It won't be easy for Tiger

The market has Tiger Woods an unbackable favourite for the 2009 Australian Masters which gets under way at Kingston Heath in Melbourne's famed sandbelt from Thursday.

But the world No.1 has a battle on his hands - not simply to overcome a class field - but to tame the tight and testing 6455-metre, par-72 layout and the elements which will have a huge bearing on whether Woods has a yellow jacket draped over his red shirt come Sunday.

The 33-year-old enjoyed his first look at the course on Tuesday when he joined Craig Parry, Ian Baker-Finch and a gallery of more than 7000 spectators for a stroll around the back nine.

Softened by some generous watering to preserve them for the tournament proper, the greens were holding on Tuesday, but Woods expects them to harden like flint as the week advances.

Melbourne is already in the throes of a record November heat-wave and there's more to come with a forecast top temperature of 35 for Saturday and a change accompanied by thunderstorms for the final round.

Woods told his main pre-tournament media conference on Tuesday that how often he uses his driver will depend on the wind but, considering that an already tight course will be made tighter still by the baked fairways, his priority, surely, will be to keep the ball in play.

That, according to Woods, was one of Parry's key messages during practice.

"We all know when you get dialled-in where to go, but it's about missing the shots in the correct spots - there's spots here where you're not going to be able to get up and down," said Woods.

"Some of the pins will get a little bit tricky when it gets a little bit firmer, and that's what he was alluding to the entire time."

The closing holes at the 'Heath' - 16, 17 and 18 - each of them long par-fours - will be critical and it's no coincidence that Woods lingered at all three on Tuesday to get better-acquainted.

Woods and world No.12 Geoff Ogilvy are the only players under double-figure odds for the Masters - the favourite at a prohibitive $2.60 and Ogilvy $8.

Adam Scott ($14), Michael Sim ($15) and Aaron Baddeley ($17) who won the second of his two Australian Opens when the event was last contested at Kingston Heath in 2000, are the next in line along with John Senden ($19).

A notable absentee this year is Robert Allenby who's the joint course record-holder for his 64 (-8) in the third round of Baddeley's Open.

There's been criticism in some quarters about the Victorian Government's decision to underwrite Woods' $3 million appearance fee which is double the tournament's prize money, but defending champion Rod Pampling - a $21-shot - has no complaints.

"It's great for Australian golf and it's what Australian golf needed, to have this impact," said Pampling.

"The tournament's sold out and we haven't had that since the days of (Greg) Norman."

"You have to spend the money to get money back and I can't see how his being here won't benefit Melbourne with people coming from all over the world just to try and get a look at Tiger."

"It's what Australia needed was this injection of Tiger playing."