Here we go then. Here we go again. The eve of the 137th Open. All the last-minute preparation is done. I am as ready as I am going to be. I can't wait to get started.

It has been a good few days. I drove up on Sunday afternoon with Kate, my wife, Kam, my physiotherapist, and Nick, my coach. I drove for an hour and then Nick took over while we listened to the Scottish Open on the radio. It was nice to sit back and relax and it was fairly stress-free. No traffic jams. The four of us are staying in a nice house near the Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club just down the road. It is like being at home; I can come in, put the kettle on and make a cup of tea. We have eaten in most nights and I expect we will continue to do so, with Kate bearing the burden this week.

I couldn't wait to get out on to the course. I hadn't seen it since I was here for a couple of practice rounds in May when the weather was glorious. It has been a wet summer and the rough is thicker than I expected but the fairways are wide enough. It should not be a problem.

I really like the course. I did ten years ago and I still do. Every hole asks you a question: what have you got? How are you going to play me? The wind is a key factor here. Two thirds of the holes seem to be into it and only one third are downwind. You hope you get a tee time when the wind has dropped but you have to be very lucky for that to happen.

My starting time for the first round suits me perfectly. I'm off at 7.36am with Tom Watson and Aaron Baddeley and at 12.47pm on Friday. I am thrilled to be playing with Watson. I have never played with one of the older greats.

I was due to play a practice round on Tuesday with Watson and I was looking forward to asking him some questions. But when we were due to tee off at 2.30pm there was no sign of him. The starter said he had been a half-hour late the previous day and so we thought we had better get going. I played with Tom Sherreard, an amateur, and he was hoping to go round alongside Watson as well.

TaylorMade have made a new golf bag for me and done something very nice to it. They have stitched a symbolic badge on it. It has a cross referring to the flag of St George and a crown of sails to honour the royal status of the course. There are nine gems in the crown, that being the number of times Royal Birkdale has hosted an Open. In the middle of the badge is a lock, a visual metaphor for Bobby Locke, the famous South African player. He "locked out" Peter Thomson, the Australian, and prevented him from winning five Open Championships in a row. There is a rope around the edges of the symbol to mark the fact that Southport is a nautical town. They have also given me a new cap to wear and on it is a little badge that symbolises Locke, who always wore baggy plus-fours, usually grey.

Isn't that thoughtful? Let's hope it brings me luck.