The remark contained all the hurt of a custodian who had seen a great treasure cruelly devalued. Pointing across the Firth of Tay in the direction of the Royal and Ancient's home in St Andrews, Earle Smith, secretary of Carnoustie Golf Links said: "The gentlemen over the water determined that we were no longer good enough."

In a way, it was the best thing that could have happened to the onetime tiger of British Open venues. For they have brought about a remarkable transformation to mark the return of the Championship after a lapse of 24 years, with a formidable, overall length of 7,361 and a par of 71.

But have they got it right? Jack Newton, runner-up to Tom Watson here in 1975 and now commentating for Australian Channel 7, thinks not. "They say they haven't fertilised the rough, but I don't believe them," he said. "It's too lush and too tight - as different as chalk and cheese from the way it was in 1975.

"It means they've taken the driver out of players' hands. I know some competitors are arguing that they have to use a driver because of the overall length. But I don't buy that. Even the conservative hitters will still be using three-wood or two-iron at certain holes.

"The overall effect of the lushness is that they have introduced blindness to the course, which shouldn't be there. And it's essentially because the authorities won't bite the bullet and limit the length of the golf ball."

As an expanse of shallow duneland where no two holes run in the same direction, it reminded me yesterday of a highly manicured Portmarnock, with a lot of extra bunkering. In fact there are 121 of them in all and of the opening nine holes, the seventh is the only one where the bunkers haven't been changed.

Indeed the overall impact of the course is little short of stunning, certainly where presentation is concerned.

"This is like the way you would imagine Portmarnock being set up for a British Open - except with more bunkering," said Paul McGinley. Then I asked Darren Clarke how he would compare it to his beloved Royal Portrush. "The bunkers here are more strategically placed," he replied. "The additional length is also a factor but there is a lot of blindness here, especially off the tee."

Colin Montgomerie raved about the condition of the course. "It is quite unbelievable," he enthused. "Fairways, bunkering, greens - all are absolutely perfect. You won't find a better-presented links course than this."

But Monty also warned about the sort of grief that Carnoustie is likely to inflict. "If the wind blows, we'll see scores we've never seen before," he said. "A winning aggregate of 300 might happen. Quite frankly, four rounds of 75 looks quite good right now."

Nick Faldo concurred. "You've got to hit it down the middle of each fairway and you've got to hit the driver," he said.

On hearing the sharply contrasting clubbing that the world's most consistently long hitter has experienced here, one could readily understand Monty's trepidation. By his own admission, Tiger Woods has hit a six-iron and a three-wood on different days at the 250-yard 16th. There was also a day when he reduced the 459-yard 17th to five-iron, five-iron. And another when he hit driver, driver there and "really smoked it".

As McGinley discovered yesterday, it is certainly not a course one would choose for a gentle, Sunday fourball. With well-hit drives in both cases, he hit a fiveiron second shot into the 407-yard first and a four-iron approach into the 462-yard second.

David Feherty once observed that if Carnoustie were the only course he could play for the rest of his life, he'd quit the game. One suspects that there will be a number of competitors of similar mind, before the weekend is out.