The hand may have been damaged but the sense of humour was clearly intact. Indeed, US Masters champion Jose-Maria Olazabal was decidedly up-beat yesterday as he contemplated a comeback to competitive action, having lost an altercation with a bedroom wall in Pinehurst last month.

With strapping on the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand to protect a fractured bone, he was asked if the injury affected the shape of his shots. "No, they're pretty much the same," he replied with a wicked grin. "Sideways with the driver and everything else okay."

Then, for the first time since the incident, he recounted the sequence of events which led to his withdrawal after a first-round 75 in the US Open on June 17th. He also touched on how he expects wonderful things from his young compatriot, Sergio Garcia, though he hopes media attention will not smother the teenager. After completing his round last month with four bogeys, Olazabal had lunch, hit some shots on the practice ground, spent some time on the putting green and finally returned to his hotel room at about 5.0 p.m. That's when it happened. That's when his Latin blood hit boiling point and he smashed his right hand into the bedroom wall, breaking a bone.

"It wasn't out of character for me," he said. "In fact I think I did fairly well holding my emotions until then. I play the game with a lot of passion, and playing the last four holes of the US Open in four over hurt a lot. I am not a perfect human being. We all make mistakes."

This particular mistake for Olazabal has virtually destroyed his chance of emulating the 1990 achievement of Nick Faldo, who won the Masters and British Open in the same year. Then again, after a practice round at Carnoustie yesterday, one sensed it would not be his type of arena, even were he in the best of health.

"If the wind blows, it's going to be hell out there," he said, with some of that Latin passion, of his first visit to the Angus links. "It is the most severe rough that I've seen since Greg Norman won at Turnberry in 1986. My own chances are obviously affected by the injury, but I love this championship so much that I was prepared to do whatever I had to simply to be here."

He went on: "I have had to make some adjustment with my right-hand grip, and even then there is some pain. The doctor has told me that it will continue to hurt for another two or three weeks. But I am here and I will do my best."

In a Spanish fourball yesterday, Olazabal and Miguel-Angel Jimenez were beaten by Garcia and his mentor, Miguel Martin, who shot 62 at the Murphy's Irish Open two weeks ago. Apparently the quality of the golf was not especially stunning, but the senior duo still had to part with the pesetas.

Olazabal's admiration for Garcia, who gained a breakthrough victory at Druids Glen, was intense. "From my first meeting with him, I could see there was something special," he said. "I suppose the thing that really impressed me was his mental attitude. He truly believes he can do great things. That's the best part. If only we could all think that way."

But he warned: "I don't think there is any need to put extra pressure on him at this stage. I think he will feel more comfortable if he can concentrate and focus on the job in hand."

Given the tightness of the fairways and the severity of the rough, it was perhaps predictable that Olazabal's thoughts should then have turned to his European Ryder Cup colleague Colin Montgomerie. "I truly believe Colin has the game to win a major championship," he said. "It is just a matter of him knocking on the door. Sometime the door will open."

Montgomerie, having gained his first victory on Scottish soil by capturing the Loch Lomond Invitational last weekend, would hardly argue with that assessment. Indeed he set the course record at Carnoustie, with an eight-underpar 64 during the 1995 Scottish Open; but the course has been lengthened in yardage to 7,361 and reduced in par to 71.

"It is by far - by a long, long way, even on a glorious summer's day like this with only a light breeze - the most difficult course I have ever played," he said. "If the wind blows, we'll see scores higher than we've ever seen before. A winning aggregate of 300 might happen."

There is a suspicion abroad that the organisers of the major championships have conspired to make this an especially testing year. Otherwise, how can one explain the first appearance of rough at the US Masters, the extreme difficulty of the crowned greens at Pinehurst No 2 and now the severity of the challenge at Carnoustie?

"It looks like they've all got together," said Montgomerie. "I don't think any sane person could hope that the wind blows this week, but I can tell you it would be much worse than the last day of 1996."

That was when Ian Woosnam won the Scottish Open at Carnoustie with an aggregate of 289 while Montgomerie was carding a closing round of 81. "If we have those conditions this week, the scores will be in the nineties," warned Monty. Yet he stopped short of criticising a course set-up on which the lay-up area at the long sixth is no more than 11 yards wide.

Over the years, the USGA justify their apparent sadism by claiming that the objective is not to embarrass the world's best players but to identify them. So, will Carnoustie identify them?

"I believe it will," said Monty. "Yes, I believe it will identify the best driver of the ball, the best fairway-wood player, the best iron player and the best chipper and putter."

As the song says, who could ask for anything more?