THE US Open is still a week away, but it starts today for Philip Walton, Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, and the rest of Europe's leading golfers. Walton, who beat Montgomerie in a play off to win the Murphy's English Open last year, begins his title defence at the Forest of Arden Hotel on a course that bears little resemblance to the one on which he finished 14 under par for 72 holes.

This year the parkland lay out has been "Americanised" from its title sponsor, the Alamo Car Hire company, to the last of its 7,102 yards. The fairways have been narrowed and sharply defined, and those who miss the target have only three yards of "first cut" before finding four inch rough and tiger country.

Around the greens are "collars" of rough three inches deep. The transformation of a parkland course in the heart of England's Shakespeare country has been instigated by the PGA European Tour with the sole purpose of improving the chances of Ryder Cup players like Walton at Oakland Hills, Michigan next week. A total of 20 European Tour players will head for Detroit next week, but only 11 of them will play in the English Open.

Walton and Darren Clarke are among the eight British and Irish who are joined by Australians Wayne Riley and Peter O'Malley, and New Zealander Michael Campbell. Just how valuable the pseudo American experience will prove is open to doubt, chiefly because the greens have been seriously retarded by the cold, dry English winter. Tarpaulins and "grow sheets" normally used for market gardening have been used to keep out frost and encourage grass growth, but with only partial success. The putting surfaces are soft and bumpy and barely measure eight on the stimpmeter, slow even by European standards.

Walton commented. "It is certainly very different to last year. The rough is really rough the ground is rock hard ..." In addition, Walton claims, the change in the course means that the players will find that the wind acts with exactly the opposite effect to last year. "On top of that the greens haven't had a chance. It is going to be a very tough week, and anyone who drives the ball straight is going to be a winner," said Walton.

Clarke, his confidence boosted by his third place in last week's Deutsche Bank Open, said. "Because of the shaping of the furways and the rough, the lines I took from the tee last year have all disappeared. There is no alternative to hitting the fairways. If I drive as straight as I did last week I will get my reward."

However he has abandoned the putter he used in Hamburg in favour of a heavier Ping model to combat the sluggish greens.

Padraig Harrington returns from a week's break to resume his impressive progress in his debut season, but will need to ensure his long game returns to good working order as quickly as possible.

"I practised last week in a right to left wind," he explained "and I have developed a block. It was silly to keep on hitting away, but it is easy to be wise after the event.

Harrington says his target now, after securing his card and a place in the British Open Championship through his Spanish Opens victory, is to continue to play well. "Although it won't be fatal for me if I don't, there is still I pressure," he said. "A lot more is expected of me now."

Paul McGinley had only two bogeys all week and hit 66 out of 72 greens in taking seventh place in Hamburg. "Both those bogeys were three putts," he said, "so I am happy with the way I am hitting the ball."

In contrast, Raymond Burns is among those who is not content with the quality of his game. Coach Don Patterson is working on ways to give him a more compact, tighter swing.

Christy O'Connor Jnr and Eamonn Darcy are back on duty, and so is 42 year old Des Smyth, hoping for a return to form before he goes into hospital next Monday for a hernia operation.