Damned if you do....

THIS has been a week of fine-tuning. Already I’ve already had two practice rounds and am well settled into my hotel and down to the hard work involved in preparing for an Open Championship.

Unfortunately, Caroline isn't here this week, she's taking things easy with the birth of our first child now only little more than a month away.

I had a good look at the Royal St George's links a couple of weeks ago and if anything it's even better and tougher now. It's a very traditional links layout. Of all the Open courses I have played, this is the one that will suit the golfers brought up playing links as opposed to stadium golf. That, of course, includes me.

There's a lot of run and a lot of bounce and it's undulating so that balls will land on the fairways but run away into the rough.

To reacquaint myself with links golf, last week I played a few games at Portmarnock with my old amateur partner Jody Fanagan. With the Irish Open at Portmarnock as well next week, I really am hoping to feel very much at home in these kinds of conditions.

However, this week it will be more of a psychological battle. It's a scene for strong minds and I am confident it will play to some of my strengths. I don't get too stressed about good and bad breaks.

This is my eighth Open Championship and reflecting on the previous seven I have to say they contained some great moments. Obviously there has been a lot of varying comments about last year at Muirfield, so let's begin there.

2002: Muirfield yes, I have to admit this was a great chance lost, but I still have good memories from there. It was the first major I walked away from saying I'm good enough to win. It's quite a step to cross that barrier.

I couldn't get the ball in the hole all week but I struck it really well from tee to green. However, I let myself down big time in a couple of areas. When the weather cut up rough on the Saturday afternoon, I wasn't ready. I had no hat, no hand warmers. I think I was level par through the first four but then we had a 10 minute wait on the tee at the short fifth. When it came to my turn to play, my hands were frozen and I took a double bogey. If I had the right equipment with me, I wouldn't have dropped six shots in five holes.

After that, I badly needed a birdie on the par five ninth. I hit a beautiful iron for my second shot but the ball stopped dead, short of the green. I didn't get up and down.

On the Sunday, I hit precisely the same shot but this time it released and went over the back. Once again, I took three more to get down. Two priceless shots gone and it's something my coach Bob Torrance keeps reminding me of.

Still, take out the five holes in the bad weather and there were only two swings that week I was unhappy with. Later on again on the final afternoon, I crunched this three iron out of a sandy divot on the 17th. I could not have hit it better. It stopped dead on the green though, a long way from the flag and my eagle putt was right in the jaws but stopped on the lip.

And so the 18th, the hole everybody talks about. Quite simply, I reckoned I needed a birdie to get to seven under and so put pressure on Ernie Els.

I still thought he'd finish eight under but at least that would give him something to think about. I had hit a three iron from the tee all week but as I'd been hitting the driver perfectly all day, I decided to go for it.

I felt I had to go with the driver. There are two huge issues here and it comes down to experience and maturity. The idea is that the more experienced and mature guy would lay up, that the less mature would rely on the old culture and have a go.

Remember Chip Beck at the Masters a few years ago? He laid up at 15 and was vilified when it didn't work. Remember David Toms at the USPGA a couple of years ago? He laid up and got the putt. Hero. Which is the right thing to do? Anyway, I went for broke and came unstuck. Still, I could live with myself and didn't feel any great sense of disappointment until I was packing my bags and discovered Ernie was coming back to us. Yes, it was a chance lost because that play-off was there to be won.

1996: Royal Lytham St Anne's this remains the most exciting week of my golfing life. Firstly, the R&A looked after me and gave me a great match playing with Fred Couples and Mark McCumber.

Remember it was my rookie year and my first Open and I was really working off adrenalin. I was up there all week among the top 15 or so and because I had such an attractive draw, we always had big galleries.

I'll never forget the final hole of the second round. The stands were full, the fairways were lined. I put my second shot in a bunker to the right of the green and then holed the recovery for a birdie. The roar from the crowd was absolutely deafening and made the hair stand on the back of my neck. It was a fairytale, quite unbelievable. I dropped a few shots towards the end of the final round but still finished 18th. Not bad for a first timer!

1997: Royal Troon another good Open. I played okay but it was nothing like the previous year. It was down to one great round, a 66 on the final day that bumped me up to fifth. I played with Ernie Els and we had a big crowd.

The fairways were hard, the crowd was huge and I was playing really well. And then we reached the 11th tee and had to wait there for 10minutes or so. The 11th is a really tough hole with the railway line and out of bounds on the right, thick rough on the left. It's a hole that can really destroy a round.

As we stood there, an R & A official, who was only trying to be nice, told us Darren Clarke had gone out of bounds at the second. It was the last thing I needed to hear. at that moment. I started to wonder how Darren could have gone OB (he had a shank as it transpired) instead of concentrating on how to get my ball on the fairway. Anyway, I managed it and then offset three putt bogeys at 13 and 15 by chipping in for eagle at 16. Fifth was a great finish at that stage of my career but in truth it was all down to that last round and wasn't as good as Lytham where I was in the picture throughout the four days.

1998: Royal Birkdale I had just changed coaches, Bob Torrance for Howard Bennett and in truth, wasn't ready or prepared for it and missed the cut. My short game was very poor.

1999: Carnoustie all the talk was about the course set-up, but it didn't bother me. I wasn't playing great but I hung in there and finished 29th. Nothing very exciting and my greatest memory of the week was Jean Van de Velde's mishap at the 18th. We were good friends at the time and what happened to him was very sad and has had many repercussions in the meantime.

2000: St Andrews I usually play well at the "home of golf" but putted poorly there until winning the Dunhill Links last October. I struggled a bit on the greens but finished 20th and that's not too bad when your game is off a bit. Strangely, I have no memories of the week, my playing partners. nothing at all.

2001: Royal Lytham & St Anne's I arrived at Lytham with a lot of expectations. I knew the course, it had been good to me and so to finish back in a share of 37th made this my first really disappointing Open. I employed a driving iron that week. I still have it and it may well be in the bag this time as well.