Playing a practice round with arguably the greatest golfer in the history of the game is a good start.

Bendigo’s Lucas Herbert did just that on Tuesday when he played a practice round at Carnoustie with Tiger Woods.

Herbert and Woods were joined by rising American star Bryson DeChambeau.

Herbert, 22, played at Carnoustie three years ago when he was an amateur, but spending a few hours on the testing lay-out with Woods was invaluable experience for the Neangar Park product.

While Herbert is about to play in the biggest event of his short professional career, Woods has 14 major titles in the bank and his recent form suggests he can contend for number 15 this week.

Like Woods, Herbert likes to play aggressively, but that approach might have to be tempered on a hard and fast course this week.

"I'm not going to hit many long clubs off the tees," Woods said at his press conference after the practice round with Herbert.

"There's just not a lot of opportunities to hit driver, because the ball is going to be rolling 80 yards. It's just hard to keep the ball in play, even something hitting four and five irons."

Herbert’s British Open debut starts on Thursday night when he tees off at 11.37pm (AEST) alongside Korea’s Min Chel Choi and American Jason Kokrak.

Woods tees off 44 minutes later alongside Scotland’s Russell Knox and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.