Open will return to Carnoustie again

The bad news for those players who "moaned and bitched", to use Paul Lawrie's words, about Carnoustie is that the Open looks certain to return in the next 10 years.

The Scottish links hosted the event for the first time since 1975 last week and there was stinging criticism of the set-up from the likes of Tom Watson and US Open champion Payne Stewart.

But championship committee chairman Hugh Campbell said today: "There is no question in my mind that it will come back here.

"The Opens are planned through to 2002 and there is an unofficial sequence we follow. Carnoustie will now come back into that calculation and I think it will stage the event again towards the end of the next decade."

Lawrie's winning score of 290, six over par, was the highest since Henry Cotton triumphed at Muirfield with 294.

For the event's return Campbell believes that the stars, if they want to succeed, will have to learn more about the course - and learn to attack more.

"The course remains a really difficult test of golf, but I was amazed how defensively some of the best players played it.

"The thinking had to be done on the tee and the best players didn't work out the way to play the course."

Sir Michael Bonallack, who retires as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Club which runs the championship, added: "Tiger Woods used irons on most tees and lost his advantage."

The fiercest criticisms were for the denseness of the rough so close to the fairways, but both Bonallack and Campbell have denied this was aided by the use of fertilisers and said that it was caused naturally by an unusually wet and hot period in the six weeks leading up to the event.

"There are two options on setting up a course," said Campbell. "One is by lengthening it and we decided that would be ridiculous with Carnoustie (at 7,361 yards it was already the longest ever used) and so we used bunkering and doglegs to narrow it.

"The one thing I would change is the landing area of the second shot at the par-five sixth." It measured less than 12 yards across.

Campbell saw no poor reflection of the championship in the fact that Lawrie, ranked 159th in the world, took a title that was heading for world number 152 Jean Van de Velde until he triple-bogeyed the last hole in farcical circumstances.

"Paul Lawrie knew about Carnoustie and that must have been a help, while the one guy who handled the rough best was Van de Velde. Each time he went in he just knocked out sideways.

"The week was sprinkled by the kind of disaster experienced by Craig Parry at the 12th (another triple-bogey seven at a time when he was leading) and the people who worked it out were those who got into the play-off.

"This Open has been a tremendous success. We coped comfortably with 35,000 people a day and the week had triumph, tragedy, romance, anger, drama, farce, pathos and controversy. It follows the Open around.

"The criticisms have been a matter of opinion."

He does not, however, expect any problem attracting every leading player back. Next year's Millennium Open is at St Andrews and conditions could hardly be more different there.

"If you challenge a good player and he is not successful then he will come back. Golf is like that," stated Campbell.

As for the amazing climax Sir Michael added: "I have not seen anything like that either in the Open or at a monthly medal at home."