Lehman falls in love with 'perfect' course

A dire forecast for today and tomorrow may disrupt the final practice rounds prior to the 130th Open Championship but will be a reminder that links golf remains at the mercy of the elements. A very different Royal Lytham awaits the world's best players than was presented five years ago when Tom Lehman triumphed.

Then, the course was dry and brown, just the sort of fast-running track the Royal and Ancient were able to offer at St Andrews last year and were hoping to see again here. Mother Nature, through a wet winter, a damp spring and a hardly rain-free summer, has intervened to make the rough high and thick.

Though the fairways are tight, they are not as ridiculously narrow as in 1999. "This is a big improvement," said Lehman, who described Carnoustie as his "least favourite course in the world". "The fairways are somewhere between St Andrews and Carnoustie.

"They are wide in the right spots and narrow in the right spots. You can go ahead and hit it and find some short grass. I think it is perfect. This is a major championship; you should have to drive it straight.

"The rough is brownish-green. It's brown at the top but green at the bottom so you know there are spots were you are just going to be pitching it out. But there are others where you can get a four-iron at it."

Lehman could not wait to get back on to the course and played seven holes at 9pm on Sunday night after coming down from Loch Lomond. He thinks it is unlikely that anyone will repeat Tiger Woods' feat from last year at St Andrews of not going in a single bunker even though new ball and club technology are "definitely becoming a cause for concern".

"One of the reasons I love the course so much is that it does not favour somebody who can hit it a mile," Lehman said. "You can't bomb it unless you are going to hit it straight. There are bunkers for everybody, however short or long you are. That's what makes it so special."

Paul Azinger, the 1994 USPGA champion, withdrew yesterday because of flu. Ernie Els, who missed the Scottish Open with a back injury, could not practise yesterday, while Bernhard Langer is also doubtful with a back problem after missing the last two rounds at Loch Lomond.