ROYAL SYDNEY will be open for the mauling by Australia's best professional golfers in the Australian Open if the weather remains as pristine as it was yesterday afternoon. Here's the rub: it is Mother Nature who protects one of this country's oldest tournament courses, flanked as it is by the harbour a couple of hundred metres to the north and the open sea, just a one-iron shot to the east.

On the surface, a 6344-metre, par-72 course is a dawdle for players of this calibre. The reality is different because of the prevailing winds and the way they change. As Golf Australia's tournament director, Trevor Herden, said yesterday, John Senden's winning score the last time the Australian Open was played at Rose Bay in 2006 was just eight-under par "and that was with a birdie-birdie finish".

That on a course with two par-four holes - the 274m first and the 275m eighth - which don't even stretch to 300 metres. "It's the wind around here," Herden said. "The wind comes from the north-east and it swings to the south-east. It can play as two entirely different golf courses. The wind will be this golf course's protector, just as it was in '06."

Peter Thomson's company came to Royal Sydney in the 1980s and relaid the greens, which is another important factor. Thomson built up the putting surfaces and shaped undulations into them, leaving organisers with more options for tricky pin placements. "With these greens, it's hard to hit it close," Herden said.

The first hole is an interesting case. With an elevated tee beside the clubhouse, it is easily driveable for the longer hitters, but the green is elevated and surrounded by deep bunkering on each side. Tournament favourite Geoff Ogilvy, for instance, intends hitting his driver every day. "I can't find anywhere to lay it up," he said.

Other players will hit irons off the tee, leaving themselves a wedge shot in. A fairway bunker on the left side also presents a danger for these players. Craig Parry came to play at Royal Sydney with his Concord Golf Club compatriot Won Joon Lee a few weeks ago and found himself at a distinct disadvantage to the younger, more powerful Lee (who, incidentally, was runner-up in the open last year). Lee teed it up at 6.30am and smacked it through the green without so much as a warm-up.