Tiger's wild preparation the key for British Open | Thebigtip

Woods braces wild conditions - from Darren Walton in St Andrews, Scotland from foxsports.com.au

Eager to make up for lost time, Tiger Woods braved "unplayable" conditions on his much-hyped return to St Andrews ahead of the British Open.

Bidding to become the first player in 150 years to win three British Opens at the home of golf, Woods missed valuable links course practice after making a mad dash from a pro-am in Ireland back home to Florida to see his children.

The embattled world No.1 only arrived in Scotland after a return overnight flight, but still made his noon tee time - despite most of his rivals conceding to the savage 80kph winds that lashed the famous Old Course.

"It was as bad as it ever gets,'' 2002 Open champion Ernie Els said.

"I did four holes going out and four coming in. It was crazy.''

The year's third major gets underway on Thursday and Royal & Ancient boss Peter Dawson admitted the course "would have been unplayable'' had the wild winds blown four days later.

"The balls were moving right off the 11th green and we'd have had to have suspended play if we'd had conditions like this for the championship,'' Dawson said as Woods fled the 18th green, seeking shelter from both the wild weather and the waiting tabloid scrum.

Read more