Sport and Cinema.com

In St Andrews, the march of time and golfers goes hand in hand.

Throughout the year, the starter will call a fresh party of players to the tee every ten minutes – and send them on their way round a links course where the game has been played since the early 1400s.

At the British Open, it pays to stick to the rules – as Ian Woosnam famously learned the hard way in 2001.

Though not too many rounds of golf will ever have erupted into fisticuffs, this most gentlemanly of games needs its rules no less than the most rudely physical of sports.

Golf’s first rules, the Thirteen Articles, were devised in 1745 by the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, now the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Some of the originals have scarcely changed, with particular reference to the 12th Article – “He whose Ball lyes farthest from the Hole is obliged to play first.”

Can Tiger Woods return to golf glory by winning his third consecutive British Open title at St. Andrews? Is Ian Poulter poised to earn his first major title? What about Lee Westwood or Ernie Els earning the crown of the sport’s oldest major championship? Will Tom Watson or Nick Faldo come from yesterday for one more hurrah? These storylines and more begin playing out Thursday when the British Open tees off at the home of golf in Fife, Scotland.

Can Padraig Harrington win his third consecutive British Open title? Is Sergio Garcia poised to earn his first major title? Will Greg Norman or Colin Montgomerie come from yesterday for one more hurrah? These storylines and more begin playing out tomorrow when the 138^th British Open tees off at Turnberry’s Ailsa Course.