Garcia facing toughest test yet

Teenage sensation Sergio Garcia is used to making the seemingly impossible look easy - and he will need more of the same to be in with a chance at Carnoustie this week.

The 19-year-old Spaniard had his first taste of the Open venue on Monday and found it every bit as difficult as had been predicted.

The already tough Scottish links course - hosting its first Open since 1975 - has been made even more fearsome by the addition of tall, thick rough bordering fairways as narrow as 11 yards in some places.

"It's probably the toughest course I've played," said Garcia who became the fourth youngest winner in the history of the European Tour with victory in the Irish Open earlier this month.

"I was in the rough a few times and it's almost impossible. You have to be really lucky to have the chance to hit a five or six iron. Otherwise it's a wedge and try to make 60 or 80 yards.

"I know more or less how to play it but it's going to be a very hard test."

That was the view of all the players who practised over the 7,361-yard par-71 course, the longest ever used for an Open championship.

"The first day I played it I thought it was almost impossible," added USPGA champion Vijay Singh.

"If I say 'unfair' it won't be the right word to use. I think it is a little too tough, put it that way. This is the hardest Open golf course I've ever played.

"I've played two Scottish Opens here and we were able to take the drivers out on a few holes, and even if you hit it in the rough it is playable.

"If you hit it in the rough right now you'll be lucky to find the ball. It used to be when you play links courses you just try to avoid the fairway bunkers, now you try to avoid the rough and the fairway bunkers which is a little too much, I guess.

"There's no fairway, where, if you miss, you think you're going to get up in two. There will be a lot of tired people out there after Friday."

Singh, who won his first major at Sahalee last year, has already completed three practice rounds on the course in an attempt to plot a way round the testing layout.

"Each time I play I seem to know a little bit more about the course," added the Florida-based 36-year-old, whose best Open finish was tied for 6th at St Andrews in 1995.

"It will be okay if you drive the ball in play, that is the priority. If you start missing the fairways you're going to have a hard time playing the golf course.

"The key is to have a game plan in your mind and just stick to it and that way you don't go out there guessing what you're going to do.

"I've hit a lot of one-irons and two-irons off the tee, you can get it in play that way, but the only problem is you're going in with another two or three-iron to the green.

"Right now among the pros they're predicting even par is going to be a good score to win if the conditions stay like this. If the wind blows we'll probably still be playing here next week.

"I said to my caddie 'even if you make five or six bogeys out there everybody is going to make a bogey sooner or later.' You have to stick to your game plan.

"Length doesn't matter here any more, they've taken the driver out of your hands. Whoever hits the ball very straight is going to have a good chance of winning."

That would appear to harm Singh's chances of a second major title, the Fijian noted more for his long hitting than his accuracy off the tee.

But his victory in the USPGA last year has done wonders for his confidence and he arrived at Carnoustie having finished second, third, fourth and fifth in his last four events.

"I'm more focused on the majors since winning last year," Singh added. "I think I can win another one if I'm playing well enough.

"Every time I go out there I think I can win and that's a big confidence boost. Probably this year is the best I've looked coming into the Open."