If you don't think Royal Lytham & St Annes produces great champions, a few minutes spent looking at the assorted photographs on the clubhouse wall - where each winner of the British Open's claret jug at this venue is captured in one dramatic pose after another for posterity's sake - would change even the most stubborn of minds.

For this is a course, if not quite the prettiest that plays host to this championship, at which brain and body must function in complete equanimity in order to succeed.

Not that Gary Player needs reminding of the requirements for victory, or the traits that make up a true champion, but yesterday he was one of those drawn to stare at the pictures of past winners on the eve of the 130th British Open.

"Of all the majors, this is the ultimate test. I mean, you are battling the mind more so in this championship, and the elements, than any of the other majors," he remarked.

Indeed, there is every indication that whoever succeeds here will not only need to keep his wits, but will also be required to be in the whole of his health. With the weather forecast for a stiff wind, and acres of penal rough - likened to "hay" by a number of players - to augment the 190-plus deep bunkers that litter this linksland, there is even the potential for some embarrassing scores.

"The challenge is in avoiding the bunkers. It is like a circle with red, just try not to hit the ball into them, otherwise it is like a penalty shot straight away," said David Duval who, after his sand-digging in the Road Hole bunker on the 17th hole at St Andrews last year, knows only too well how they can break a man's heart.

Staying out of the bunkers, or at least visiting as few as possible, will be a prime requisite for anyone with serious title aspirations. And, yet, there is also the belief that the conditions, as they did in Carnoustie two years ago, could make this a close contest. In other words, Tiger Woods, the world's number one player, and the defending champion, won't blow everyone away.

As Sergio Garcia, who doesn't like to be reminded of his experience in savagely missing the cut in that 1999 British Open, in conditions strikingly similar, observed: "If Tiger hits it into the rough, he is going to be hitting it like the rest of us . . . just chipping back out. If the wind blows, that will be the best thing for us all."

The other day, Thomas Bjorn suggested that there were 30 or 40 legitimate contenders in the whole field if Woods didn't play to his optimum, but only two or three capable of beating him if he did.

Duval, though, begged to differ. "I think there are a number of people capable of winning, even if Tiger played well," he insisted.

And, while Woods is the undoubted favourite, the presence of 46 of the top 50 ranked players in the world - Americans Hal Sutton, Paul Azinger, Kirk Triplett and Notah Begay are missing - indicates that he won't have things all his own way.

A number of other players have been nursing injuries, and that old adage of "beware the injured golfer" springs to mind in wondering if Ernie Els, who has had constant treatment on his back, or Bernhard Langer, who possesses the mental will for a challenge like this, but who also damaged his back when putting some rubbish into a bin last Friday, can conjure up some magic.

And Garcia himself had reason to visit the hospital yesterday afternoon, when his assistant manager, Carlos Rodriguez, suffered a broken ankle after being hit by a golf buggy outside the main door of the clubhouse. As if that wasn't enough, Garcia then learned he had been fined an undisclosed sum by the European tour for criticising the Loch Lomond course at last week's Scottish Open. It remains to be seen if either event has any unsettling effect on him.

Greg Norman, meanwhile, was forced to withdraw following the death of a close friend in America. He will be replaced by England's Scott Henderson. Japan's Toshimitsu Izawa, who has withdrawn due to illness, will be replaced by England's Neil Cheetham.

As far as the Irish challenge is concerned, it is the healthiest is has been for many a long year heading into a British Open. Darren Clarke has finished second, first and seventh in his last three outings; Padraig Harrington has finished second in his last two tournaments, and Paul McGinley finished third in his most recent event, the Scottish Open.

Des Smyth, who required a course record at St Annes Old Links on Monday to survive the qualifying lottery, and British Amateur champion Michael Hoey make up the quintet of Irish challengers in the field.

Harrington was one of the first to arrive here on Saturday last, and played it before the bad weather hit. "If the wind stays up, there will be some high numbers. You are going to need every shot in your bag. I'm struggling a bit in the wind, as I am sure everyone is, but I can't wait to get out there and get going," he said.

There are those who expect a strong challenge from Harrington, and even more who expect a genuinely strong challenge from Clarke. "If you want to compare him to a race horse, he's finely tuned and ready for the day," said his manager, Andrew Chandler.

As Retief Goosen proved to everyone on the European Tour in winning the US Open, it is possible to go into Tiger's backyard and prove his fallibility. Now it is up to them to do it in their own backyard.