AN INSPIRED plan to counter the advantages of modern golf equipment has been scuppered by a lone, albeit rather talented player. Congressional CC will remain no more than an average sort of challenge for Tiger Woods when the US Open gets under way tomorrow in anticipated conditions of sweltering heat.

By setting up a course on which five par fours range in length from 455 to 480 yards, the US Golf Association believed they could recreate the good old days. Players would come to realise how it was for Ben Hogan to play that famous one-iron second shot to the 458-yard 18th at Merion on his way to victory in 1950.

"You must hit the driver at almost all of the par fours," claimed Darren Clarke, who would not be among the shorter hitters on the European Tour. "I intend to hit the driver no more than three times in any round," countered Woods, whose prodigious driving was a feature of his Masters triumph two months ago. And one of those will be on the par-five 15th.

Pete Coleman, Bernhard Langer's caddie, claimed that his master was hitting wood for his second shot at the 466-yard 10th. I wondered what was the longest approach shot Woods had hit in practice. "I hit a three iron at one of the holes I can't remember which," he told me. But it wasn't the 10th.

A measure of the 21-year-old's impact on the blue riband of American golf is the nature of the media coverage here. Instead of the customary 700 scribes, accommodation had to be found for an additional 400, so that tales of the Tiger could be reported far and wide.

At his press conference yesterday, there were 18 television cameras. Earlier, out on the golf course, his takeaway on the fifth tee brought such a response from cameramen that it looked as if he was swinging in strobe lighting. Clearly. the term phenomenon can be applied to more than his golf.

The first question at the interview session came from a television reporter who talked about a 3-year-old New Zealand golf prodigy called Leopard Lee. What advice could Tiger give him towards becoming the world's greatest golfer. The answer was suitably bland and non-committal

His self-assurance has come on considerably since I last saw him at Augusta in early April. Mind you, he has become used to fielding some decidedly tricky questions.

"Where are you staying in Montgomery County?"

"In a room," he replied, with a knowing grin.

How realistic is it to win the Grand Slam of professional golf in the one season?

"Well," said Woods, "Phil Mickelson won four tournaments last season. The only problem was they weren't the right ones.

An English voice with a cut-crystal accent wondered if the sort of rowdy galleries Woods was attracting could be detrimental to the game of golf.

"I don't know a whole lot about cricket, which means that I would probably cheer at the wrong time," he said. "A lot of these fans are new to golf. When they learn a bit more about the game. I'm sure their behaviour will improve."

By his own admission, Woods is driving the ball well. Earlier in the day, the evidence was out there on the golf course. However, his iron-play must have been a source of some concern to his coach. Butch Harmon, who was by his side, studying every shot.

There was also security. The presence of only one uniformed county policeman on either side of each fairway seemed rather modest by normal standards. When I spoke with one of them, however. he explained that up to half a dozen colleagues were around, in plain clothes, while the USGA had their own contingent of "minders".

By recent standards, it was a fairly subdued exercise. Still, when asked afterwards to name one of his dearest wishes, he said: "I guess being able to play a practice round in peace."

Woods, who hit wedge shots to the green at 11 of the 18 holes at Augusta, will be using the driver off the tee at the sixth (475 yards), 10th (466) and 15th (583, par five) this week. But he won't be sacrificing too much length at the other holes when one considers that his average three-wood, shot travels 260 to 280 yards. while he can rely on 240 from his two iron. And all his clubs are steel-shafted. Not an atom of titanium, boron or graphite in sight.

"Augusta is like a driving range compared to this," he said. "No other place in the world has rough as difficult as a US Open course. But the good thing is that even if my irons aren't 100 per cent, I'm convinced I can shoot a good score here, provided I keep the ball in the fairway."

Earlier in the day, Greg Norman made the surprise admission that he may decide to lay up at the treacherous sixth. "I'm about 10 yards shorter now than I was, 10 years ago and this course is a beast," said the Shark. "In the past, I would never have considered, laying up at a par four, but if that's the best way I can see to making par there, I'll do it."

Meanwhile there were reminders that Woods is still very much a kid, despite all the grooming of his IMG handlers. He certainly wasn't ashamed to remind us of that fact when. by way of explaining how much his life had changed, he said wistfully: "This is finals week at Stanford." Yet, his goodbye to all that, last August, may not be irreversible, after all.

Next year, I'm hoping to start a correspondence course at Stanford "he said. "I don't know if it's possible, but it's something I want to do."

Beside each green on the Blue Course, there's a device which the players call a hair-dryer, which is what it looks like, except that it's four feet high. Its function is to ensure a good circulation of air around the greens. so as to defeat fungus.

In the battle with the Tiger, no such device is available. Which is probably why the leading competitors are hoping his main problems will be created by himself, by an over-eager. boyish will to win.