1 Tiger Woods in practice at St Andrews

The world's leading golfers were forced to battle the conditions as their pre-Open practice was severely disrupted by strong winds at St Andrews.

World No.1 Tiger Woods was just one of the men who struggled with his tee shot at the 11th ending up on the seventh green as gusts blowing across the Old Course hit 50mph.

"Nobody can play St Andrews [in conditions] like this," said Woods.

Fellow American Scott Verplank's putt at the fourth ran 10ft past the cup but the ball was then blown back past his feet and ended up 20ft behind him.

Henrik Stenson had similar problems on the par-three 11th as he blasted out of the Strath bunker some 20ft past the hole.

The wind blew the ball back towards him until it was off the green, although it did not return to the bunker.

"The course needs a bit of wind," said the Swede. "But this is too much for anybody on any day."

Peter Dawson, chief executive of Open organisers the R&A, admitted similar conditions on Thursday would make the course unplayable.

"We like having a bit of wind, don't we?" he said. "Just not like this."

The forecast for later this week is for wind speeds of up to 30mph, which would be tough but manageable.