DAVID FEHERTY, fast approaching the status of an elder statesman among the country's tournament professionals, will be conscious of formidable, young compatriots when he competes in the £750,000 Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen.

"I think it's fantastic, the quality of our young players who are waiting to take over from old-stagers like myself," he said yesterday.

Most of us, in our own spheres of activity, could empathise with his observations regarding how committed and hard-working youngsters are these days. But the 37-year-old Ulsterman has not despaired of having some fun. "Nowadays you have to go looking for some daft behaviour - or you might even have to start it yourself," he said.

This will be Feherty's 12th European tournament of the season and it remains his favourite event. "One of these years I'll succeed in playing well in it," he said ruefully, reflecting on his only top-10 finish which was in Killarney, where he finished with a course record 65.

The younger players to whom Feherty was referring include such as Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Raymond Burns and Francis Howley. McGinley is mining a particularly rich seam of form, having followed a fourth-place finish in the French Open with victory and a cheque for £3,100 in the AIB Christy O'Connor Pro-Am at The K Club on Monday.

His winning round of 69 was two strokes clear of compatriot Clarke, who collected £2,350. By comparison, Harrington experienced problems with a damaged left ankle on the way to a two-over-par 74. "I hit some bad shots because of it," he said yesterday.

Typically, however, he remained determined to prepare himself as intensively as possible for this, his debut in the Irish Open. When chances might have arisen for his appearance as an amateur in prior events, he was generally involved with the Ireland team in the European Team Championship or the QuadranguIar Internationals.

The Stackstown player has had a week's break from European Tour activities since he shared third place in the rain-shortened BMW International Open. "I was hoping to do some quiet practice all last week, but instead, I had to rest up until the weekend," he said. "The ankle is strapped up at the moment and I plan to have daily treatment at the Tour's physiotherapy caravan on the course.

Despite the unhappy nature of his build-up, he remains determined to produce a performance commensurate with a dramatic rise to prominence this season. "I'm not going to give myself any excuses before we start," he said. "Perhaps when it's all over, I'll then be able to accept why I didn't play quite as well as I had hoped."

Harrington is an admirable young man who continues to set his own standards. Not for him the comfort of basking in a remarkable triumph in the Spanish Open two months ago. He was down at Druids Glen yesterday morning for practice on the back nine in the knowledge that he would be playing the front nine in the afternoon's Canon Shoot-Out as the partner of Seve Ballesteros.

"I'm upset about the injury, mainly because it's a recurrence of an old problem," he said. "It happened during an Irish panel trip about two-and-a-half years ago when I accidentally walked into a hole." But he insisted: "The fact that it's hurting again hasn't changed the level of my expectation. This is a very important week for me."

Whatever about this week, he received a ringing endorsement from Ballesteros after yesterday's Shoot-Out. "He looks to be a very good, prospect - I like what I, saw, said the Spaniard. And what of his short game? "He needs to tighten things up a little, but he's young. He had a good head - he'll learn."

Howley, much admired among his peers as a competitor of considerable potential, went out to practice yesterday having experienced the course only once before. "I played here in the Boyne Links earlier this year," he said.

Another young Irishman, Gary Murphy, expressed satisfaction with his game, having spent much of this year competing on the mini-tours in England where he has had four top-10 finishes, including a second, in eight events.

Meanwhile, given the praise which has been lavished on Druids Glen by those who have played here since its official opening last September, it was intriguing yesterday to get the reaction of a seasoned professional. The extent to which such attitudes would be governed by the impending challenge, rather than by aesthetic considerations, was illustrated by the reaction of Anders Forsbrand.

Having made his Irish Open debut at Royal Dublin in 1985, when he finished 12th behind Ballesteros, the Swede went on to play at Portmarnock, Killarney and Mount Juliet. Did he consider Druids Glen to be a beautiful venue? "It's pretty," he replied, somewhat dismissively, before giving a professional's analysis of the challenge it presented. "There are a lot of blind shots. The front nine is pretty average, but the back nine's a bit better," he added.

Clearly, Forsbrand was not influenced by his Dublin caddie, Colin Byrne, when he went on: "This was my first time around it and, quite frankly, I didn't see anything special. I don't like the idea of American courses in Ireland. I'd prefer to be playing some place typically Irish, like Portmarnock."

The Swede, who would be among the longer hitters on tour, reached the green at the forbidding, 471-yard 13th with a three-wood off the tee and a four-iron second shot. And the 203-yard 17th was reached with a solidly-struck four iron.

Forsbrand subscribed, however, to the general view among competitors that the greens are quite outstanding.