Testing times at Royal Lytham are expected to produce true champion

High, unforgiving rough in which both golf balls and game plans can go missing is usually the trademark of the US Open.

The United States Golf Association have prided themselves on making their major championship the toughest of the game’s big four, with narrow fairways, lightning-fast greens and rough so penal that any golfers who stray into it can only play out sideways.

But it seems the Royal & Ancient Golf Club have taken a leaf out of the book of their brethren from across the Atlantic.

Not since the overdue but much-criticised return to Carnoustie in 1999 have pre-Open week headlines been predominantly about the condition of the course and, more pertinently, the rough.

Golfers, fans and journalists have all ventured into the foliage of Royal Lytham & St Annes to see for themselves how errant tee shots will ge gobbled up on this narrow strip of Lancashire links.

The rough is so high in some places that it comes up to the stomachs of those misguided adventurers.

But is it as drastic as all that?

“Oh, yes,” said Hull’s Richard Finch yesterday.

“Or at least it was until I went in there and flattened it all out.

“I only played the course for the first time yesterday and, to be fair, I spent a bit too much time in the rough.

“It’s thick and it’s wispy, but it’s no more penal than the greenside or fairways bunkers.

“It’s not easy to advance the ball from the rough or the bunkers.

“All these hazards will penalise you.

“What we have in our favour during the championship is the crowd and the ball spotters will trample down the rough a little and help us find the balls.

“But if you’re in that rough there’s likely to be only one way out, and that’s sideways.”

Finch’s fellow Yorkshireman Simon Dyson is in agreement.

The Malton professional, 34, took his cue from former world No 1 Tiger Woods, who was the highest-profile detractor of Lytham’s rough when he called it “almost unplayable”.

“If Tiger says it’s brutal then it will be,” said Dyson, who relishes the challenge of links golf.

“The answer is making sure you stay out of that rough which will be very unforgiving.”

The shrubbery of the Red Rose coastline may have had most visitors running for cover, but the White Rose’s representatives over the border this week do at least believe that, even with its high rough, Lytham presents a fair test.

“The course is playing at full strength,” said Finch, 35.

“The rough’s up, it’s playing pretty long and because of the rain it’s very green and there’s not much bounce on the ball.

“It’s a tough but fair test.

“And that’s exactly how it should be in an Open Championship. There’s no room for average play or mediocrity.

“A test as great as this with the biggest reward in the sport demands perfection.

“And if you’re not perfect you’re in trouble.”

Throw into the mix the bad weather that his hit Britain this summer and you have the perfect recipe for links golf.

The weather is set to improve as the week progresses with showers today giving way to sunnier days tomorrow and on Saturday.

The wind is forecast to pick up to about 20mph on Sunday, right about the time the leaders will be entering the back nine.

Dyson added: “You can hit an absolute beauty of a shot, but the wind can get up, or drop, or switch direction and suddenly that shot ends up not as good as it should have been.

“That’s links golf for you.

“But if you play it straight then you’ve got a chance.”

Open officials remain concerned over the state of the course, particularly some of the bunkers which have been particularly badly affected by the ongoing poor weather.

An overnight downpour left areas of standing water around the course and added to the already high water table level, which could cause problems with some of the course’s 206 bunkers during today’s play.

Jim McArthur, chairman of the R&A’s championship committee, said: “Obviously the weather has caused us some problems, and perhaps some more to come.

“The course is at the moment perfectly playable thanks to the huge and time-consuming efforts of the greenkeeping staff. The greens are fine. They’re a bit soft and a bit slower than we’d probably like at this stage of the Championship.

“There are some bunkers which are causing us some concern because of the water table and the level of the groundwater, but we’re confident that the rules of golf will help us cope with any situations which develop there.

“Based on the course conditions, we’re not intending to play preferred lies. We’ll have some issues off the golf course with spectator walkways, which we’re dealing with at the moment, and these are gradually improving.

“And we’re really hoping that the improving weather forecast which we’ve been promised will take some of the pressure off and problems off the golf course.”

R&A chief executive Peter Dawson revealed that the bunkers causing concern were on the second, 14th, 16th and 17th holes, but added: “When I came here 10 days ago it was much wetter then after the cloudburst than it is now.

“And two days of good, drying weather later you would think the golf course was in normal summer condition.

“It was very firm and there was no standing water anywhere.

“This course does dry extremely quickly, I’m delighted to say.

“The weather forecast we have is that whatever rain we’re going to get (during last night) will stop around 4.00am (today), and then the forecast is dry for the rest of the Championship.”

Finch, who was originally due to tee off at 6.30am today, had his plans changed when Robert Karlsson withdrew from the Open.

A reshuffling of the draw sheet means Finch gets his challenge underway at 1.10pm instead of 6.30am.

He has missed his last five cuts and not broken 70 in the process, which made his back-to-back 67s in Open qualifying in June, all the more of a welcome surprise.

“I feel like I’m close. I’m doing some good work but coming away frustrated,” he said.

“I showed it in qualifying that I can put back-to-back rounds together.

“I know I’m not playing as badly as my scoring suggests.

“It’s the first time I’ve come through qualifying to reach the Open and it’s great to be back.

“Having played at Birkdale (2008) and at Turnberry (2009) I feel I know a little bit better what to expect, having had a couple of goes at it.

“The Open is the tournament every professional and every amateur wants to be a part of.”

Dyson, who finished ninth at Royal St George’s last year, arrives in better form than his former county team-mate.

Aside from a missed cut at the start of the month in France, Dyson has registered three top-12 finishes in five tournaments as he looks to gain some momentum in what, until the beginning of May, had been a very stop-start season.

During that run he also qualified for the weekend at the US Open at Olympic Club for the first time, in what was his first event since sitting out three weeks with a pelvis injury.