Exit Pete Sampras and Venus Williams. Enter Tiger Woods. The focus of the British sporting summer switches from Wimbledon to St Andrews this coming week. From tennis to golf.

And with no Anna Kournikova to divert attention, most eyes will be on one of the few people in world sport to earn more than the Russian glamour girl - and win a little more often too.

Five weeks after capturing the US Open by an astonishing 15 shots - the biggest one-man show in major championship history - Woods has the chance to write himself another entry in the record books.

And, fittingly, the opportunity arrives at the most historic and atmospheric arena the sport has to offer, The Old Course, the home of golf.

At 24 and in only his 15th Major as a professional, Woods can become just the fifth player ever and the youngest to complete a career Grand Slam following Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Legends all.

Having also won the 1997 US Masters by 12 strokes, the world number one has taken a vice-like grip on the sport.

Golf, it was thought prior to Woods' arrival on the scene and even after that phenomenal Masters display as observers waited to see if it was a one-off fluke, was too competitive, too unpredictable and too open to the vagaries of the weather and luck to allow one player to separate himself from the rest.

After all, between the 1994 US PGA championship and 1999 US Open, 20 Majors were won by 19 different players.

Then Woods added the US PGA last August - only by one from Sergio Garcia that time - and now he has the US Open as well, plus a string of tournament titles too long to list.

Can he be stopped on the links where John Daly showed five years ago that the further you can hit the ball the easier it is?

He is an astonishing 15-8 favourite with some bookmakers, odds unheard of for a gathering of the world's best players. Ernie Els is second favourite at a distant 14-1.

But they are justified. Every single one of his rivals knows that if he hits top form, Woods can blow them away, just like he did at Augusta and Pebble Beach.

The weather might play a big part, however. If Woods unluckily gets himself at the wrong end of the draw - he was at the right end at Pebble - even he can struggle. He is good, but not that good.

And if that happens, then British interest should be maintained to the end, unlike Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Kevin Keegan's lot, of course.

It ought not to be forgotten that Scotland have the defending champion. Woods finished seventh at Carnoustie last year (and had his defensive tactics questioned by officials afterwards) and instead the central characters were ranked 152nd and 159th in the world.

The former was Jean Van de Velde, three clear with one hole to play until he decided to change from being a champ to a chump.

You could laugh or you could cry as he stumbled his way to a triple-bogey seven, but Aberdeen's Paul Lawrie was the beneficiary as his brilliant closing 67 suddenly brought him into a play-off and he won it against Justin Leonard as well as Van de Velde with two further birdies.

With his victory Lawrie, who had come through the qualifying competition, earned £350,000, qualified for the Ryder Cup team and changed his life instantly.

Van de Velde became a celebrity as well and also got into the Ryder Cup. He does not have to qualify this time either, but challenge for the title again? Unlikely.

Lawrie will be seen as a long shot as well. Britain's top three remain Lee Westwood, winner of his last two tournaments and up to a best-ever fourth in the world, Order of Merit leader Darren Clarke and, naturally, Colin Montgomerie, Europe's number one for the last seven years.

Westwood and Clarke have both beaten Woods this year and all three have led Majors in the past - Westwood at last year's Masters (with nine to play), Clarke at the 1997 Open at Troon (by four after 45 holes) and Montgomerie (at the 1994 US Open and 1995 US PGA only to lose play-offs and the 1997 Open only to lose by a shot to Ernie Els).

Clarke loves St Andrews, Westwood has detested it in the past - he is trying to change - and Montgomerie knows that because the course is so open and the greens so big, it hardly plays to his strengths.

Can Nick Faldo continue his comeback? Can Sergio Garcia go from last a year ago to first this time? Can Jack Nicklaus go out with a bang?

So many storylines to follow, but one central character - Woods.

It might well be Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, first and second in this April's Masters, who emerge as the biggest dangers. But Woods has no reason to fear anybody.

Joint-ninth place was not quite what he had in mind after the promise of the first three days, but Faldo left Loch Lomond and headed for St Andrews counting the positives rather than the negatives.

There were ''tons'' of pluses, he reckoned, after a week which confirmed to him that his seventh spot at the US Open last month was no false dawn in his climb out of the longest slump of his career.

And if there was one venue Faldo would have chosen to attempt to continue the upward progress it would be the Old Course, scene of the greatest display of his life ten years ago.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that when the decisive moment arrived at Loch Lomond - one shot off the lead in the Standard Life event with one round to play- Faldo was found wanting.

Three-putting the opening green from 12 feet and then double-bogeying the second after a rotten drive and totally duffed 50-yard chip effectively ended his challenge for a first victory in over three years.

Three over par for the first two holes was followed by one under for the remaining 16 and that did at least allow him to recover an upbeat mood.

Faldo, 43 on Tuesday and therefore trying this week to become the third-oldest man ever to win the Open, said: ''It's amazing how one bad putt and one bad drive can all of a sudden change the whole atmosphere.

''It was painful, but all part of the learning curve I'm on and there were tons of positives to come out of the week. I'll analyse it and see what went wrong. It suddenly put the pressure on, but that's what I needed to see.

''It was a darned good week because I was able to put myself in the position to see what is needed..

''I have a totally different approach to it than I did five weeks ago. I'm making birdies and making some scores now - I just didn't quite do it under pressure this time.''

Faldo's coach Mitchell Spearman and his Swedish sports psychologist Kjell Enhager will both be at St Andrews, with Enhager doubling up as caddie just as he did for the first time in the US Open