Carnoustie was considered to be almost unplayable by many observers the last time the Open Championship was staged there in 1999.

However, the man criticised for its condition back then is confident that it will not be the case this year, unless the competition is a victim of fearsome winds.

John Philp, who has been course manager at Carnoustie - undisputedly the toughest venue on the Open Championship rota - for 22 years, reckons that if the winds are light to moderate, then the winning score could be in the region of 10 under par.

That is 16 fewer than Paul Lawrie took to win the event in 1999.

Criticism was centred on the thick rough, out of which players could barely hack the ball back on to the fairway, but Philp denied there had been any overseeding to encourage growth, saying these parts were unmanaged and at the mercy of the weather.

"Nature did it all," he said at an Open news conference at Carnoustie yesterday, referring to the warm and wet summer of eight years ago. "It was the same all over the east of Scotland. If you went to Muirfield, you would have cracked up. Members at Gullane weren't even going into the rough to look for their balls. They just played another."

Even if the same rainy weather occurs - the forecast is for a dry summer and hence lighter growth - then Philp assures that the rough will be much more playable.

"There is drought damage from last year and the grasses that have been oversown in these areas are a fine links type that will never produce that kind of herbage," he assured.

"I would say the course will play easier than 1999 because the penalty off the fairway will not be so severe. There will be more leeway in the sense of recovery and in winds of, say, up to 10mph, I could imagine a winning score of eight to 10 under easily. Remember the Scottish Open was won by Wayne Riley with 12 under in 1995. If we get the right conditions, the players will score and the monster tag will die."

There has been recognition that the rough was, in places, too close to the fairway and this year there will be more consistent areas of semi-rough, without widening the fairways from their dimensions of 1999.

Philp specified that the semi-rough will be 11/2-2 inches in height and an average of 3-4 metres wide, varying in places to take bunker positions into consideration.

"We do care what players think about the course," he said. "We want them to feel that it is not something that is tricked up, but that we've set up a fair and challenging course. I know I was attacked over how the course was prepared. A lot of it was not looking at the course in its entirety - just one element. Nobody wanted to highlight the quality of the turf on the playing areas, where the players were meant to be.

"Paul Lawrie was the man who played the golf. A lot of people forget he shot 67 in the final round over this impossible monster' of a golf course. The local lad did good, didn't he - and then what a finale in the play-off he finished birdie-birdie. The man deserved to win, and he hasn't been given credit for that."

The course this year will be 7421 yards, the longest in Open Championship history, and an increase of 60 yards from 1999, although there will be options at some holes to move to forward tees. Firm and fast conditions are again the objective, but Philp, who acknowledged the R&A were making more visits to the course this year than in 1999, said the course was unlikely to be as brown as Hoylake was last year.

The heat, he said, is unlikely to be so extreme and Carnoustie anyway tended to hold its colour better than any other links on the Open rota because of its sheltered location. Nevertheless, watering is scheduled to be minimal from the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Jean Van de Velde, the Frenchman who took a 7 at the last, taking a paddle in the Barry Burn en route, will not receive a special invitation. He is not exempt and will have to try to qualify.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, said: "If ever anyone deserved an invitation, it is him. We all know what happened in 1999 and I remain amazed by it, but we have never issued invitations in the modern era.

"The exemptions and qualification processes are well set out. Much as it is emotionally-tempting in his case, I'm afraid it won't happen."