Dry Carnoustie will test the best

CONDITIONS: STRONG WINDS ADDING TO THE PROBLEM

Balls are rolling so far at bone-dry Carnoustie that it will “drive some people batty” at the British Open this week, former champion David Duval said after a practice round on Monday.

Duval could not remember anything similar in his more than two decades of playing the Open, dismissing a suggestion that the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool was just as baked out.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the American told Reuters on the edge of the 18th green as he surveyed the browned-out links course in the late afternoon sunshine.

“It’s very unsettling, very, very different. Trying to figure out where your ball’s going to stop, it’s just unbelievable.”

The 2001 champion from Royal Lytham is considering not carrying a driver, figuring he might not need anything longer than an iron off the tee.

“If you can get something that you can carry 220 yards into the breeze, you’re going to be fine,” he said.

“I’m at a loss for a club or two right now.”

Adding a further twist to the prospect of an intriguing championship is the forecast of testing winds for much of the week, reaching 19 to 28km/h in tomorrow’s first round, and gusting to perhaps 40km/h on Friday.

“I’m sure it will be up there with the firmest conditions I’ve ever seen,” American defending champion Jordan Spieth said before heading out for a practice round.

“If we get wind with these firm conditions, that would certainly be a treat. You’ll see a lot of different strategies.”

Irishman Padraig Harrington, who won in 2007, the last time the Open was held here, figures conditions will perhaps favour the experienced players.

“There’s no perfect strategy that eliminates risk,” he said, explaining that bunting tee shots to stay short of the penal bunkers would not necessarily be a good game-plan.

“It’s very difficult to play short of the bunkers all the time. The beauty of the course is that there are a lot of different ways of playing it, but eventually you’re going to have to grow up and hit the shots.” –

Picture: Getty Images ‘I WANT IT BACK’. Defending champion Jordan Spieth of the United States returns the famous Claret Jug to R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers ahead of this week’s British Open at Carnoustie.