Champion Woods snaps at amateur photographers

HOYLAKE, England, July 24 (Reuters) British Open champion Tiger Woods complained about the amateur photographers he and playing partner Sergio Garcia had to contend with during final round.

''We had it at every hole,'' said the world number one after a closing 67 gave him a two-shot victory over fellow American Chris DiMarco and the 11th major of his career.

''We had never seen anything like it before. It wasn't the professional photographers, it was the gallery. They had cameras or camera phones.'' Woods said he and Garcia, who finished with a disappointing one-over 73, were constantly distracted yesterday.

''The cameras kept going off while we were over the shot or preparing to hit the shot, or even hitting the shot they were going off,'' said the 30-year-old American, who also won the British Open at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005.

''It was very frustrating for Sergio and I. Because of all the undue delays that we had with our caddies and the marshals trying to get a situation where we could play, we got put on the (slow play) clock.

''It wasn't our fault. It is just the way it was.'' Distractions or not, Woods said he was focused all week on catching Walter Hagen on 11 major wins. Only Jack Nicklaus is ahead of the pair with 18.

GAME PLAN He also explained the reasons why he spurned his driver on a fast-running and sun-baked Hoylake course.

''It is one of those things where you develop a game plan and stick with it, and I stuck with it the entire week,'' he said.

''I adjusted clubs off the tee because the wind conditions kept changing but, as far as the overall game plan, I never deviated. I went out there and executed my game plan.

''As I was playing the course (in practice), the driver would go 350, 370 yards. How can you control that?...you cannot control that,'' he said.

''The fairways are hard enough to hit as it is and you add the driver and they go that far, now how hard is it to hit? ''I felt in the end if I stayed out of the bunkers and had a decent week on the greens, I would be in contention on the back nine yesterday.'' Woods said his short game was good throughout the championship.

''I felt like I had a wonderful touch on the greens, except for the last nine holes on Saturday,'' he said. ''Other than that I felt my strategy was sound. It was going to keep me out of trouble.'' Woods said he would celebrate victory with several drinks later yesterday.

''This will be filled up, I'll tell you that,'' he said holding the famous Claret Jug. ''With the beverage of my choice and not just once.'' Reuters AD VP0425