Having gone head-to-head with Mark O'Meara and Sergio Garcia on successive Sundays, Padraig Harrington will face another formidable opponent in Nick Price, when the Alfred Dunhill Cup starts here on the Old Course this morning. In a repeat of the opening day in 1993, Ireland have been drawn against Zimbabwe.

As it happens the Irish, as seventh seeds, are in Group Four which also includes France and old adversaries Spain. And today's match is a repeat of the opening day in 1993 when Ronan Rafferty, Paul McGinley and David Feherty gained a crushing 3-0 over Tony Johnstone, Mark McNulty and Price, who are now in an unchanged Zimbabwean line-up.

McGinley, the only Irish survivor, will captain the team at the top of the order against Johnstone, while Darren Clarke meets another veteran, McNulty, at number two. "From previous experience, we're aware that there's no such thing as an easy draw, but we're playing well and I like our chances," said Clarke.

South Africa, winners for the last two years, are in Group Three with England, China and India. But the big interest in the opening round, even to the point of prompting a few, mischievous chuckles, is the meeting this morning of Scotland and Paraguay.

Not only are the Scots facing the country which humbled them 2-1 on their own turf six years ago: Colin Montgomerie has been drawn against Raul Fretes, his conqueror on that occasion. Those of us who have a soft spot for Monty and his myriad moods, will not easily forget his pre-tournament prediction - "If we can't beat Paraguay; we might as well go home." Well, they didn't and they did.

In these circumstances, it was ironic that shortly before the draw was announced yesterday afternoon, news was released that Montgomerie had withdrawn from the pro-am "because of problems with his teeth." Taking this to mean that the player was doubtful, the organisers attempted last night to have Andrew Coltart, a member of the victorious Scottish team of 1995 on stand-by.

But the Surrey-based player declined to travel to St Andrews, citing the recent arrival of a baby daughter for him and his wife. So they sent for Sam Torrance, who obliged.

Whatever about the severity of Montgomerie's dental problem, he could hardly be relishing the prospect of another meeting with a player who is not rated in the top 700 in the world - and that's as high as the rankings go.

In the event, Scotland will find cold comfort in the dramatic progress of another of the Paraguayans over the last six years. Since beating Torrance by four strokes in 1993, Carlos Franco has risen to 21 in the world rankings, with two tournament victories and $1,732,884 to his credit in the US, this season alone.

The Scots cannot complain, however, about a draw which has decidedly moderate teams representing Australia and Japan, the other countries in Group Two. But Japan are especially interesting for the presence of their splendid veteran, Isao Aoki, whose only other appearance in the Dunhill Cup was in 1985, when he was in the side beaten by Scotland in the second round.

It is also a fascinating exercise for the Americans, for whom Mark O'Meara is a survivor from the victorious line-up of 1996. In view of all the goings-on at Brookline, they are hoping that the Home of Golf, will open its arms to them this week, as it did when Arnold Palmer led the return of the Americans for the Centenary British Open here in 1960.

"I've always been treated nothing short of spectacular when I come to play in Scotland and I'm also expecting a great reaction from the crowd this time," said Tom Lehman. "People know what I'm like; they know what I'm all about."

Presumably, we can take it there will be no prancing about by Lehman on the sacred sward, should be dispose of New Zealand's Michael Campbell in the anchor position this morning. Colleague O'Meara said: "I foresee no problems. I would certainly hope not. I've played in six Dunhill Cups and I've always enjoyed the Old Course. I don't expect this time to be any different."

McGinley, Harrington and Clarke have been ever-present as Ireland's trio in this event since coming together in 1996 - Harrington's first full season on tour. As things have turned out, that debut year happened to be their most productive, given that they were deprived of a semi-final place only on a count-back with South Africa.

In 1997 they were beaten both by South Africa and Scotland and there was further disappointment last year when they lost on the opening day to Spain. The formidable Garcia, who incidentally, has been give captaincy of the team, comes in as a replacement for Santiago Luna, which strengthens the Spaniards appreciably, as their second seeding indicates. "We always make the rookie the captain," explained Olazabal.

The US Masters champion may have been driving the ball sideways at The Country Club, but he can rely on far greater latitude on the Old Course, provided he keeps it left. Either way, his opening match this afternoon against Ryder Cup colleague Jean Van de Velde, could be a pointer to Ireland's prospects when they meet the Spaniards on Saturday.

Harrington is clearly the key player today - and he knows it. "It's always great to represent your country," said the 28-year-old, who revels in team golf. "My main hope is that we can do a bit better than we've done here in the past. My form has been pretty good of late but with this game, you never really know how things are going to turn out on the day."

Clarke was also in a positive mood yesterday, though he made no attempt to hide his acute disappointment at being omitted from next week's World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth. In a cutting reference to the organisers of the event, he referred to it as "The IMG Invitational."

The Tyrone-man then added: "As the 22nd player in the world, it wasn't especially pleasant for me to drive with my family past Wentworth last Sunday and see 12 players listed, seven of whom were lower than me in the rankings. Sergio Garcia only went above me after winning in Cologne."

Though the US are the top-ranked country ahead of Spain, South Africa will be extremely difficult to beat in their attempt at captured the title for a third successive year. But their key player, Ernie Els insisted last night: "We are not going to look too far ahead. We are just going to take things game by game and match by match." Which, as recent events illustrated, is an eminently sensible approach in team golf.