Peter Williams: Open title to Tiger if history repeats

The first major golf championship I ever attended was the 1986 British Open. That year it was played at Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, and this week the 138th version of the Open Championship, to give the tournament its proper name, will be played there again.

My first experience of watching a major was a privileged one. For a start, a former TV One colleague who'd become a big shot at the BBC arranged a media pass, even though I didn't actually do any work.

Then Greg Turner, playing in what was the first of his 11 Open Championships, needed a few itinerant Kiwis to help pay the rent at the house he'd taken for the week in nearby Ayr.

About five of us were more than happy to chip in and the payoff came when Greg played seriously well for the first couple of rounds.

These were the days before professional golfers were totally indulged and only the better performing ones were afforded privileges.

While the unheralded Doug Batty had a Lexus at the US Open just because he was in the field, Turner's 73 and 71 at the Open Championship 23 years ago, placing him sixth at the halfway stage, entitled him to a courtesy car, with driver, to take him to the course on Saturday.

Greg and his caddy Trevor Herden - now tournament director for Golf Australia - squeezed in the front and the hangers-on crammed in the back. Turnberry had terrible access, just one narrow winding road.

Public traffic backed up bumper-to-bumper on the left side but we had the motorcycle escort down the right side, straight into the players' car park next to the locker rooms.

Turner faded over the weekend - it was seriously windy - and finished in a tie for 35th with, among others, Tom Watson and Gary Player, but we loved the convenience of that courtesy car.

Greg Norman was in a class of his own that year and won by five shots despite shooting just even par. Remarkably, Norman led every major championship after three rounds in 1986, but won only at Turnberry.

The Open's been played at this course just three times but each winner has been, or would soon become, the number one player in the world. Watson beat Jack Nicklaus by one shot in 1977, Norman's win nine years later included a 63 in round two while Nick Price won a low scoring affair in 1994 - after Turner had actually been the first round leader with 65.

So the Open Championship's history at Turnberry suggests we look no further than the world's best to find the winner. Tiger's not arriving in Scotland until today and won't play any lead-up events, serious or social.

He'd hope it's just coincidence but his three victories this year have all come two weeks before a major championship and in his last event before the major. Tiger couldn't quite win the Masters or the US Open, so he'll be keener than ever to stop that sequence and win in Britain for the fourth time.

In these demanding economic times, the Open Championship is stoically recession proof. The purse this year remains at £4.2 million (about $11m), the same as last year. The winner's paid £750,000, more than 10 times what Greg Norman collected when I watched him 23 years ago. Our host that week in 1986 banked £3168 for 35th. He'll be glad we helped pay his rent.