The one thing Vijay Singh probably never expected at St Andrews this week was to be reminded of the most controversial Open championship in living memory. But he has been.
Six years ago, Carnoustie was renamed Car-nasty because of the severity of the rough. Paul Lawrie won the title in a play-off - after Jean Van de Velde famously triple-bogeyed the final hole - with a six-over-par total.
The Old Course is renowned for having the widest fairway in golf, shared by the first and 18th holes.
But out beyond that, world No 2 Singh has already encountered some pretty fearsome spots during his practice rounds.
"It's Carnoustie all over again in places," the Fijian said yesterday.
"I think the course needed changing (there are five new tees since 2000), but I think they may have overdone it.
"There are some holes where a yard can be the difference between being unplayable and being somewhere where you can make a birdie.
"The rough is not very consistent and if the wind blows hard, it will get really tough and par could be a good figure."
At 618 yards, the 14th is the longest par-five in Open history and Singh described the second shot as a "monster."
He added: "I hit a three-wood just over Hell Bunker. Normally, you hit it wherever you want.
"The fourth is incredible now - into the wind, you'll struggle to make the fairway and at the 17th, you can lose a ball without trying. Normally, you're looking to come in from the right side of the fairway there, but they've narrowed it. The course has totally changed. They've given us a chance to take a risk, but it's going to be a shot-maker's tournament."
Tiger Woods played his first practice round at the weekend; since then, an extra area of fairway has been cut on the fourth because it was deemed too tough a drive as it was.
Singh has no chance to regain the world No 1 spot this week but his priority was always going to be trying to win his first Open. He missed out by a stroke to Ben Curtis at Sandwich two years ago.
