Tiger Woods getting an early start on British Open

Tiger Woods isn’t wasting much time with sleep as he prepares for the start of the British Open on Thursday.

For the last few days, the world’s top-ranked golfer has been waking up at the crack of dawn, eager to start his practice rounds.

“I like getting up early, especially when the sun comes up at 4 in the morning here,” he told reporters. “Its hard to sleep in.”

Muirfield officials have been holding him back a bit, with no golfers allowed to tee off until 7 a.m. while the grounds crew grooms the course. Still, Woods has been pleased with his time in Scotland so far.

The sore elbow that caused him to miss the last two tournaments on the PGA Tour is holding up well.

“It’s one of the good things of taking the time off to let it heal and get the treatment and therapy on it,” he said. “The main reason was that coming over here the ground is going to be hard, obviously, and I’m going to need that elbow to be good.”

Asked about his confidence level heading into the tournament, he said: “I’ve had a pretty good year this year so far; won four times. Even though I haven’t won a major championship in five years, I’ve been there in a bunch of them where I’ve had chances. I just need to keep putting myself there and eventually I’ll get some.”

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