Wednesday am: The whole point of this diary is to give an inside look at what really happens at an Open.

And given this warts-and-all approach, I'd better first pen a few words about myself before the action gets under way tomorrow.

Firstly, my preparations for this year's event have been rather chaotic as I've been out of the country for the past two weeks.

The good news is that this is due to me getting married and spending the last fortnight on honeymoon in Las Vegas and San Francisco with my beautiful new wife.

The bad news is a) I'm horribly jet-lagged (I am battling an eight-hour time gap) b) British Airways lost my suitcase on the way home and all my clothes were in it.

So if you happen to see someone asleep on the 4th fairway dressed like a tramp, it's most likely going to be me.

The only saving grace is that my decision not to throw out the underpants my mother bought for me in the early 80s now seems entirely justified.

These 'emergency pants' will come into their own this week.

Wednesday pm: Despite having an awful tipping record in the US Masters (I always oppose Tiger when he wins and back him when he doesn't), the betting gods have been kind to me in the last couple of Opens.

Two years ago at Lytham, David Duval did me proud at 25/1 and last year I received another ticker-tape welcome on my return to Sporting Life HQ after landing another 18/1 payout with Ernie Els.

Well actually that's not quite true. One bloke claimed the 18s "was never there" while another backed my other tips which lost.

Nevertheless, after tipping the last two Open winners I do feel confident with this event; so can we make it a hat-trick?

To aid this year's bid I've enlisted the help of fellow golf tipster Dave John.

Dave has been in great form this year and a couple of times we've pulled off the cross-atlantic double (Dave tipping the winner on one Tour and me tipping the winner on the other side of the pond).

Top secret talks were held between us before I departed for honeymoon and after a lot of hard work by Dave and one final consultation we've come up with the following tips for this year's event.

Outright

7pts win Ernie Els at 7/1
2pts e.w Darren Clarke at 25/1
1.5pts e.w Nick Price at 40/1
1pt e.w. Robert Allenby at 80/1
2pts e.w. Sergio Garcia at 50/1

Others

1pt e.w. Bob Estes at 40/1 top American w/o Woods
1pt e.w. Jay Haas at 66/1 top American w/o Woods
1pt e.w. Nick O'Hern at 14/1 top Australasian
1pt e.w. Bradley Dredge at 33/1 top GB/Ireland
3pts Peter O'Malley to beat Craig Parry in 72-hole match bet at 8/11
3pts Bob Estes to beat Charles Howell III in 72-hole match bet at 10/11

So can golf betting's equivalent to the great double acts (Morecambe and Wise, Laurel and Hardy, the Krankies) pull it off? Or will Dave and Dave - "the Double Ds" - rather suitably end up looking like a big pair of tits?