Dave Tindall is our man at Hoylake this week and he'll bring you all the news and colour.

1940: Chris DiMarco and Tiger Woods both pay tribute to absent friends in their press interviews. DiMarco, whose mother died recently, says: "I miss her and I love her. I close my eyes and I see her. My mom would be very proud." He says he was glad to play in the group behind Tiger where the pressure is less intense and says being in contention is "like a drug". Tiger says he's "excited" and "worn out". He dearly wishes his father could have seen him win one more major but asked if his celebrations will be more muted this time, he says no way. "This jug will be filled up" with "the beverage of my choice". He offers praise to the golf course, saying it was a "fantastic test" and "lent itself to amazing creativity". He wasn't happy about the number of spectators taking pictures with cameras or camera phones but part of his Dad's huge influence on him was to teach Tiger how to ignore distractions. He's asked if this one means more and, surprisingly, answers "no doubt about it" - another reference to the recent loss of his father. And so there we have it. The end of another Open. It's been an excellent week and an educational one. I've picked up plenty of little tidbits which will hopefully aid my betting previews and also, thanks to Harry 'The Hat' Emanuel, can now hold a more informed discussion on Fox Hunting. Thankfully this year the journey home isn't too bad - Liverpool to West Yorkshire - although I'm still holding out for a late invite to Tarby's post-Open bash on The Wirral. This has been Dave Tindall at Hoylake. Thankyou and goodnight.

1845: An excellent speech from Tiger as he accepts the Claret Jug for the third time. I wonder when he comes in here if he'll sign my 'Tarbuck on Golf' book. That would certainly increase it's value from 1p although it does have a coffee stain on it.

1820: My betting preview shows a small profit - 12pts staked, 18.5pts returned - thanks to Jim Furyk. That's quite pleasing although I do regret not going for Tiger. I focused on the great record of Americans so at least that bit worked out as three of the top four finishers were from the United States. As to why they do so well on links courses they only see once a year, who knows?!

1815: What a man! Tiger wins his 11th major and it's an emotional scene as he hugs caddie Steve Williams. Tiger lost his father earlier this year and it's clearly caught up with him. There's more tears as he greets his wife and how dearly he would have loved to give his dad a big bear hug. Tiger regains his composure and makes the walk to the scorer's hut. He'll be coming in the press centre soon with the Claret Jug and to give his thoughts on the day.

1810: Tiger takes off his cap as he walks up the 18th fairway to rapturous applause. He has a two-stroke cushion over DiMarco so the engraver is already at work.

1805: On the noticeboard, there's a message up saying 'Info from Japan Tour - it is our pleasure to provide info relating to Japan Tour. Please contact to the address below or sign up your name'. Actually it says 'sing up your name' but as that's very endearing and they've also gone to the trouble of colouring in various words, I've added my name to the list. Hopefully I can now follow the progress of Hideto Tanihara who is set to finish fifth.

1800: Thankfully I've just eaten my last canteen meal of the week. Things will become hectic here very soon and by the time all the interviews are done the food will have been binned. Not before time. To avoid passing out later I've just had a bit of sausage and mash. Whilst eating the third banger, Jim Furyk birdies the last. Good old Jim. That means he's going to finish in the top five and give us a nice profit.

1750: The lowest score in relation to par in any Open is the 19-under shot by Tiger at St Andrews in 2000. He's currently 18-under so a birdie-birdie or par-eagle finish will see him set another record.

1745: Tiger is now 1.01 on Betfair - the shortest price possible.

1745: Do I go outside to see Furyk make a par or birdie? Or do I stay in the press tent and watch the final few holes unfold? Like most of the press, I'll opt for the latter.

1740: Jim Furyk is now tied fourth and in the place money. Barring a calamity at the last we should have ourselves a nice each-way payout. He's helped by Adam Scott taking a double bogey on 18 which drags the Australian back to nine-under.

1735: DiMarco birdies 16 but Tiger hits back with one of his own on 15. The gap remains two and surely it's all over.

1735: The food in the press canteen has been pretty poor this week and there's a bloke in trap three in the portaloos who sounds in real trouble.

1725: Tiger seemingly slams the door shot with a super birdie on 14. He's two clear of DiMarco again.

1705: Oooh. This is getting interesting all of a sudden. DiMarco birdies 13 and Tiger bogeys 12 and suddenly there's just one shot in it.

1655: The second match bet I did today was Japan's Hideto Tanihara to beat Mark Calcavecchia in a two-ball. The Japanese player was the 11/8 underdog but he's just rammed in a great putt to go to 11-under after 14 and move six shots clear of Calc. A Japanese player has never won a major but their press reckon the Open is the most likely as there isn't much rough, the courses play shorter than the other three and the quick greens will be familiar. Tanihara is now tied third so this could be a good stepping stone towards future success.

1645: Part of my daily routine is clearing about half a tonne of hay from my trainers. It accumulates steadily throughout the day as I trample the fairways although today's collection of straw and dead grass has already filled them up. And it's itching. If I'd backed Tiger I might not have noticed so much but I'm becoming a little irritable now.

1640: Tiger birdies the par five 10th and has now virtually eliminated all his rivals. Only DiMarco is hanging in there but he's still three back with eight to play.

1630: A joke from Harry: "Message to Garcia. If you dress like a lemon, you'll play like a lemon." I don't think Tarby's got too much to worry about, do you.

1625: Tiger is being very careful with his putts now, cosying them up to the hole and accepting his par. And why not. If he keeps making par and birdies a couple of par fives, he's won.

1615: Hurrah, a birdie for Jim Furyk. But he's still got plenty of work to do to get into the place money.

1545: One by one they're falling away. Els bogeys the eighth and Tiger has a three-shot lead.

1525: Jim Furyk is now seven shots behind Tiger. Sigh.

1525: Ernie Els birdies the par five fifth and is tied for the lead with Tiger on 13-under.

1505: I'm flagging a little so nip to the canteen for a cheeky piece of cake. And there out of the window are the final group. Tiger in his traditional final-day red and Sergio canary yellow. They play their second shots and march off. I'd like to bet that they exchange less than 10 words in today's round.

1455: Carl Pettersson eagles the 10th and is suddenly one ahead of Ogilvy as the Aussie only makes par. How did that happen? I was counting the money after the third hole. Ogilvy has eight holes to get it back.

1445: Carl Pettersson plays the first three holes in three over - including a double bogey at the third after hitting it out of bounds - and coming back into the press tent I see some of the leaders are on course to do the same. Angel Cabrera has tripled the second whilst our big hope, Jim Furyk, has bogeyed the first two. Drat. Chris DiMarco also bogeys the first. At least, the match bet is going well as I was on Geoff Ogilvy to beat Pettersson. The US Open champ is playing a conservative game, taking irons off the tee, but he negotiates the tricky opening holes in level par. At the par five fifth, he putts off the green with his third but holes a 15 footer back the other way for birdie. Pettersson steadies the ship with a solid birdie and if he hadn't holed a series of six to eight footers he'd be on course for an 80. Ogilvy, after a magical chip, misses a tiddler for par on the sixth, but reaches the turn in level. Pettersson adds a birdie on seven so is just one behind again. Ogilvy doesn't mess about and a couple of times I turned my back and almost missed him play his shot. I must have got used to watching Furyk over the last few days. On the way in I catch Tiger teeing off at the first. It's a chaotic scene at the first tee with lots of craning necks and people perched on shoulders. Tiger looks deadly serious as he marches past but some of his nearest challengers are already wilting and making it easier for him.

1240: Time to head off outside. I've had a bet on the Ogilvy v Pettersson two-ball so will follow that match for a few holes.

1220: Thinking about it, Jasper Carrott came into the press tent at the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 2002. So why can't Tarby come in here. Sorry for harping on but I'm trying to keep a little distracted before focusing fully on what should be a pretty intense afternoon of golf.

1205: Paul Broadhurst has eagled the first two par fives and is now five-under for the day and up to tied 16th. When Broady won the 1991 European Pro-celebrity tournament here, one of his playing partners was Ronnie Corbett. But there's little sign of the little chap here this week. And where for heaven's sake is Tarby? Has anyone seen him interviewed on TV or anything or in a hospitality tent? This is his home Open. Last week I purchased the seminal 'Tarbuck On Golf' from Amazon for the princely sum of 1p (Postage and Package was £2.75 mind) and also a Tarby's Golfing Nightmares video (vol 1). Both were enjoyable and you have to love a book which by page three has already reeled off an anecdote about a donkey running off with Corbett's clubs. There's also an astonishing revelation about how many women Kenny Lynch has bedded and a heartfelt foreword by Tony Jacklin. In one story Jacklin, to Tarby's surprise, asks him to come over and read the line of his putt. "He got down on one knee and said to me in a kind of confidential murmur: 'Look at the knockers on that bird in the red over there.' He was right. Great heavens they were big." Classic Tarby.

1150: Scoring looks tough but there's a couple of decent rounds in progress. 2005 US Open champ Michael Campbell is three under for the day after 11 while former course winner Paul Broadhurst is -3 after 9. Both are still way behind the leaders though.

1115: With such a bunched leaderboard, there's a decent chance that there could be a play-off later today. In the Open they play four holes to decide it and that means overtime for the press boys. A number of us are planning for that eventuality by backing a play-off at around 2/1. If it does go to extra holes and delay our departure, at least we'll win some money for the inconvenience.

1105: Phil Mickelson starts with a birdie. He's surely way too back to challenge but the left-hander is certainly capable of going extremely low if everything clicks. His wife Amy was following him round yesterday, walking the course with a bodyguard/friend who certainly looked as if he worked out more than Phil. Amy had a purple dress, brown leather boots and, I would guess, a shoulder bag that wasn't bought off e-bay. Not that the Scousers were impressed by one of golf's most famous WAGs. 'Trailer Trash' was one comment I heard!

1045: So how do we crack the puzzle and reveal the identity of the winner today? Do we go with that incredible stat which shows that Tiger has won 10 times out of 10 when leading? Or what about 'divine intervention' - a phrase used by Chris DiMarco, who talked about his mother looking down on him this week? And then there's the statistical approach. Here's how the leading five players rank in the four main categories:

Driving Distance:
5th Cabrera
16th Garcia
38th Els
51st Woods
52nd Furyk
71st Ogilvy

Fairways Hit:
1st Woods
1st Furyk
8th Garcia
12th DiMarco
33rd Els
57th Cabrera

Greens In Regulation:
4th Cabrera
5th Woods
5th DiMarco
13th Els
25th Garcia
45th Furyk

Putts Per Round:

3rd Furyk
5th Garcia
7th DiMarco
7th Els
28th Woods
50th Cabrera

So to summarise the top six players:

Woods: Sacrificing length for accuracy and playing some fine golf from tee to green. Ranked first in fairways hit. But his putting could be a slight worry. He took 34 swishes yesterday.

Garcia: Driving the ball extremely well, both long and straight but not always finding the green. His putting has been very good so far but will it stand up under pressure?

DiMarco: Dead last in driving distance but hitting it straight and finding the green in the right number. Putter working well too so is a real threat.

Els: Not driving the ball as well as his nearest rivals but finding a good amount of greens and holing plenty of putts.

Furyk: Playing as we'd expect him to. Short off the tee but hitting it very straight (joint first for fairways hit). Possible weakness with his irons as he's not hitting that many greens. But he's really impressive with the flatstick, ranking third overall in putting.

Cabrera: Hitting it long and often off target but hitting shorter clubs into greens means he's finding the putting surface regularly. But he's 50th overall for putting and that could prove his Achilles Heel.

On pure stats, there's much to like about DiMarco and perhaps, as in the 2005 US Masters, he could be the one to push Tiger the closest.

1015: The wind is a definitely picking up a little bit and by the afternoon it could be quite gusty. Here's what the official forecast says:

1000-1400: Mixture of sunshine and cloud. Wind westerly 15mph.

1400-1800: Dry and partly cloudy, certainly a fresher feel than yesterday. 10% chance of a few spots of rain in any thicker cloud. Wind westerly to north-westerly 15mph could see gusts to 20mph.

0930: Time for some breakfast and a mull over today's two-ball odds. It's still a struggle for the early starters. Paul Casey has just bogeyed the par five fifth and is now eight over for the tournament and dead last.

0910: Welcome to sunny Hoylake. There's a few white clouds in the sky and a very light breeze. But the early starters are really struggling. There are nine players out on the course so far and six are over par for the day while the other three are level. Paul Casey has started double bogey, birdie, bogey. That said, the first three holes have ranked the seventh, third and sixth hardest over the first two rounds.