TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 15 (UPI) -- The world's best golfers gather Thursday for the start of the British Open, being played just down the road from where it was first contested 149 years ago.
Tiger Woods will be trying for his first major title of the year on a course with which he was unfamiliar until this week.
For the first time since 1994, the tournament is being played on the Turnberry links on the west coast of Scotland, less than 20 miles from Prestwick. It was at Prestwick in 1860 that Willie Park shot 174 over 36 holes to win the inaugural event.
Since then, only four players -- Tom Morris Jr., Jamie Anderson, Robert Ferguson and Peter Thomson -- have won the British Open three straight times.
Padraig Harrington will attempt to join that group this week, having won the last two events at Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale.
A field of 156 players will challenge the Turnberry course, including 22 major championship winners.
Woods has not won a major crown since recovering from last year's reconstructive knee surgery. He finished tied for sixth this year at both the Masters (won in a playoff by Angel Cabrera) and U.S. Open (captured by first-time major winner Lucas Glover).
Woods will be paired for the first two rounds with Lee Westwood and Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa.
Harrington, who has struggled since winning this event a year ago, will play his first two rounds in the company of former U.S. Open champions Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy.
This year's tournament will be without Phil Mickelson, who will miss his first major event since the 1994 Masters. Mickelson's wife and mother are both undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
A chance of light to moderate showers is in the forecast for all four days of the tournament.
