Tiger Woods will certainly be at St Andrews to chase glorious hat-trick, insists organisers of The Open

By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 10:48 AM on 27th April 2010

Organisers of The Open are certain Tiger Woods will be at St Andrews this summer as he aims to win a hat-trick of titles at the home of golf.

Woods spent five months out of the game after a series of revelations about his private life stunned the world of sport.

The world No 1 returned for the Masters earlier this month, and Open organisers see no reason why he won't be in Scotland this July.

Making his return: Tiger Woods played at the Masters earlier this month

Royal and Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson said : 'Entries close on May 27 and in a normal year he would not have entered yet.

'I am absolutely certain he will be with us.'

Woods will be in action again this week in North Carolina and has already committed himself to next week's Players Championship and June's US Open.

He has twice before won The Open in brilliant fashion at St Andrews, claiming victory by eight shots in 2000, and seeing off a challenge from Colin Montgomerie to win by five shots in 2005.

Glorious: Woods claimed victory at St Andrews in 2005

This year is the 150th anniversary of the first Open and celebrations include a four-hole past champions challenge on the eve of the tournament.

Seve Ballesteros was the first to put himself down for that, but whether his health enables him to return to the scene of his 1984 victory remains to be seen. The Spanish star is still recovering from four brain operations after the discovery of a tumour.

Oldest living champion: Kel Nagle won The Open at St Andrews 50 years ago

Nick Price (family reasons), Johnny Miller (other commitments) and 89-year-old Australian Kel Nagle, winner on the Old Course in 1960 and the oldest living champion, have all declined their invitations.

Dawson is still waiting to hear, however, from Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus. Norman has recently had shoulder surgery, but Nicklaus controversially said at Augusta he would only attend if the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of his sponsors, wanted him to.

There is still hope he will attend and Dawson pointed out that for those champions not competing in The Open itself travel and hotel costs are being picked up by the club.

Security arrangements for Woods are to be discussed with the police, as is always the case, and Dawson admitted he was glad Augusta National and not the R&A were 'guinea pigs' in staging the player's comeback.

'We will be watching what happens with Tiger and discussing the situation with the police,' he added. 'We always act on their advice.

'The Masters had a major problem in having no idea what to expect. If we had been first we would have been scratching our heads.'

Prize money has yet to be announced and could be affected by what happens to
the economy after next week's General Election.

The winner's cheque remained £750,000 last year and so there is little chance of the first £1million champion being crowned, as will be the case at Wimbledon this summer.