They stood together on the practice ground, clowning around like two old friends. Under the watchful eye of their mutual coach, Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods and Darren Clarke were clearly enjoying each other's company here at Pebble Beach, where they will become rivals later this week in the 100th US Open.

It is a measure of Woods's generosity that he continues to have no problem in sharing Harmon's expertise with a player who had the audacity to beat him by 4 and 3 in the final of Andersen Consulting Matchplay Championship at La Costa last February. His only acknowledgement of that setback was when he said yesterday: "It's great to see DC play better, except when he kicks my butt."

Their respect for Harmon appears to be well earned, quite apart from the improvements he may have brought about in their playing techniques. As it happens, the coach is currently experiencing considerable pain from kidney stones, yet he has walked the course twice in one day, to be with them in practice rounds.

"I feel none too good," Harmon admitted. "I've had it a few months and it gets worse sometimes." Still, he was with Clarke as the Tyroneman gained his first experience of one of the world's most challenging layouts. "It's awesome, better than I expected and so much better than it looks on TV," enthused Clarke.

He went on: "This is as close to European conditions as we are likely to get in a US Open. It's not intimidating but it is certainly a very stern challenge."

Clarke concluded: "There are 18 fantastic holes out there and though everything unfolds in front of you when you stand on the tee, it will take quite a bit of knowing, especially if the wind blows. Since I don't have the time to find out the hard way, I'm going to have to pick Butch's brains."

In the company of European colleagues Lee Westwood and Thomas Bjorn, Clarke produced some delightful shot-making in fresh winds sweeping off the Pacific. The ball was moved back in the stance as drivers were cracked low and long into the wind, while the trajectory was high and soft-landing for approach irons with wind advantage. Typical Portrush fare.

This will be Clarke's sixth US Open since 1994 when he missed the cut on his debut at Oakmont. He also missed the cut at Oakland Hills in 1996 but steady progress was evident in his share of 43rd place at Congressional and again at the Olympic Club before he became only the second Irishman to make the top-10 of the championship, sharing 10th place behind Payne Stewart at Pinehurst last June.

Woods has also made five appearances in the championship and he, too, started with a missed cut - as an amateur at

Shinnecock Hills in 1995. Since then, in a sharper progression, he has been tied 82nd, tied 19th, tied 18th and tied third.

Meanwhile, his respect and affection for Clarke were evident when he said: "DC and I are great friends. We call each other and leave messages for each other, like when he won the English Open recently. I've grown to admire him and the way he's taken his game to a higher level, with Butch's help. I don't think he worked as hard as he should have done before Butch got involved with him."

Woods seemed to be in splendid form yesterday, having gone out the previous evening for some practice with Mark O'Meara and qualifier Jeff Wilson. Under Harmon's watchful eye, they played the front nine and the final five holes before darkness closed in.

As it happened, he needed only the final four holes to make up seven strokes on the rookie Matt Gogel when capturing the AT&T with a stunning final round of 64 here last February. By winning again at Bay Hill and then retaining the Memorial Tournament, he brought his tournament haul in the US to 19, which is seven ahead of what Jack Nicklaus had achieved at the same age of 24.

A crucial difference, however, was that Nicklaus had three major victories - the 1962 US Open and the 1963 US Masters and USPGA Championship - by that stage, compared with two from Woods (1997 Masters and 1999 USPGA). And Woods readily acknowledged this difference.

He added: "I think it is viable to equal Jack's 18 majors, definitely. But if a person was to equal or even beat that record, he would have to put himself in a position to win time and again on the back nine on Sunday, just like Jack did. That can be seen from the fact that he finished second 17 times."

Then came the remarkable admission: "Though I have had several lunches with Jack and talked to him a lot of times on the golf course, the weird thing is that we have never ever talked about playing golf. You think I'd probably try to pick his brain but I've always felt that if he wants to offer something, he'll say something. I've never been one to try and press on and dig something out of somebody."

And talking about digging . . . a British tabloid scribe attempted to involve Woods in the controversy surrounding Mark James's forthcoming book in which last year's Ryder Cup captain is very critical of certain members of the US team. By way of reply, the world number one said: "I haven't read any of that. I haven't heard any of the quotes of anything."

I suppose you could describe this as a big, fat, white and eminently understandable lie. But it was delivered with one of the most disarming smiles Woods could muster, along with a rhetorical "Okay?" And if it were matchplay golf, one would have described it as a 7 and 6 thrashing for the mischievous scribe.

Woods seemed very much happier to talk about the late Payne Stewart and the way he sang in the bars of Waterville when they were both there with American colleagues last year. And no doubt he was thinking all the while of how nice it would be to succeed him as US Open champion.