GREY, moisture-laden skies covered Oakland Hills like a shroud as Darren Clarke joined early-morning students, preparing yesterday for a rather special test. He and Philip Walton are in a field of 156 competing in the 96th US Open, which starts on hallowed terrain here tomorrow.

People talked of the 1951 staging at Oakland Hills as "The Milestone Open," as it produced the ultimate examination of golfing skills, up to that time. In the build-up to this year's event, players like Clarke are learning what all the fuss was about 45 years ago.

Softened daily by unrelenting showers in recent weeks, there were fears that the so-called "Monster" would be stripped of all its defences. But Clarke knew differently as he faced a five-iron second shot of 182 yards to the elevated 18th green, surrounded by a vicious collar of rough. As it happened, he executed the shot beautifully to leave the ball 10 feet behind the pin and two-putted from there for a practice round of 68 - two under par.

"Yes, everything was in the hole," he said with a smile, clearly delighted with the quality of play which he has carried from the last two weeks on the European Tour. After a grim, early-season struggle, the Ulsterman achieved a confidence-boosting breakthrough by finishing third in the Deutsche Bank Open in Hamburg and then sharing fourth place at the Forest of Arden last Sunday.

Walton, meanwhile, faces his US Open debut with mixed feelings. "This time last year I was splitting every fairway, which would be ideal for the way the course here is set up," he said.

But I've been hitting the odd slack drive in recent weeks. Normally, my reaction would be to ease down to the four-wood or even a long iron but unfortunately you can't really do that on par fours measuring 450 yards."

He went on: "Though it's set up differently, there are a lot of similarities between here and Oak Hill (another Donald Ross course and venue for last September's Ryder Cup). I'm hoping I can recapture the Ryder Cup mood. I'm playing better now than I did in the early part of the week at Oaks Hill and I'm certainly more relaxed."

The Malahide player was disappointed to learn that one of his playing partners, Fred Couples, had withdrawn because of a damaged back. Nick Price was also forced to withdraw because of sinus problems. "I've never played with Fred so I was really looking forward to it," said Walton. So, the third member of a three-ball with USPGA champion Steve Elkington is 20-year-old Randy Leen, the sixth amateur in the field.

"When my mother told me I was in, I thought she was kidding," said Leen, a student at Indiana University and a former all-America player of the year. "My coach, Sam Carmichael, is going to caddie for me. He played on tour for about eight years and has played Oakland Hills quite a few times."

While Walton concentrated on putting practice yesterday morning, Clarke was out on the course in the company of Colin Montgomerie and Barry Lane, all of whom share the same coach, Bill Ferguson. "I made the arrangement with Monty a few weeks ago and I'll be practising with him again in the morning," said the Ulsterman. "Apart from the fact that he is a very good player, I happen to enjoy his company.

Reflecting on Oakmont two years ago, Clarke takes some comfort from the fact that for 27 holes he was level with Loren Roberts, who went on to get into a play-off for the title. But the truth is that he was never a serious challenger on his US Open debut, shooting rounds of 78 and 75 to miss the cut by six strokes.

I thought Oakmont was unplayable," he said. "This is a totally different course - a much fairer challenge. Obviously you've got to drive the ball on the fairway, but despite what I'd heard about it being set up for left to right shots, I found I could hit my normal draw.

Mind you, the fairways are fairly wet at the moment so you re not going to run off into the rough. And believe me, the rough is really punishing."

He concluded: "I played some lovely golf out there today and I feel really good about the week."

It was certainly a pleasant change to hear an Irish competitor in such an upbeat mood going into a major championship, though, as an initial target, he and Walton will be happy to make the cut.

That of itself would be something of an achievement, given that it has not been done by an Irishman since Medinah in 1990. On that occasion, Ronan Rafferty shot rounds of 75, 70, 73 and 78 for 63rd place behind Hale Irwin.

By comparison, Ernie Els functions on a considerably higher plane, not least because he is the last overseas winner of the title, which he captured at Oakmont after a play-off with Montgomerie and Roberts. There will be an additional Irish interest to his challenge here this week, his last tournament appearance before the Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen on July 4th-7th.

"I have heard some really nice things about Druids Glen and my intention is to get to know it as best I can," he said. "I am committed to play a skins game in Canada at the end of this month and I will go directly from there to Ireland. So, I could be at Druids Glen as early as the Sunday of Irish Open week."

Els is clearly the player in form, having captured the Buick Classic at Westchester last weekend by the crushing margin of eight strokes. He is hoping that his performance there will prove to be as good an omen as two years ago when, after finishing runner-up to Lee Janzen, he went on to win at Oakmont a week later.

The South African is also hoping that greater stability in his home life will lead to improved consistency on the course. I built a house last year and I now feel a lot more comfortable about living in the States," he said.

"But this course is going to be a real test of your long game. I'm hitting the driver pretty well right now but I'm still missing a couple of fairways per round. That's my game. I miss fairways."

There's a lot of talk about long grass here this week. Which brings me to the instructions a local householder gave to a real estate agent about renting his abode for US Open week. "Get the best price you can he said. "Then, for another 25 bucks, tell them they can use the lawn mower every day."