The very appeal of links golf is its unpredictability. It's when a good shot can have a bad outcome, where a shot hit off the middle of the clubface and aimed down the centre of the fairway can receive a nasty bounce that could see the ball scuttling off into the rough or, worse still, into a bunker.

Conversely, it's when a mediocre shot can have a good result, getting a favourable kick. It's about the vagaries of the game, and how it can drive sane men insane.

And, on this links of Royal St George's, with its bumps and hollows and numerous crowned fairways, you could opine that luck, more than ever, could play a key role in deciding the winner of the 132nd British Open Championship.

But you'd be wrong.

Sure it is a course with more quirks than most, yet here - on linksland that has been scorched by a heatwave for much of the past week, leaving the fairways fast and firm despite a thunderstorm last evening - the winner is likely to be the one who produces the most good shots and who, whenever a bad bounce is inflicted, has the mental fortitude to forget it.

As Paul McGinley, one of four Irish players in the field, put it: "This is a bit like a tennis player going from a clay court to grass. It's a different game to the one we usually play, and it suits different players. The ball reacts fast off the ground and requires a bit more touch, a bit more feel and a lot more imagination. Normally, playing parkland courses, you hit the ball from A to B to C to D. Here, you are hitting the ball from A to B but it goes to Z before it stops."

Tiger Woods, the world's number one, calls it "fun" golf. In truth, it is the sort of golf that severely tests your patience. Ernie Els, the defending champion, put things in perspective when commenting: "It is a golf course unlike any of the other links courses. At times, you think you're playing on the moon. There's nothing flat on this course, everything bounces away. You've just got to take the rough with the smooth this week."

Els is seeking back-to-back wins after his success in the Scottish Open last weekend and has rediscovered his form. Woods, too, has again found the knack of winning. As Woods observed, it would be wrong to suggest this was a two-man battle. "There's more than just the two of us playing," he said. "Anyone who's qualified and earned their right in this event can win the tournament."

A year ago, Woods arrived in Muirfield holding the US Masters and US Open titles and chasing the Grand Slam. This time, he has no major title in his possession.

Not only that, but the last three major winners - Rich Beem at the US PGA; Mike Weir at the US Masters, and Jim Furyk in the US Open - have been first-time champions. "A lot of player have broken through," conceded Els. "They've broken the ice in their own minds and games."

Two men who haven't yet broken the ice, so to speak, are Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke. Yet, this championship, of all the majors, is the one which has given each of them their best chance: Harrington last year at Muirfield, when he finished a shot outside of a play-off; and Clarke in 1997 at Royal Troon, where he finished runner-up, and again in 2001 at Royal Lytham & St Annes where he finished third.

"In 20 years' time, I might be aggrieved if I haven't won a major if I keep playing well and giving myself chances," said Harrington. "If you remember, it's only four years ago, at Panmure, that I was having to go through qualifying to get into the Open so I have come a long way in that time . . . for me to win a major, I need to have the whole package. To play well from tee-to-green and putt and chip and think well.

"What happened at Muirfield last year gives me the confidence to believe I am capable of doing it. I was in the hunt there right to the end and it did say to me that, yes, I could do it."

Harrington has worked with his sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella for the past two days and he revealed: "I feel I'm getting back to what I should be doing and I'm at least back on the right track. I had lost my focus over the last couple of months but now I'm optimistic that I'm going in the right direction."

It seems remarkable that Irish players, raised on links golf, have more often flattered to deceive in the British Open. Only once, in 1947, when Fred Daly won at Hoylake, has an Irishman won the Open - and if the representation this year is small, only four players, it is a quality one: Harrington is ranked ninth in the world, Clarke has moved up to 17th and McGinley, whose best finish was tied-14th at Lytham in 1996, has shown his mental fortitude in the heat of battle in last year's Ryder Cup.

For Gary Murphy, this Open is a definitive moment in his career. Coming off his biggest payday as a professional - the €159,869 he won in finishing fourth in last week's Scottish Open - means he doesn't have the pressure of fighting mainly to retain his card and can put the bar a little higher. Someone asked him if it was a burden to play in the Open. "You could never say that. This is where all professionals want to be," he said.

There are a number of intriguing factors that will unearth a champion. The wind is one of them. If it blows at all, club selection and the ability to craft shots will test players on each and every occasion.

And the not-so-subtle nuances of Sandwich will also present its own mental test, as players have to contend with good-looking shots finishing up in nasty places. The finishing stretch, the 17th and 18th, with their crowned fairways, will not be for the faint-hearted.

"If the weather gets bad, this could be the toughest Open of the lot because the fairways are so severe," insisted Els. "But I like it. I think this is the way links golf should be played."

Although Woods made the point that anyone teeing up the ball on the first tee can win, the truth of the matter is there is a select list of potential winners. Harrington and Clarke are among them, but so too are Woods and Els - each of whom has won on their last competitive appearances - and Weir, who hasn't a good Open record but who is a much-changed player these days, and Furyk. On this links, it is also a game of patience, and Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Kenny Perry and David Toms, all the unflustered type, can also expect to challenge.

It promises to be a high-octane championship.