Monday
David Diaz, an Australian Tour player and something of a journeyman golfer from Down Under, showed up for his first practice round at the British Open Championship.

David was one of the qualifiers from events around the different tours of the world. Of course he was excited to qualify. But it also presented a problem for the struggling pro: it takes a lot of Aussie dollars to get over to St Andrews and set yourself up in accommodation for the week.

David had a great idea. He went on the e-bay website and offered the privilege of carrying his bag in the event for the week to the highest bidder. The said bidder was an Australian moneybroker based in the City in London who figured it was worth AUS$21,000 to carry the qualifier's bag over the hallowed turf for the week. I believe that the R&A were not too excited about the arrangement, but they were going to struggle to deal with the situation this year. I am sure there will be a rule in place for Hoylake next year to prevent such inventive caddying arrangements by qualifying players.

Tuesday

I am sure the R&A will put more effort into preventing the Diaz situation recurring that they will be looking after the caddie facilities at their prestigious event. Despite having access to the locker-room, due to the players' requests no doubt, not much has changed for the looper at the Open over the decades. Due to circumstances rather than thought, we got to eat up in town if our player gave us a long enough break between the round and practice session, given the proximity of the old grey town to the golf course. There are no facilities for us at the Open.

The R&A, in an official statement, reckon that it is good enough for us to queue up with the public, of which there are some 35,000 a day, to get a sandwich in our short breaks. These outlets were nowhere near where we were required to be by our players. We are not the public: we are a part of the event, however small, and it should not really be that difficult to make some minor arrangements for us porters to take a food break in civilised circumstances like they have done at the other three majors. It's good to know where you stand. Absolutely nowhere apparently.

Wednesday

5.40am and I hitch my bicycle to the fence beside the police cabin across the road from the R&A building. Security are not at their posts yet at St Andrews, so I enter the building without any inspection and have a little peek around the sacred rooms. My man appears a few minutes later ready for his practice round in preparation for the 134th Open.

Inside the old grey building, there was a serene calm given that this was the day before the start of the Open.

It was possible to see the valuable golf paintings hanging on the walls and other artefacts in the members' bar and the lockers of the past Open champions dotted around the rooms.

No matter how early you get up these days at a tournament there always seems to be someone ahead of you. Mark Calcavecchia was half-way around the old course by the time we got to the fourth tee. The tee is the first of four lengthened that add 167 yards to the course this year. The fourth is probably the weakest addition, favouring the very long hitter with a 280-yard carry over a mound and thick rough.

For the mere mortals they have to go left of this long carry unless the wind is assisting. The change favours raw power, not accuracy.

That is unlike the other additions, which are excellent, rewarding both power and accuracy. The 12th, in particular, brings the hole back to how it used to be up to 10 years ago. You now have to make a decision off the tee again, instead of the mindless driver which has been the case more recently.

By 10am we had completed our solitary practice round in relative peace. There were still plenty of autograph hunters on the prowl.

Thursday

6.30am and Doug Sanders arrives on the practice range looking resplendent in his crushed peach pants, patchwork quilted sweater and matching gaudy shoes. Either he was jet-lagged after his trip across the Atlantic or he doesn't need much sleep anymore. He would have caught your attention even if he was wearing the customary dour colours favoured by the Royal & Ancient members because his fly was wide open. To save any more embarrassment, my colleague Duncan greeted Mr Sanders and alerted him to his exposed fly.

Of course Doug was the unfortunate runner-up in 1970 when he missed a short putt on the last hole to hand the Open to Jack Nicklaus. Jack teed it up early today alongside another veteran, Tom Watson, and they both jumped straight onto the leaderboard with birdies on the first. Doug was combining both spectating and a bit of therapy, finally trying to put the demons of the twitchy putt he missed on the 18th 35 years ago to bed.

Friday

This was to be the day to mark the end of Jack Nicklaus's long association with the Open at St Andrews. A glorious day, and we happened to finish our round before Jack was to make his final crossing over the Swilken Burn Bridge and his last trip up the 18th as a competitor. It looked more like an amphitheatre surrounding the first and 18th holes of the Old Course as the Golden Bear strode up, hands aloft in appreciation of the respectful fans.

I left Retief on the practice putting green to take a look at Jack's nostalgic farewell. Not only was it a spectacular scene set by golf fans, but the players who came out to say goodbye to the legend were even more impressive. Nick Faldo went charging by me clutching his camera looking for a good vantage point. Nick Price, Chris DiMarco and may others were all gathered on the first tee applauding Nicklaus.

As if the golfing gods controlled the final act in Jack's Open championship play, he sank a 10-foot putt for birdie and bowed out of the Open with the dignity and pride with which he has always competed.

Saturday

Thomas Levet and his playing partner fell a little bit behind their allotted time of play according to the time schedule set by the R&A. So their accompanying official approached the players and alerted them that they were four minutes behind and asked them to try to hurry up. Levet's caddie thought that this was an excellent opportunity to get a dig in at the rather staid guardians of the game of golf. He replied that they (the R&A) are about 25 years behind so, in comparison, their two-ball were not doing too badly.

Sunday

The wind blew harder in the morning than it did later in the day, which wiped out the chance of any early challengers making an impression on the leaderboard.

A glance at the leaders and Sergio Garcia, who was warming up beside us on the range, remarked that all but one of the players in contention had played on Dunhill Cup teams around the Old Course in the past. Local knowledge is a key factor in St Andrews.

No one within sight of Tiger put the slightest pressure on him, which of course meant that the "Great One" could cruise around to a leisurely two-under-par final round and pick up his second Open around the Old Course, his 10th major and his seemingly renewed surge on the Nicklaus collection of 18 major titles. I wonder how close he will be to that figure when we come back to St Andrews next time?