David Duval had the look of a student who was convinced he had done all the right homework only to be flattened by a sadistic examiner. Carnoustie, where he is a leading challenger for the British Open, starting this morning, was not what he expected. And it showed.

Away from a glaring sun and brisk winds, the cap and shades were removed. And he sat there, almost like a lost little boy.

"It's nothing like I remembered from the Scottish Open in 1995," he said. "You know it looks to me like we're going to be playing target golf on a links layout. It might not be quite the same as in the States, where everything is played in the air to certain yardages. But it is like it."

It certainly wasn't like Waterville, where his Open preparation began in earnest last Thursday. "As far as difficulty is concerned, Portmarnock (where he played on Saturday) would be the closest," he said. "But we really didn't play anything to resemble this."

So, was Carnustie too difficult? There was a gentle shrug of the shoulders. "I don't know," he replied. "I can't define too hard, too easy, unfair, fair. It is what it is." This was classic Duval, attempting to be as honest as possible and unwilling to trot out glib platitudes just to please his audience. He sounded like an honest man who was trying to find the same answers that his inquisitors were seeking. This was the man who initially confessed to total bafflement at Pinehurst No 2 last month when, after opening rounds of 67 and 70, his US Open challenge foundered with two closing rounds of 75.

At the time, he could offer no explanation. But after due consideration, he now. "Those rounds I had at the weekend at Pinehurst weren't necessarily because of poor play, they were just because I didn't play as well as I needed to," he said.

"I now realise that if you played really well there, you could shoot even par to two or three under in a round. But if you just played good, you were probably going to shoot two or five over. That was my problem."

This will be his fifth British Open and, significantly, he has made the cut in all four so far. On his debut at St Andrews in 1995, he was tied 20th behind John Daly; then came Royal Lytham where middle rounds of 67 and 66 brought him to a share of 14th place with Paul McGinley, among others. He was tied 33rd behind Justin Leonard at Royal Troon, and though he failed to break 70 in any round last year, he still finished 10th behind Mark O'Meara at Royal Birkdale.

In the context of this week's challenge, those statistics are arguably as important as his extraordinary exploits on the USPGA Tour this season, where he has had four victories, including the Bob Hope Classic, where he shot 59 in one round. So, could a player capable of shooting 59 be intimidated by a stretch of Scottish link-land? Apparently so. "If the best you can do here is a 78, then that is the best you can do," he said philosophically.

He went on: "As much as anything, I'm trying not to expend much energy thinking about what it is going to be like. We all know it's going to be hard. I'm not concerning myself with it today. I'm almost trying to remove myself from it a little bit."

In halting, broken sentences, Duval was speaking volumes about the magnitude of the mental challenge which lies ahead.

"I think the most important thing you can do here is to try and get the ball into play, or just in between the high grass," he said. "There will be times when players will have to stop themselves thinking that it's all too hard. You are going to have a lot of people shaking their heads out there and I may very well be one of them."

Then he concluded: "I have always found that, regardless of whether an individual player likes or dislikes the golf course, it hasn't stopped them giving out a trophy come Sunday. Somebody is going to take home the Claret Jug on Sunday night." And you sensed he was trying to figure a way whereby it would be him.