Refashioned St. Andrews reminds Singh of Carnoustie

In search of his first Open Championship victory, Vijay Singh arrived at St. Andrews to find the Old Course very different than in the past. Several lengthened holes and some thickened rough will make this Open a shotmaker's tournament, he believes.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (PA) -- 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 nicknamed "Car-nasty" because of the severity of the rough. Paul Lawrie won the title in a playoff -- after Jean Van de Velde famously triple-bogeyed the final hole -- with a 6-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.

"Carnoustie all over again in places," said the Fijian on Tuesday. "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 birdie," he added. "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 now the longest par 5 in Open history, and Singh described the second shot as a monster.

"I hit a 3-wood just over Hell Bunker. Normally, you hit it wherever you want," he explained. "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," he said. "They've given us a chance to take a risk, but it's going to be a shotmaker's tournament."

Singh even predicted that the lengthened 12th could now see some players using something like a 5-iron off the tee and then another 5-iron just to avoid the hidden bunkers and the gorse on either side.

Singh has no chance to take back the world No. 1 spot this week, but his main priority was always going to be trying to win his first Open Championship.

He missed out by a stroke to Ben Curtis at Sandwich two years ago, but has only ever had one other top-10 finish in 16 starts. At St. Andrews, however, he has come in 12th, sixth and 11th.

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