Golf: Campbell up with the birds

New Zealander Michael Campbell filled the shoes of absent world golf No 1 Tiger Woods when practice began for the British Open this week.

One recent tradition at the Open ended on Monday because of Woods' absence through injury.

It meant he was not the first out at the crack of dawn in the first full day of practice at Royal Birkdale.

That honour went to the out-of-form Campbell, who set off just after 6.30am.

"I can see why he does it," Campbell told journalists after finishing.

"There was nobody around the first tee at all and even now it's quiet and peaceful."

Campbell finished fifth in the British Open at St Andrews in 2005 only a month after winning that year's US Open.

But his best British Open was a decade earlier when he led by two strokes with a round to go and missed out on the playoff between John Daly and Costantino Rocca by a single stroke.

- NZPA