Tiger Woods in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Tuesday

Tiger Woods, who is looking to win his first major of 2007 at 89th PGA Championship commencing Thursday, would not have it on Tuesday that he is, as the American magazines are saying here, the most influential athlete in the world at the moment. To him, the suggestion is “funny” in the light of David Beckham’s arrival to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“I don’t see how Beckham didn’t beat me,” he said. “As far as global figures go, he’s probably far more global than I am. You know, golf is not played all around the world.”

Last week in Akron, Woods had all the incentive, which goes with trying to defeat Rory Sabbatini, the South African who had been putting it about that Woods was eminently beatable.

Padraig Harrington, who is attempting to win his second major of the season, confirmed on Tuesday that he has ordered a thousand copies of the 18th-hole flag from Carnoustie along with three replicas of the Claret Jug. That little lot would have cost him around £70,000.

Harrington has as good a sense of humour as any of them and on Tuesday he was recalling his introduction on his first tee at Akron last Thursday.

“In the 24 hours leading up to it,” he explained, “I’d been telling everyone how I was working on not getting emotional when they called me ‘Open champion’ because I didn’t want to be distracted.”

Colin Montgomerie, who did nothing to write home about last week in Akron, was working with Pete Cowen on the range on Tuesday.

At Carnoustie, he had two coaches on the go and was being teased mercilessly by his fellow players. Here the situation would seem to have been resolved. Cowen is the ‘away’ coach, Denis Pugh the ‘home’ coach.