Je ne regrette rien . . . Like his illustrious compatriot Edith Piaf, there were no regrets from Jean Van de Velde yesterday, when he returned to the tournament scene, 10 days after his dramatic British Open collapse at Carnoustie.

As he stood on the putting green at The K Club, where he will compete in the Smurfit European Open starting tomorrow, the Frenchman was greeted by a stream of fellow professionals, some commiserating, some welcoming him back to action, all of them clearly supportive.

Derrick Cooper, one of Carnoustie's many victims in a final round of 85, was among the well-wishers. So was Darren Clarke. And Van de Velde talked animatedly in Spanish with the Argentinian Angel Cabrera, who had finished in a share of fourth place with Craig Parry.

Then, with typical antipodean boldness, Greg Turner stepped forward. "I don't think you made a bad decision on the 18th, Jean," said the New Zealander. "There's no safe way to play that f...ing hole. People like things to be logical but sport is not like that."

Van de Velde smiled the same gracious smile he had somehow managed to muster when entering the media centre late on that fateful Sunday night, vanquished but unbowed. "You know I read the newspaper like you all did this morning and some terrible things are happening to other people," he had said. "And you know, as I say it is a golf tournament, it's a game and I gave it my best shot . . . "

There was an inescapable irony about his arrival at the front of the clubhouse yesterday, only seconds after British Open champion Paul Lawrie had gone inside to make a television commercial for his Irish clothing sponsors, Kartel. Among other things, Carnoustie created a difference of several million pounds in their financial well-being.

But the Frenchman seemed unconcerned by such matters, having spent last week with his parents at their home in Mont de Marsan, about 80 kilometres from Biarritz. "It was good that I had to come here, otherwise I would still be opening letters and taking phone calls," he said.

How was he? "I'm good, very good," he replied. "And I'm happy to be here. Lots of people have been saying how sorry they are for me. And that's okay. If people liked the excitement of the finish, fine. I did it my way, but maybe next time I will try to put the finish together properly."

For this week's tournament, he will be a guest in one of the splendid houses overlooking the short fifth hole at The K Club. And he has every reason for optimism, given a fine performance last year when two middle rounds of 69 gave him a share of seventh place behind Mathias Gronberg. And, as it happened, he finished a stroke ahead of Lawrie.

Meanwhile, the extent to which he has come to terms with a crushing disappointment was reflected in his willingness to talk about it all. "In a way, the golfing public discovered me at Carnoustie," he went on. "Before that, not many people would have been aware of my existence.

"I know that people have their own idea as to how I should have played the 72nd hole. And I suppose it will be normal for a while for people to come up to me and tell me how sorry they are.

"But these things happen. All the guys (his fellow professionals), said it could happen to anybody. Gary Player came to me afterwards and said that something similar had happened to him at the Masters.

"It also happened to Arnold Palmer in the US Open, where he was seven ahead of Billy Casper with nine to play and still lost (at the Olympic Club, San Francisco in 1966). They were great players. Me, I'm not the best player in the world, so why should it not happen to me?"

Then came the only admission that he might have done things differently. "I would do everything the same except for the third shot," he said. "It was a very nasty lie and instead of trying to go forward and clear the burn, I realise now that I should have gone left. Even if I didn't hit the fairway, the lie would have to have been better."

When considering everything that happened on that fateful hole, especially the freakish bounce which deflected the ball off the grandstand and back over the unfriendly burn, was he tempted to look on golf as a cruel game? "No," he replied. "In fact it has given me a lot."

He continued: "After all, by my performance at Carnoustie, I will be playing in the USPGA Championship in two weeks. And I will be in next year's Masters. So I don't have any reason to feel sorry for myself.

"I prefer to think of the great second round of 68 I shot on a most difficult course to lead the British Open by one stroke at the halfway stage. Then there was my 70 on the Saturday, which gave me a five-shot lead entering the final round. And in the greatest tournament in the world. That has to be worth something.

"I know there is a feeling that I will not recover from the way things ended, but I don't believe that. In fact I am convinced that I can recreate the same position again."

As he digested those words, the idea seemed to appeal to him enormously. And once again he was the flamboyant, if somewhat eccentric Frenchman, taking off his shoes and socks to follow his ball into the Barry Burn.

"I know what I will do," he said with one of his special, wicked smiles. "If I am leading by three shots on the 72nd tee at St Andrews next year, I will play the last hole with my putter. That way I cannot get into trouble, no?"

Indeed not. Provided, of course, he successfully negotiates the Swilcan Burn . .