2006 135th Open Golf Championship Tiger Tries to Get Back on Course By Associated Press - July 19, 2006 135th Open Championship HOYLAKE, England -- The lazy atmosphere of late afternoon on the day before the British Open transformed into a minor frenzy in front of the Royal Liverpool clubhouse Wednesday. Photographers scrambled for position in front of the practice green. Fans strolling toward the gates fought for a view behind the ropes. Even some of the players stopped what they were doing to watch. Tiger Woods Tiger Woods has his sights set on his third Open Championship victory. Getting a glimpse of Tiger Woods has been rare this week. He arrived at Royal Liverpool on the weekend when there were no crowds, playing Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The next two days, he teed off so early that he was done before most fans arrived at the course. On Wednesday, he didn't even play, showing up in the late afternoon to hit balls on the range and stroke a few putts. It will be more important to be seen on the weekend -- any time this weekend. The defending champion at the British Open, Woods will be trying to bounce back from missing the cut in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where consecutive rounds of 76 sent him home early for the first time in a major. "I took a lot of time off prior to the U.S. Open and I wasn't hitting the ball as well as I wanted to in competition," Woods said. "But I fixed those mistakes prior to the Western (Open), and I got back into the competitive flow again." Woods was in jeopardy of another missed cut at the Western Open two weeks ago until shooting 67-66 to work his way up the leaderboard, and he got within one shot of Trevor Immelman until finishing two behind. Still, it was a step in the right direction, especially going to the British Open. "It's nice when you play four rounds," he said. "I had two extra days there at the Western to get back into the flow of things, and the weekend I played great. So I feel like I'm back into playing again after taking such a long time off." The reason for the long layoff -- he has played only six competitive rounds since the Masters -- was the May 3 death of his father. Woods still cannot shake questions about his father, how he is coping and how long it might take him to come to terms. But in this case, some of the questions brought back good memories, and pertinent ones.