The Scottish Open which has grown in stature during its recent residency at Gleneagles is as good a rehearsal as

The Scottish Open, which has grown in stature during its recent residency at Gleneagles, is as good a rehearsal as the town could have wished for. Then, in 1999, the Open's shifting shrine will once again set up its altar for worship on the links once described by Walter Hagen as "the greatest course in the British Isles". "The Scottish Open Club will be our new national home," Callan said.n Another possible row over Greg Norman's appearance fees was apparently avoided when organisers for next February's South Australian Open refused to confirm or deny reports that the world's No 1 would receive the same amount as the purse for the entire field - A$300,000 (pounds 137,000).. Like a noble giant asleep in a fabled kingdom for 20 years, the reawakening of Carnoustie to championship golf today will be seen as merely a rehearsal for the real fairy-tale ending in four years' time. There were 22 invitations on offer for which there were 68 applications.

However, Watson, who was deliberately targeted, did not reply to his invitation.Meanwhile, the Scottish Open, which will switch between the east and west coasts in the next few years, intends to build its own course, possibly beginning in the year 2000. He was quite something then."The Scottish Open, coming as it does the week before the Open at St Andrews, and the fact that it is being held on a classic links, has attracted some of the world's leading professionals and amateurs including Ben Crenshaw, the Masters champion, and Tiger Woods, the American amateur sensation. He had the services of the veteran Scottish caddie, Willie Aitchison, who promised him that if he got through he would get him a game with Lee Trevino, then Aitchison's main employer."I missed qualifying by two strokes," Faldo said, "but I got to walk around Carnoustie next to Trevino's bag He played two and a half rounds before missing a green. When the Open was last held here in 1975 - it was won by Tom Watson - Faldo, then 17, attempted to qualify. The back nine is playing so long." After hitting a driver at some holes Faldo called it a day after playing the 16th. "It's a great course," he said, "but it wore me out."For reasons more to do with off course than on, Carnoustie fell out of favour as an Open Championship venue but is now restored to the Royal and Ancient's rota and will host the Open in 1999. Before this week Faldo, three times the Open champion, had never played Carnoustie although, as he said, he has good memories of the course.

The idea is for Faldo to present the cheque to a member of the Dire Straits band here on Saturday. If the wind continues to blow, Faldo, who launched the Nick Faldo Charitable Trust with the first prize of pounds 100,000 when he won the World Matchplay at Wentworth in 1989, can see a lot of the players heading for dire straits."It's a tough brute," Faldo said, "especially in a strong wind. "Appearance money is not something we are prepared to pay," Callan said although he admitted that in certain cases airline tickets and hotel bills would be met.The significant sum referred to by Faldo will, he hopes, be a minimum of pounds 30,000. Callan has connections in the music industry and once ran a record company that promoted Led Zeppelin.The Scottish Open has undergone a sea change, losing its title sponsor Bell's, moving from Gleneagles to Carnoustie and switching television coverage from BBC Scotland to Sky.