TURNBERRY, Scotland — Vijay Singh can now play as much as he wants without overly affecting his world ranking.

The Official World Golf Ranking board announced yesterday that it will gradually change its formula starting next year, adding a maximum divisor of 52 tournaments so that players who prefer a full schedule will not be punished.

For most of the decade, Singh was the example most players cited when it came to the world ranking.

The formula is based on ranking points earned at each tournament, divided by the number of tournaments played. The value of points are gradually reduced every 13 weeks over a two-year period, with a minimum divisor of 40 tournaments.

That helped Tiger Woods, who doesn't play 40 times over a two-year period. It hurt players like Singh, who was playing as many as 60 tournaments during that period. Despite winning nine times in 2004, he didn't overtake Woods at No. 1 until late in the season.

The change is relatively simple.

The maximum divisor will be a player's most recent 52 tournaments — no matter how many he has played in the two-year period. The board decided on that number because it is the average number of tournaments played by the top 200 players in the world.

NOT FAN FRIENDLY

The British Open isn't held often at Turnberry, and when it is the Royal & Ancient takes a hit on ticket sales because the seaside links is a hard place for fans to get to.

Add in the global recession and things are doubly tough this year. Though Open officials say they expect more than the 114,000 who attended the Open when it was last held in Turnberry in 1994, the crowds won't be nearly as big as they have been in other locations in recent years.

PLANNED PAIRING

Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson made it clear yesterday that the groupings for the first two rounds of the British Open are not random.

For starters, the R&A tries to group one player from North America, one from Europe and one from other parts of the world. There are 44 Americans in the 156-man field, along with Canadian citizens Mike Weir and Stephen Ames.

That would explain why David Toms and Tom Lehman are the only Americans in the same group at Turnberry.

Other factors include TV interests; gallery movement; who plays fast (Mark Calcavecchia is in the first group); and when the gallery arrives and leaves, which helps with traffic.

The most notable group this year is Tiger Woods and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan, both of whom attract an enormous amount of photographers. The third player in that group is Lee Westwood.

"I was obviously cognizant of the amount of media interest there is in that group," Dawson said. "I have since spoken to Tiger and to Lee Westwood. They're entirely happy about it."