Lee Westwood is almost in the veteran stage of his career, having been on tour for 16 years and experienced the game at all levels.

Westwood celebrates with suitable body language after a tour-de-force of intimidation at the Dubai Championship.

His round on Sunday to win the Dubai World Championship was one of the best I have ever seen from a professional and his persona all week spoke volumes of where his game is right now.

He has learnt so much over the roller coaster years. One of the keys to success that he has unlocked and so many find hard to grip is the ability to intimidate. Ali, Jordan and Schumacher come to mind as great examples.

If you are at the peak of your game, stand tall, impress on others your advantage and watch as the opposition crumble into submission.

Tiger is the finest example on the planet at the moment and he uses his presence in every tournament. Simply put, Tiger’s expressions say something like this: “I’m the best. You want me come get me if you think you are good enough.”

It doesn’t make the whole field go weak at the knees but some do, and that is a handy advantage to have before you even make to the first tee.

That’s exactly how Westwood carried himself this week and he knew it was working when Race to Dubai leader at the time Rory McIllroy finished his opening round with Westwood and declared: “I couldn’t wait to get away from him.”

It referred to just how well Westwood was playing but it was a compliment that showed McIllroy’s hand.

“He should never has said that and he will learn from it. You never give away that fear factor,” Westwood said.

It meant that Westwood’s intimidatory approach was working and he had the measure of his 20-year-old stable mate after day one when McIlroy was the man to catch.

The Englishman says McIllroy has some weaknesses in his game and I think he was not really referring entirely to his ability on course but some things he needs to learn when speaking publicly and the mind games seasoned pros play with the media at their disposal. He would do well to learn from Tiger the master.

It was a good lesson for the young Northern Irishman before he heads to the lions den that is the US PGA Tour next year and Westwood’s brutal assessment was aimed to help McIllroy not humiliate him.

Westwood just needs to bottle his approach over the holiday period and unload it next April at the Masters in Augusta. He may struggle to intimidate Tiger, in fact no one can, but the 36-year-old at least has an extra club in his bag that the rest of the field won’t have – it’s called intimidation.

Tiger Woods made a brief appearance in Dubai this week, not for the Dubai World Championship, but to inspect his course which has four completed holes.

Lee Westwood could overhaul Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings.

Its construction is on hold for the moment.

I wonder what discussions took place. It was very much an under-the-radar visit on his way home from winning the Australian Masters and I only found out from some players and agents I know quite well.

He’s gone home now so we can all focus on the season-ender for the European Tour and the sprint to grab the loot in the $15 million Race to Dubai.

I hosted the pro-am prize giving and opening celebration at the Atlantis on Tuesday night where all the players and their families attended.

They are all in a great spirits as they love coming here and making the top 60 to qualify for the richest event must be an awesome feeling.

The facilities around the course for the players and public are excellent, even if on the way out here the course appears from a landscape covered with ugly construction sites.

Lee Westwood, who has reached number five in the world after collecting a bucket of top ten finishes, is my pick to win the tournament and thus overhaul Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings and collect the $1.5 million bonus.

Lee’s only won once this year but I think we are going to see him break through with a major next year because he’s getting back to his best after months of hard work in the gym and on the practice range.

It’ll be a fitting finale if Lee and Rory battle it out to win the Race to Dubai as they have been the most consistent in Europe all season.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that Rory is only 20-years-old because he carries himself as if he has been on tour for 10 years instead of only being in his second.

His level of maturity is part of the reason why he copes so well with the pressure of competing at this level and the growing of expectation of him from the public and the media.

It’s been a long year for all the players like Rory and the organizers of the Dubai World Championship so I hope we get an exciting finish come Sunday.

I am a Melbourne boy at heart - the southern Australian city was where I as born and learned to play golf.

Tiger's appearance in the Australian Masters is rivalling the Melbourne Cup in its sporting significance for the locals.

And like thousands of Melbournians I am thrilled that Tiger Woods is paying a visit to play in the Australian Masters. Sadly I am writing this from London and not from the media center at the course but I am still excited for Australian golf fans.

There will be thousands more spectators paying a visit to the magnificent Kingston Heath just to catch a glimpse of the world number one in action and many more watching on TV.

He hasn’t paid a visit down under for 11 years and he has achieved a lot since then and is now the biggest sports star on the planet.

He brings local and global attention like no other sportsperson and arguably movie star - remember he makes appearances all week and not just a one off on the red carpet.

With that in mind, it will prove to be a great investment by the Victorian Government and some corporate sponsors to pay Tiger’s $3m appearance fee.

My father is the Managing Editor for Rupert Murdoch’s Herald and Weekly times in Melbourne and he says that Tiger is bringing just as much excitement to the city as the Melbourne Cup horse race –- and that’s a big statement of interest in Tiger.

Nothing has ever come close to overshadowing the adrenalin surrounding the Melbourne Cup!

It also means those who don’t really follow golf are interested too.

But horse racing is much bigger in Australia right now than golf and hopefully Tiger will help spark the interest in the sport like Greg Norman did during his heyday.

The top prize for winning the Masters is just AUS$270,000 ($250,000) - part of the reason why top global pros don’t make the long journey down under for the event.

It seems odd that one player is getting 12 times the money of the winner’s cheque for just showing up but that debate is for another time if you ask me.

While Australia doesn’t have a Shark to boost the game it will have to settle for a pricey Tiger.

There was a time when Tiger Woods, by comparison in the build-up to his appearance in stroke play events, never really rated a mention as a big threat in the Ryder Cup –- his performance was always below par in team events.

Tiger Woods finally became a team player in the Presidents Cup.

The discussion was mostly about why he hadn’t clicked in the team format.

Not anymore! He whacked the Internationals in the Presidents Cup by pocketing maximum points – or going 5 and O as they say at the bar in the clubhouse.

I was at a Ryder Cup "Year to Go" function in October at the Celtic Manor where European captain Colin Montgomerie and USA captain Corey Paven shared some time together to asses the course.

They spoke a day after the USA retained the Presidents Cup and of course Tiger’s name came up.

“Yeah that’s great news for us that he’s finally worked out the team game,” Monty said with a wry smile.

“It’s not a good thought when you know that they have to get 14 and a half points to win and Tiger already has 5 in the bag before you tee off.”

You might take that as a defeatist attitude but I think Monty will be happy to let everyone focus on talking Tiger up, while I don’t think he’ll be too concerned for several reasons.

Even if Tiger is in top form the circumstances at the Celtic Manor will be vastly different than the set up in San Francisco for the Presidents Cup.

The obvious is the crowd – we know it will be in favor of Europe, that’s a big factor on its own. From what I have seen the layout of the Celtic Manor will make for a cauldron atmosphere because of the elevation around various holes. The crowd will have a bigger hand in this result than other European Ryder Cup venues.

Throw in more variables like many European players knowing the Celtic Manor course as its featured as a venue for the Wales Open before.

And then throw in a dose of some Welsh weather. In October next year it will be cold, often very cold and probably wet, not something US players generally deal with or like a lot.

It takes a lot to tame Tiger, Monty knows that, but he also knows he’s got a few more things going in his favour being on home soil.

The European Tour took a giant leap of faith in Dubai when it decided to join forces with a developer and create the $20 million Race to Dubai concept.

European tour players, Justin Rose, Darren Clarke, Srgio Garcia and Martin Kaymer with Leisurecorp sponsorship at the race to Dubai launch.

And why wouldn’t it. It was a chance to keep pace with the US PGA and finally embrace a concept where they could attract more top class players from the USA to its tour.

No one else in the world was prepared to offer that sort of money to the tour at the time.

The RTD (race to Dubai) brought with it the world’s richest tournament in the Dubai World championship – a marketing dream for the tour.

“It’s locked in – a five-year-deal and so is the money” we were told with great confidence by tour officials and Leisurecorp during the announcement a few years back.

Those assurances proved to be quite hollow.

Sadly European Tour boss George O’Grady has spent the last few months trying to save the concept from being completely wiped out before the end of the first season.

Leisurecorp is now no longer a solo operation and parent company Nakheel oversees everything. Nakheel is debt laden and from what I have been told spending a vast fortune on the Race to Dubai is seen as very undesirable.

With that in mind, a 25 per cent reduction in the total prize pool for the Dubai World Championship and the Race to Dubai is not a bad result to be honest. It could have been a lot worse my sources tell me.

The same players who told me about the prize money reduction before it was announced are also warning that the Race to Dubai will be nothing more than a bad memory for the European Tour next year. It will be back to where it started with the old Order of Merit system and now multi-million dollar prize pool.

I really do hate being the bearer of bad news but it’s hard to avoid in the world of professional golf at the moment.

When I learned from a source in the golf industry that the prize fund was to be cut in the Race to Dubai, the European Tour’s $20 million pot of gold it put on offer in 2007, I was hardly surprised.

The Race to Dubai has not turned out as George O'Grady had planned.

Leisurecorp, the company behind the original concept, has pretty much been taken over by parent company Nakheel - which is more concerned about taking care of its debt than a glamorous golf event.

I think European Tour CEO George O’Grady, whom I have met and interviewed several times and found to be an extremely intelligent and dedicated man, must be seething.

The initial deal was for the Race to Dubai to be locked up for a minimum of five years with an option to extend – it was a defining moment for the European Tour.

They had the world’s richest golf tournament in the palm of their hands!

Finally, the Tour had some serious clout in order to attract big name players to the circuit away from the PGA in the U.S., but it all banked on Dubai sticking by its agreement - which all looked good before the credit crunch hit home.

The Tour re-branded itself on the back of the deal and moved its international headquarters to Dubai.

But now O’Grady will announce a serious back track after months of negotiations failed to get Nakheel excited about pouring such vast sums of money into a sporting event.

Leisurecorp has hemorrhaged – it has laid off staff, reduced prize money at another tournament it runs (the European Open) and its property portfolio in Dubai is in the dumps.

The Race to Dubai was another example of the Emirate wanting to put its name on everything where they could boast was the biggest and the first – but sadly on this occasion it hasn’t worked and many people in the wider game of professional golf will be hurting for a long time.

When Ai Miyazato entered the press room ahead of the Women’s British Open at Royal Lythm and St. Annes there was a frenzy of activity from Japanese cameramen and journalists.

Stand-in LPGA commissioner Martha Evans has a tough job on her hands.

It was an exciting sight and was certainly inspired by her win at the Evian Masters the previous week.

But shortly after, when world number one Lorena Ochoa entered the room to give her story in the build up to the last major championship of the year, there was hardly anyone in the room.

I couldn’t believe that a player of such caliber could draw so little attention – there were only 10 or 12 journalists in the room and it was a press conference before a major championship! It lasted 10 minutes.

It is hard for me not to compare that to when Tiger Woods walks in the room, especially before a major championship, people are hanging from the rafters to make sure they don’t miss a moment of the press conference, which is an event in itself.

I thought that sadly the lack of attention to Ochoa was a reflection of the state of the women’s game and the general lack of interest from the press and public.

The LPGA has lost 7 tournaments since 2007, its last commissioner resigned a few weeks ago after a stint that came with plenty of controversy and sponsors are heading for the door.

Before Carolyn Bivens resigned as commissioner she tried to introduce a policy that all Asian players should learn to speak English before being allowed their LPGA player’s card.

The suggestion went down as more laughable than a duffer’s air swing in a pro am and given that Asian players have won 9 times on the LPGA tour this year perhaps the field should be learning to speak either Korean or Japanese if anything.

If it wasn’t for Asian players like Miyazato bringing something to the women’s game in the U.S. and helping with exposure in the Far East then it would be in a tragic state.

I spoke with stand-in LPGA commissioner Martha Evans before the British Open about the state of the LPGA. She put on a brave face saying that it was tough times for all sports when it came to attracting sponsorship.

Evans is a former Rear Admiral in the US Navy so she is used to sailing through stormy waters and at this moment she is the captain of a very leaky boat and I hope she has a few ideas in mind to stop it hitting rock bottom.

When the field of 156 players hit the links on Thursday for the Open Championship for the first round they might have thought they were on the coast of Florida.

Curtis drives from the first tee unaware of the nightmare that awaits.

Come Friday and they definitely know they are in the heartland of links golf in Scotland as the weather is combining with the course to ruin plenty of dreams of holding the Claret Jug come Sunday.

It’s blustery here but not too cold and the first 10 holes are proving a real nightmare for everyone as they head out straight into the breeze. We are going to see some erratic scoring today.

America's Ben Curtis is the best example so far of the course biting back. He was one shot off the lead yesterday on 5 under but, after an opening nine that came from the book of golf's worst nightmares with seven over par holes, today will post a 10 over 80 and may very well miss the cut.

On the other hand American Steve Marino managed a 2 under 68 after heading out early for a tournament total of 5 under and will comfortably take part over the final two days of the Open.

Not only will there be plenty of interest in how the field copes with the conditions but Tom Watson will have a huge following.

The 59-year-old will need all his experience today if he is going to manufacture anything like Thursday’s sparkling round of golf.
In all it should be a fantastic day of golf to watch.

Younger players often pay many compliments to the elder statesmen of the game but I think Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy have found the fluffiest way to honour two great players.

A three-day-old 'Labradoodle' for those unsure of their appearance.

Both own Labradoodle dogs (a cross between a Labrador and a poodle) and during a recent round together they discovered something in common.

McIlroy named his dog Theo, after Ernie Els, the South African who’s full name is Theodore Ernest Els.

While Kim named his dog Norman in honor of the Shark who is Greg Norman, the great Australian two-time major champion.

Norman (the player not the dog) responded to news at the British Open Championship of being given “naming rights” to McIllroy’s dog with the following: “Does that mean when he gets mad at the dog he is actually mad at me?”

Let’s just hope both younger players don’t lose the Open to either elder opponent  in a play-off – or both animals might be called mongrels when they get home!

Now down to the business of the first round. Who would have thought that  the oldest player in the field and one who was involved in the most dramatic Open Championship duel in 1977 would be right up on the leaderboard on day one.

Tom Watson, who is 59-year-sold, yes that’s right 59! must have been on an adrenalin rush when he played on Thursday.

He was perhaps driven by that famous Duel in the Sun in ’77 with Jack Nicklaus that saw Watson come out on top by the slimmest of margins.

Five under 65 on a course that is vastly longer and the fairways much tighter than ’77 showed up the rest of the field during the early stages.

Whatever happens for the rest of the day it will be a talking point leading into Friday.