Does it Pay to Prepare for the Open in the UK?

How many PGA Tour stars flew over to the United Kingdom early to prepare for the Open Championship this year, and did it pay off?

In the last few years quite a few American PGA Tour players have flown over to the UK a week before the Open Championship (British Open) to play in the Scottish Open, to prepare for the next week's Open Championship. In the past, several Americans have done very well in the Scottish Open.

This year, however, most Americans and other PGA Tour stars fared poorly in the Scottish Open, with most of them missing the cut! Some notables who missed the cut after Friday's round included Phil Mickelson, J.B. Holmes, Steve Marino, Lucas Glover, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Camilo Villegas.

One American who surprised everyone by making the cut was John Daly, along with Tom Lehman.

But does a player have to do well in the Scottish Open to do well in the Open Championship? Not necessarily. Keep in mind that by flying over a week early, players get the chance to get used to the time change and the weather a week ahead of time, so there are no last minute surprises.

Even if they don't make the cut at the Scottish Open, they get two additional days to visit the Open Championship site, which is the Old Course at St. Andrews this year, and become familiar with the course and the playing conditions a week early.

The question of the week seems to be, "Where is Tiger Woods this week?"

He did not enter the Scottish Open, and he is not playing in any tournament in America this week. My guess is that Tiger has gone directly to St. Andrews to prepare for the Open Championship. What is strange is that I can't find any mention online about what Tiger is doing this week to prepare, if anything.

I have personally been recovering from foot surgery lately, and have not been able to follow the golf news much in the last three weeks. St. Andrews is one of Tiger's favorite courses in the world, and if he is going to put his marriage troubles behind him and start once again making it his goal to surpass Jack Nicklaus' 18 major wins, next week at the Open Championship would be the perfect time for him to do so.

If anyone can enlighten me as to what Tiger is doing to get ready for the Open Championship this past week, I would be very interested in finding out.