Deep and forbidding, there are 112 of them of all shapes and sizes, dotted almost randomly around the 83-acre expanse of the Old Course. And competitors in the 129th British Open, starting here this morning, are unusually fearful of grappling with the unique challenge of the game's most wickedly-constructed bunkers.

Some, notably the infamous Road Hole Bunker, are six-feet deep, with freshly-revetted faces rising at an angle of almost 90 degrees. Depending on where the ball comes to rest, a player might be prompted to think the unthinkable and plan an escape in two strokes, rather than one. Or, horror of horrors, he might make the ultimate concession of declaring it unplayable at a cost of stroke and distance.

Darren Clarke was among those claiming they were too severe. To such views, however, Royal and Ancient captain, Michael Bonallack, delivered the sharp response: "Bunkers are not meant to be easy places from which to escape. They're meant to be prisons; places of punishment."

So it is that the game's elite are being forced to radically amend their views of such hazards, from being desirable destinations around a parkland green, to areas fraught with card-wrecking potential. One has only to look back to the last staging of the Open here in 1995, when no less a figure than Jack Nicklaus lost an embarrassing battle with Hell Bunker when carding a 10 on the long 14th.

Paul Lawrie, the defending champion, had concerns of a different nature, when a damaged left wrist precluded him from practising on Tuesday. But he is now ready to take his place on the first tee at 12.20 this afternoon, in the company of Americans Fred Couples and John Huston.

"I've been icing it every couple of hours and the swelling of yesterday has gone away," he said, while wearing a protective bandage. "In fact I had no problem with the wrist when I played at 7.0 this morning."

Meanwhile, there are other, key elements which promise to make this the most memorable Open of recent years. There is the thrilling prospect of reigning US Open champion Tiger Woods becoming, at 24, the youngest player to complete the Grand Slam of Masters, US Open, British Open and USPGA Championship victories.

Then there is the remarkably fast-running nature of classic, links terrain. "If you didn't have spikes on, you'd slip down the first fairway," said Colin Montgomerie.

He was not about to elicit any sympathy, however, from Hugh Campbell, chairman of the Championship Committee who said yesterday: "I am as comfortable today and I was uncomfortable last year (when the condition of Carnoustie was highly criticised). There are three main elements: playing field, the course and the public interest."

Campbell went on: "We have exactly the golf course we asked for something like two years ago. It is hard and fast-running, playing like a links for the first time in an Open championship in a long, long time. That is why the year 2000 is going to be very high in terms of spectator interest."

Those key elements were beautifully characterised by Clarke yesterday morning, not long after the sun had risen over the North Sea. Going up the 17th, the Tyrone-man moved the ball back in his stance, almost to his right foot, and proceeded to punch a five-iron shot of 180 yards which rose no more than shoulder height before chasing up onto the dangerously shallow green.

American challenger Bob Estes, who happened to be heading for the practice ground at the time, stopped and looked long, possibly longingly. They don't play those sort of shots on the US Tour.

"With the course this fast, it is going to call for a lot of imagination," said Clarke. "Sometimes the right shot from 25 yards short of the green might be a putter, but it might not appear so, straight away." As it happens, Clarke worked on his putting stroke at Sunningdale last weekend with Butch Harmon, the coach he shares with Woods.

"Butch pointed out that my head was way behind the ball, which meant I was opening and closing the blade," he said. "It was very important to sort that out before coming to a course where the putter will be absolutely critical towards making a score."

In that context, it may be no harm to remind ourselves that the greens on the Old Course - seven doubles and four single greens - measure a combined 7.5 acres. And that on the largest of them, the fifth/13th (1.5 acres) a greenkeeper with a hand-mower will walk seven miles in one and a half hours to give it an early-morning trim.

It represents the realisation of a boyhood dream for David Duval who, it will be recalled, was less than enamoured of the challenge of Carnoustie, 12 months ago. "I grew up in a golf shop and though I wouldn't profess to be a historian like a lot of players, I knew about this place," he said.

"When I played here for the first time in 1995, my tee-time on the second-day happened to be about 10 minutes before Arnold Palmer finished on the 18th for the last time. So I had some photos taken, which was pretty neat." Then, reflecting the views of Montgomerie and Woods, he added: "I think this is the first time I have been on a golf course where there are some places on the fairway faster than the greens."

Most people here are convinced that Woods has to play no better than his normal game to win comfortably. Granted, Gary Player disagrees - "I think Ernie Els is going to win because he has played the course so well." But then, as a fellow South African, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Peter Thomson once said of his 1955 St Andrews triumph: "It will always be the greatest, because nowhere else is there the turf that you have here." And Seve Ballesteros, the most charismatic of recent St Andrews champions, expressed the view: "Victory anywhere is always sweet, but to win on the Old Course is so special, it rises above everything else."

If everything goes according to plan, Tiger Woods will know that feeling at about tea-time next Sunday.