it’s nothing like playing a tournament on links golf,” Day said. “It’s very frustrating, but there’s some luck involved. And obviously it can change in a heartbeat.”

The British Open will use a two-tee start for the first time in the tournament’s 154-year history for Saturday’s third round due to predicted heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Tournament official David Rickman said Friday play is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) Saturday off the first and 10th tees. That compressed schedule would allow for up to five hours of delays and enable the round to be completed.

The British Open has always used a one-tee start, but Rickman says the decision to use a second for the 70-plus players in groups of three would allow the tournament to be “in a better place on Sunday.”

The forecast calls for deteriorating weather to begin overnight Friday, with an expected break of up to four hours late Saturday morning.

HOYLAKE, England – Phil Mickelson broke par in a major for the first time since he won last year’s British Open. It was just what he needed Friday at Royal Liverpool to stay in the hunt at this one.

Typical of Mickelson, it wasn’t easy.

He missed a 4-foot birdie putt after one of his best shots of the day, and was so irritated by that it caused him to bogey the next hole. He lost his tee shot on the par-5 10th hole, had to play another tee shot but still made par by getting up-and-down from about 215 yards away with a 2-iron.

A 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole gave Mickelson a 2-under 70, bringing him back to par for the championship.

“Fortunately, I was able to fight hard and get it back on the back nine because I was 1-over par and then hit one out of bounds, essentially,” Mickelson said. “So to get it back to even is good. And, hopefully, the weather is supposed to come in tomorrow. It will be tough for all of us.”

It looked plenty tough for him halfway through the second round.

Mickelson, who opened with a 74, appeared to be hitting his stride after a wild tee shot on No. 4 that flew over the gallery, so far right that it landed in grass that had been tamped down. He hit that to 4 inches for birdie, made eagle on the par-5 fifth hole and looked as if he would get under par when he hit a 5-iron on No. 7, the toughest at Hoylake, to 4 feet.

But he missed the birdie putt and walked quietly to the next tee, shaking his head. Mickelson usually puts blunders behind him quickly, but not this time. And it cost him. Playing aggressively to a pin tucked by a slope on the right side of the green, he went long and into the first cut. A flop shop wasn’t hit hard enough and rolled back off the green. He had to make a 4-footer to escape with bogey.

“I wasn’t patient,” he said. “I tried to get that shot a little close. And what happened is I drew that 8-iron with the wind, and when it’s going downwind, it just doesn’t stop. I should have hit it 30 feet. I thought, `I’m going to try to get one close.’ Hit it over the green, hit a poor chip and made bogey.”

Nothing saved his round quite like the 10th, however.

He never found his tee shot in the gorse and thick bushes and had to play his provisional, meaning he was playing his fourth shot from 215 yards away. He drilled a 2-iron onto the green and holed the short par putt.

Mickelson made it sound routine: “Lost ball, played the provisional in the fairway, hit a 2-iron to 6 feet and made it for par.”

Lefty didn’t drop a shot the rest of the way and closed with a birdie. Whether that’s enough depended on how the leaders fared in the afternoon and how much nasty weather arrives Saturday.

He was four shots out of the lead going into the weekend last year at Muirfield, and still five behind going into the final day. Mickelson closed with a 66, one of the great closing rounds in major championship history. He didn’t break par in a major over his next 11 rounds until Friday.

He has said he has been close at various times this year, though his last victory was at Muirfield.

Mickelson said he made a few adjustments on the back nine, such as extending his swing more toward the target, though his putting has been inconsistent.

“I’m striking it so good,” Mickelson said. “And if I putt the way I putted the last nine holes for the weekend, I’m going to have a good chance.”

That’s more than he can say for the two major champions in his pairing.

Two-time Open champion Ernie Els never recovered from that triple bogey on the opening hole that led to a 79. He shot 73 and will miss the cut at 8-over 152. Masters champion Bubba Watson bogeyed the last hole for a 72. He was at 4-over 148 and will also not play the weekend.

HOYLAKE, England – Ernie Els hit a spectator in the face with his opening tee shot at the British Open on Thursday, shaking up the two-time champion for the rest of his first round at Royal Liverpool.

The man’s injury and Els’ subsequent triple-bogey 7 on the first hole were just the start of his problems. The Big Easy will have a big task trying to stick around for the weekend after carding a 7-over 79, including 42 on the front nine.

Els said he was “quite rattled” after he realized the man, who he estimated was in his 60s, was bleeding profusely from a shot that Els said hit the spectator directly in the face.

“There was blood everywhere,” Els said. “It was like a bullet coming at him. I obviously felt pretty bad about it. It wasn’t nice. I was trying to hit it left, and should have told the starters to move the people back on the left side, but I didn’t do that.”

Els said he would make inquiries about the man’s recovery. Tournament officials said the spectator was not seriously injured.

On the first green, Els missed a bogey putt from about eight inches, bizarrely backhanded the subsequent foot-long putt just past the hole and tapped in for his triple bogey.

“Yeah, I was kind of finished. I started to miss short putts, it was just a nightmare,” he said.

Els said he may have “put the jinx” on his playing partners – defending champion Phil Mickelson shot 74, and Masters winner Bubba Watson had a 76.

Watson said he felt Els was affected by the man’s injury.

“When we got to the green Ernie said he hit somebody right in the jaw and he said it wasn’t good,” Watson said. “And you could tell Ernie was shaken up by it. You’re not trying to hit a bad shot in, but when you hit somebody like that it’s not a good scene, and it’s very heart-breaking. I’m not saying that’s why he struggled on that hole, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.”

There was a bit of comic relief on the 18th where Els had to gently prod a frog away from the tee box with his driver, prompting a smile.

Els won his British Open titles 10 years apart – at Muirfield in 2002 and at Royal Lytham in 2012. He also has two U.S. Open trophies. He’s playing his 24th British Open, where he has seven top-five finishes, and has missed the cut just three times.

That total could well be four after Friday.

“I played the front nine in 7-over par, (on) a perfect day, and that’s just unheard of,” Els said. “Hopefully we’ll get it tomorrow.”

HOYLAKE, England – Rory McIlroy had everything go his way Thursday in the British Open.

A lovely summer day in England with abundant sunshine and minimal wind allowed him to attack Royal Liverpool. He made half his six birdies on the par 5s and kept bogeys off his card. And on the day Tiger Woods made a promising return, McIlroy took the lead with a 6-under 66, his best score in nearly two years at a major.

Now if he can only find a way to get to the weekend.

McIlroy either set himself up for a good run at the claret jug or another dose of Friday failures. In what already has been an unusual year for golf, no trend is more mysterious than Boy Wonder going from awesome to awful overnight.

Six times in his last eight tournaments, he has had a nine-hole score of 40 or higher on Friday that has taken him out of the mix.

“It’s not like I’ve shot good scores in first rounds and haven’t backed them up before,” McIlroy said. “I’m used to doing that. I just haven’t done it recently. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and what weather it is and try and handle it as best I can.

“Hopefully,” he said, “it’s just one of those things and I’m able to turn it around tomorrow.”

Woods also would like to keep moving in the right direction. He got off to a troubling start with two quick bogeys, nearly made another one on the fourth hole, and then looked like a 14-time major champion when he ran off five birdies in six holes toward the end of his round for a 69.

Not bad for guy who had back surgery March 31, who started taking full swings only a month ago and who had not played in a major in 11 months.

“It felt good to be back out there competing again,” Woods said.

Such pristine weather – how long it lasts is the big unknown – gave just about everyone a chance to score. Matteo Manassero broke par in The Open for the first time since he was a 16-year-old amateur. He began his round by hitting into a pot bunker, blasting out to the fairway and holing out from 160 yards for birdie. He made five birdies on the back nine, three on the par 5s.

That made him low Italian – barely.

Francesco Molinari and Edoardo Molinari have games that are nothing alike, though they shot the same score. They were in a large group at 68 along with Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott.

Scott stands out as the No. 1 player in the world, and because he was the only player in the top 10 who played in the afternoon when the wind made Hoylake tougher. Scott went out in 31 and was slowed only by two bogeys on the back nine.

Even in tame conditions, the British Open can mete out punishment – to players, to spectators and even a golf club.

Phil Mickelson was trying to get back to even par when he hooked his approach to the 18th beyond the out-of-bounds stakes down the right side of the hole and had to scramble for a bogey and a 74. He hasn’t broken par at a major since winning at Muirfield last summer.

That still doesn’t top the bad day of Ernie Els. His opening tee shot hit a spectator in the face, and the sight of so much blood shook the Big Easy. When he got to the green, he missed a 1-foot putt, and then carelessly tried to back-hand the next one into the hole and missed that one. The triple bogey sent him to a 79.

Henrik Stenson knocked a 30-foot birdie putt off the 12th green and made double bogey, and then took two hacks out of the shin-high grass left of the 17th fairway. Walking to his next shot, he snapped his gap wedge over his thigh like a baseball player – Bo Jackson comes to mind – who had just struck out with the bases loaded.

Both Canadians in the field fared well on Day 1 of golf’s oldest major.

David Hearn shot a 2-under 70 and was tied for 19th in his debut at The Open. Graham DeLaet was close behind, carding a 1-under 71 to place him in the group tied for 33rd.

Through all this activity, two names came to the forefront – McIlroy and Woods, both trying to restore their games from different circumstances.

McIlroy’s only victory this year was at the BMW PGA Championship, where he started his week by breaking off his engagement with Caroline Wozniacki. He could have had more chances to win except for that 40 on the front nine at Quail Hollow, the 42 on the front nine at The Players Championship and the 43 on the back nine at the Memorial.

He met with Jack Nicklaus, and the topic of his freaky Fridays came up.

“I didn’t mention it to him,” McIlroy said. “He mentioned it to me – `How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78?’ No, I think what we talked about was just holding a round together. And he was never afraid to make a change in the middle of the round … to get it back on track.”

The trick for McIlroy is to not get derailed in the second round. For the year, he is 55-under par in the first round and 15-over par in the second round.

Woods gave a light fist pump when he rolled in a 30-foot putt from just off the green on No. 11. He then hit a beautiful approach to 6 feet for birdie on the 12th. That put him under par in a tournament for the first time since March 9, the final round of Doral. OK, the sample size is small – that was the last tournament he played until returning to Congressional three weeks ago after back surgery.

Even so, he was playing with such rhythm late in his round that he might have wanted to keep going. That makes Friday a big day for Woods, too.

HOYLAKE, England – Even when he’s not the favorite, Tiger Woods is still the show at the British Open.

Woods earned that attention by piling up majors at a faster rate than anyone in history, and the attention is just as great now because his recent past includes back surgery and his immediate future is more uncertain than ever. ESPN plans to show his entire round online Thursday.

Not to be overlooked at golf’s oldest championship, however, is a new generation of stars.

Rickie Fowler and Harris English will be playing ahead of him. Two groups behind will be Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama. They are among 25 players who share a bond that speaks to the state of golf. Woods has never won a major during their professional careers.

Yes, they saw his dominance on TV. They just never experienced it.

They were not around for the decade when Woods won majors with regularity, sometimes by a record score, sometimes by a record margin. They missed the days that were so Tiger-centric a player couldn’t get through an interview without being asked something about Woods.

“Tiger ruined a lot of guys’ lives,” Charles Howell III, a longtime friend of Woods who lived through those times, said earlier in the year. “He caused a lot of people some sleepless Sunday nights. But he also motivated an entire generation behind him.”

Howell’s point was that while the next generation might have been in awe of Woods, being outside the arena allowed them to study him without getting scarred. They learned from the way he worked. They were more prepared than the generation before them.

The talk at this British Open is that it is more open than ever.

But then, that’s been the case since Woods won his last major six years ago. Since that 2008 U.S. Open, 19 players have won majors, and no one has won more than two. In the 24 majors leading up to his last major, Woods won six, Phil Mickelson won three and no one else won more than one.

“Looking at the different amount of winners in the last five years at the major championships, we’re seeing so many players win,” Henrik Stenson said Wednesday. It’s so competitive. At some point there might have been 20 guys battling out for it. And now it feels like anyone in the field can win if they have a great week. So it’s definitely tighter.”

Stenson, No. 2 in the world and among the favorites this week, will be playing alongside Woods for the opening two days.

“He’s just one of the guys I need to beat if I want to do well this week,” Stenson said. “But it’s a good start if you know you can beat him.”

Woods is playing his first major of the year because of March 31 back surgery. Returning to Royal Liverpool was always the target – he won his third claret jug on these links in 2006 when it was brown and fast, not green and slower as it is this year. Woods came back sooner than he expected, missing the cut at Congressional three weeks ago in what had the feeling of a 36-hole rehab assignment.

He feels healthy. He feels strong. And he still commands a presence.

That much was clear when Woods played only two holes Wednesday as spectators scrambled for a view. He brings energy and excitement to a golf tournament.

Does he bring intimidation?

The Open is his next opportunity to see if he can regain the mystique that a younger generation has yet to experience. Matt Kuchar, who played a practice round with Woods on Sunday, doesn’t think it will take much. He’s not sure Woods ever lost it.

“The kids today grew up idolizing him,” Kuchar said. “He gets back on form again, I don’t think that intimidation factor is gone at all. These are the kids that grew up watching him and wanting to be him.”

Kuchar said it can be intimidating to play alongside, although Patrick Reed sure wasn’t flustered having Woods in the group ahead of him at Doral, and Spieth didn’t looked rattled when he shot 63 at Torrey Pines (the North Course) with Woods in his group.

Is there a difference between watching dominance on TV and seeing it in person?

“You’re saying a different intimidation for the guys who are now just coming up and just watched it on TV as opposed to my generation that were actually losing by 10 to it?” Kuchar said with a laugh. “I’m not sure. If I was to go shoot baskets with Michael Jordan right now, I would be pretty intimidated. So it’s probably similar. The guys that played against him and got scored 40 on probably have a similar feeling to me in the awe that surrounds a guy like that.”

It all unfolds on Thursday, where the only mystery greater than Woods in the English weather. The final day of practice featured sunshine and rain. Hoylake when it’s green is there to be attacked – it’s the only course on the Open rotation with four par 5s. The greens are not severe. The fairways are relatively flat, which makes them more fair.

All eyes will be on Woods, and there’s nothing unusual about that. The difference is that no one is sure what they will see.

HOYLAKE, England – Old Tom Morris would barely recognize the British Open these days.

It’s one thing for golf to evolve from gutta percha to polyurethane, from niblicks to hybrids, from hickory to graphite. Now the British Open is all about LED screens, apps and routers. Yes, there are wireless routers affixed to every grandstand at Royal Liverpool.

Leave it to the Royal & Ancient to be on the cutting edge of digital technology among major championships.

The British Open is believed to be the first major golf event to offer wireless in every grandstand, allowing spectators with mobile phone and tablets to watch the BBC coverage, track their favorite player through GPS, and get details through up-to-the minute scoring updates.

“The experience for our spectators will, I believe, be the best they have ever received,” said Peter Unsworth, chairman of the R&A’s championship committee. “Using their own smartphones and tablets, and our groundbreaking Wi-Fi network which is available in every grandstand, they will be able to enjoy live BBC television and radio coverage, live scoring and get news and updates without leaving their seat.

“The information available to our spectators has never been so readily available.”

And to think this major only three years ago banned cellphones from the golf course. Now they’re telling spectators they’re missing out if they don’t have them.

The R&A last year installed wireless signals as an experiment, with the source of streaming capabilities coming from London. It was so pleased with the result that it now has installed its own fiber optic network at most of the links courses where it holds The Open, starting with Hoylake.

Malcolm Booth, the R&A’s communications director, said the signal is strong enough for as many as 20,000 fans to stream video at the same time.

A popular theme at the R&A over the last two decades has been finding a balance between tradition and technology. R&A chief executive Peter Dawson always thought that would involve only equipment. Now he is trying to grasp a world of live streaming and second-screen channels.

“What it will be 10 years from now I can scarcely imagine,” Dawson said.

Traditions die hard at the oldest golf championship in the world, which dates to 1860. Tom Watson, a five-time champion who played his first British Open before Tiger Woods was even born, couldn’t help notice some of the changes during a practice round Monday.

“What happened to the yellow scoreboards?” he said.

For starters, the scoreboards changed from yellow to green years ago, but point taken. For the longest time, there was a manual scoreboard behind each green that showed the cumulative score of the players on that hole, and the scores of the group next to play.

Those are gone, replaced by LED screens that now give scores, news updates on the championship, and even a rules quiz during the practice rounds.

“They’re in the modern age,” Watson said.

Dawson said former championship committee chairman Jim McArthur was a strong advocate for getting up to speed with digital technology, and it then was turned over to Booth and the communications department.

Booth said it wasn’t a hard sell to the Royal & Ancient, though “there was a lot of explaining to do.”

“There was a need to explain how this could impact on the experience for spectators,” he said. “Having a radio at the Open is not new. People have been doing it for decades. Having a television picture on a hand-held device has been pretty common at big events like the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup. They were aware of these devices. What they weren’t sure about was how easy it was to take that technology and have it on each person’s phones.”

Oddly enough, it was at Royal Liverpool in 2006 when spectators took so many pictures with their phones that mobile devices were banned the following year. The R&A finally relented on that strict policy in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Now it has Wi-Fi networks, routers, live streaming, geofencing. Is there anything still ancient about the Royal & Ancient?

“Me,” Dawson said with a smile.

He retires next year after 16 years as chief executive, the last few years filled with technology changes he never imagined. He still likes the balance between old and new. The Open still is played on the same turf where Old Tom Morris and Willie Park Sr. vied for championships. The claret jug has been passed around for 86 years.

“But I think in the modern era,” Dawson said, “the way that people now embrace this technology is something that golf also has to embrace.”

HOYLAKE, England – Brendan Steele played in the final group at a major three years ago. Brendon de Jonge played in the Presidents Cup last year. They will be among 36 players making their debuts Thursday in golf’s oldest championship.

Is it too much to ask for them to go home with the claret jug?

Royal Liverpool is the least known of the links courses on the rotation – this is only its second time to host the Open since 1967 – though all links golf can be a mystery. Winning for the first time is not as unusual as it would be at Augusta National, where a first-timer has not won since 1979.

Even so, examples are rare.

Willie Park Sr. was the first to win on his debut, but only because 1860 was the first championship. Ben Curtis was the most recent in 2003 at Royal St. George’s. Among the candidates might be Patrick Reed, who at No. 30 is the highest-ranked player in the British Open for the first time.

Here are the five best debuts in Open history:

5. SAM SNEAD

Sam Snead was one of only three Americans who journeyed across the Atlantic in 1946 when the British Open was staged for the first time after World War II. Back then, Americans lost money playing the Open because first place paid only 150 pounds.

It’s safe to say the Slammer wasn’t terribly impressed when the train pulled in the home of golf.

“Say, what abandoned course is this?” he said to the man next to him.

That would be the Old Course at St. Andrews, and Snead quickly learned to respect the ancient ground. He opened with rounds of 71-70, pulled into a share of the lead with Johnny Bulla and Dai Reis with a 74, and then closed with a 75 to win by four shots over Bulla, a fellow American.

He did not return the next year.

4. TONY LEMA

Arnold Palmer gets credit for invigorating the Open when he came across in 1960 as part of his quest to win the Grand Slam. Since then, more Americans began playing golf’s oldest championship. His influence was a little more direct on Tony Lema.

The Bay Area native known as “Champagne” Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to play at St. Andrews in the 1964 British Open. Palmer talked him into it, though Lema asked if he could borrow Palmer’s putter and his caddie, Tip Anderson.

It was a winning combination.

Lema shot a 68 in the second round to take the lead, shot another 68 to stretch the lead and won by five shots over Jack Nicklaus. It was his fourth victory in a six-week span. Two years later, the rising American star died in a plane crash.

3. TOM WATSON

Tom Watson wasn’t a complete stranger to major championships when he showed up at Carnoustie in 1975, but he didn’t know much about links golf. A year earlier, Watson was 24 when he took the 54-hole lead at Winged Foot in the 1974 U.S. Open, only to close with a 79 and tie for fifth. A month earlier, Watson was the 36-hole leader at Medinah in the U.S. Open until a 78-77 weekend.

That changed in Scotland. Watson overcame a three-shot deficit to Bobby Cole in the final round and made a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 72 to tie Jack Newton, one shot ahead of Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller. In the playoff, Watson shot 71 for a one-shot victory over Newton.

That made him the third American to win the Open on his first try.

2. BEN CURTIS

Ben Curtis remains the longest of the long shots to win the British Open, accomplishing the feat in 2003. He was a 26-year-old rookie from Ohio who tied for 13th at the Western Open in Chicago. Back then, that was a primary avenue for Americans to qualify for the British Open.

No one really paid any attention to him all week, even though Curtis was never far from the lead. He was three behind going into the weekend, and two shots back of Thomas Bjorn going into the last round. Against an All-Star leaderboard that featured Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III and Sergio Garcia, Curtis closed with a 69 by making an 8-foot par putt on the last hole.

Then, he waited. The Open appeared to belong to Thomas Bjorn until he took three shots to get out of a bunker on the 16th hole. Curtis won by one shot, becoming the first player since Francis Ouimet in the 1913 U.S. Open to win a major on his first try.

1. BEN HOGAN

Ben Curtis was the long shot. For Ben Hogan, this was his only shot.

Hogan played a limited schedule since nearly losing his life in a car accident in 1949. But he was on top of his game in 1953, winning the Masters by five shots and the U.S. Open at Oakmont by six shots over Sam Snead.

Everyone had to qualify for the British Open in 1953, and Hogan was no exception.

He opened with rounds of 73-71 at Carnoustie, and then pulled into a tie for the lead with Robert de Vicenzo after a 70 in the third round. Completing a perfect year in the majors, Hogan closed with a 68 for a four-shot victory. He played in only three majors that year and won them all. Hogan could not play the PGA Championship because his battered legs would not allow him 36-hole matches; besides, British Open qualifying was the same time as the PGA that year.

In his one shot at the Claret Jug, Hogan won to complete the Grand Slam. It was the last major championship he won.

Talk about a double-double.

Canada’s David Hearn was added to the British Open field Tuesday after former champion Mark Calcavecchia withdrew. No official reason was given. However, Calcavecchia, who is also a past RBC Canadian Open champion, has been battling back problems for some time. He won the 1989 Open at Royal Troon, his only major.

Hearn, who was a first alternate and would almost certainly secure a spot in the field, headed to England after a tie for 45th at last week’s John Deere Classic.

About to board the charter to The Open as 1st alternate. Could be a long trip to drink some beers w/royalty! Wish me luck. #RBCHearn

— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) July 13, 2014

Making his first appearance at the British Open, the Brantford, Ont. native will join fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet at Royal Liverpool.

Hearn has made two previous appearances at golf’s majors. He finished tied for 21st at the 2013 U.S. Open and tied for 47th at last year’s PGA Championship.

Hearn will tee off at 10:10 am local time and play the first two rounds with three-time champion Nick Faldo and American Todd Hamilton, who won at Royal Troon in 2004.

DeLaet has a 12:54 pm local tee time and will tip-it-up with reigning RBC Canadian Open champion Brandt Snedeker and former number one ranked amateur Cheng-tsung Pan.

HOYLAKE, England – Two down, one to go. And for Justin Rose, it’s the biggest one of all.

Rose heads into the British Open as probably the hottest player in golf after winning back-to-back titles for the first time in his career, at the Quicken Loans National at Congressional and the Scottish Open over at the links at Royal Aberdeen.

Back at his career-high ranking of No. 3, he is playing as well as he ever has, and the experience of being a major champion – at the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013 – makes his case even more persuasive at Hoylake.

But he has failed to crack the top 10 at his home major since memorably finishing tied for fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, when he chipped in at the 18th at Birkdale. Rose missed the cut at three of the last four British Opens.

“Thousands of times I have won the Open Championship, in my mind,” Rose said. “This is probably the one I’ve dreamed about the most.”

For dreams to finally turn into a reality, Rose said he just has to stay in “the zone” and not get carried away with the expectations that predictably have been placed on him by a British public desperate for a triumph in an otherwise miserable sporting summer.

He doesn’t think that will be a problem – and he puts that down to winning at Merion.

“If I had been coming off a couple of wins and not won a major championship, I would be thinking, `Is this my opportunity to get it done?'” he said on Tuesday, appearing completely at home in his role as one of the big British Open favorites.

“It takes that little bit of pressure off me, the fact that it’s been done. I have one under my belt. The monkey is off my back … and I now have a model that works.”

Putting problems were once Rose’s weakness but if ever there was a demonstration to prove that is no longer an issue, it was on the front nine in the final round at the Scottish Open on Sunday.

Rose rolled in five birdies, from lengths varying from six to 25 feet, to pull away from the field and ease to his first victory in Europe in seven years. Playing partner Marc Warren said he watched on in awe.

“Justin has always been a great ball striker,” fellow Englishman Luke Donald said. “The only thing that has ever held him back is his putting, but he seems to be doing that a lot better now. He is a solid, solid player. World class.”

Rose was in the French holiday resort of St. Tropez the last time the British Open was staged at Hoylake, in 2006, when Tiger Woods claimed his third and most recent claret jug. Rose had failed to qualify for the third year in a row and was struggling to live up his promise.

It means the build-up to Thursday’s first round will be as much about familiarizing himself with the course than keeping his swing in shape.

Rose believes picking up shots on the par-fives will be one of the keys to success. But also just trusting the game that is closing him in on the No. 1 ranking.

“I was always trying to improve a part of my game to fit the golf course, where now I just build my strategy around what I’m good at,” Rose said.

“I am assuming if I did win this week, I’d go to No. 1. I’ve always said, for me, I’ve always focused more on winning major championships than chasing No. 1. That’s just a really nice by-product of your process.”

HOYLAKE, England – Tiger Woods was an early arrival to the British Open with hopes of avoiding an early departure.

Woods has played only two competitive rounds in the last four months because of back pain that led to surgery. That’s why he chose to get to England a day earlier than usual – Saturday – to get acclimated to links golf at Royal Liverpool.

It’s nothing like he remembers from his two-shot victory in 2006.

Hoylake was brown and dusty that year, and the ball was bouncing along at such speed that Woods hit only one driver the entire week. That was on the 16th hole, and the shot wound up on the 17th fairway. He still made birdie.

“The golf course is a little bit softer than what it was in `06,” Woods said on Tuesday. “I’ve played three practice rounds now and have had three different winds. So that’s been helpful to be able to see the golf course in different conditions.”

As an example of the change, Woods pulled out a driver on the par-5 fifth hole with the wind in his face. His tee shot landed in the fairway.

That he already has played three practice rounds has been encouraging.

Woods missed the cut at Congressional in his return to competition three weeks ago, though he was pleased that he felt no pain from March 31 back surgery. He even has been to the gym twice in the last couple of days.

Woods played 12 holes on Saturday and a full 18 on Sunday and Tuesday, taking a break Monday to work out and then go to the practice range.

“It’s one of the reasons why I came over a little earlier,” he said. ” I went to Geneva for a day with Rolex, but I came here a day earlier than I normally would to have an extra day in there, as well as possibly taking a day off, if need be. And it worked out.”

As for his goals? They haven’t changed.

When asked what would be a reasonable result in his first major of the year, Woods replied, “First.

“That’s always the case.”

The back surgery forced him to miss the Masters for the first time, and then the U.S. Open. The last time Woods had this much time off with so little competition before a major was in 2010 when he returned from the chaos in his personal life. He tied for fourth at the Masters.

It might help that he at least has won at Royal Liverpool, even if the course has changed dramatically.

Woods has changed, too.

His victory eight years ago produced more raw emotion than ever for Woods. It was his first major since the death of his father, Earl, two months earlier. He sobbed on the shoulders of his caddie and then his wife. Woods now has a different caddie and he is divorced.

“My life has certainly changed a lot since then,” Woods said. “That was a very emotional week. As you all know, I pressed pretty hard at Augusta that year, trying to win it, because it was the last time my dad was ever going to see me play a major championship. And then I didn’t play well at the (U.S.) Open – missed the cut there miserably. And then came here and just felt at peace. I really, really played well. On Sunday, I really felt calm out there.

“It was surreal at the time. I’ve had a few moments like that in majors where I’ve felt that way on a Sunday. And that was certainly one of them.”

The others were at the 1997 Masters, which he won by 12 shots; the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which he won by 15 shots; and 2000 British Open at St. Andrews, which he won by eight shots to complete the career Grand Slam.

Woods has won the career slam twice more since then, running his total to 14 majors by winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008 despite not having played in two months because of torn ligaments in his left knee and a double stress fracture in his left leg.

He said that victory, with the odds against him, should be a reminder not to count him out.

And he’s not ruling out his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus and his 18 majors. Woods, who is 38, was asked if he would play well into his 40s and even his early 50s if it meant a chance to break the Nicklaus benchmark.

“Hopefully, I have it done by then. But I’m really looking forward to that cart,” he said, referring to Champions Tour players being allowed to ride in a cart.