Legend has it that Peter Thomson won the 1956 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Gold Club — also known as Hoylake, this week’s venue for the 135th staging of the game’s oldest tournament — without once hitting a driver. Forty-nine Opens and 10 presidents have come and gone since then, so verifying the story is almost impossible and even the wily 76-year-old Aussie acknowledges that the third of his five titles, and third in succession, is now just a “dim memory.”

But given the heat wave England has enjoyed the last few weeks and the fast and firm conditions that have resulted on the northwestern tip of the Wirral Peninsula, it’s perfectly possible that this year’s champion will use his longest club sparingly, if he uses it at all. Thursday’s predicted rain might take the sting out of the parched sand dunes, meaning a handful of shorter hitters may need a driver to reach the par 5s in two, but no amount of rain is going to see the big hitters hitting tee shots with anything other than a lofted wood or long iron very often. Indeed, Tiger Woods has suggested he may have no need for his driver and has replaced his 5-wood with a 2-iron in order to take better advantage of the fast running fairways.

Some observers believe the course, which last hosted the Open in 1967, has become too antiquated and, indeed, too short (the longest par 3 is 202 yards, while none of the par 5s exceed 560 yards) to host a modern major championship. Jack Nicklaus, runner-up to Roberto De Vicenzo 39 years ago, visited in May, and while he regards Hoylake’s return as a positive step, he does think we could see some record scoring.

“There are several holes where the fairway bunkers are positioned about 270 yards from the tee,” he said. “They can easily be carried in today’s power game and the fairways look wide. At the same time, the greens are very generous and should be receptive. So once you combine all these factors, unless the wind kicks up and the weather helps defend the course, the recipe exists for low scoring.”

Today’s touring professionals are, nevertheless, far more used to manicured, tree-lined venues and get to play this type of course in tournament conditions very rarely. Hoylake could, furthermore, be considered the quirkiest and most mysterious course on the Open rotation, not only because it’s surprisingly flat but also because of its internal Out of Bounds and the fact that OB comes into play on no fewer than 10 holes.

Thomson may not remember too much of his victory 50 years ago, but he can recall his sense of bewilderment upon seeing the course for the first time.

“I couldn’t make head nor tail of it,” he said. “At first, I found it a bit of an enigma.”

Those comments have been echoed repeatedly this week even by European players many of whom grew up playing golf on similar terrain. “It’s probably the most complicated golf course you’ll play off the tee,” says Padraig Harrington, who should be more used than most to the challenge having competed on many of Ireland’s great links courses as an amateur. “It certainly requires a lot of thinking, and that will be good for the tournament. It will lead to a lot of variety, a lot of decision making, which obviously adds to the interest in golf.”

“It’s as pure links as you get,” insists England’s Kenneth Ferrie, who finished sixth at the U.S. Open last month.”It’s faster running, you have to drop the ball 20,30 feet short of the green and run it up. It will take a lot of imagination.”

Not surprisingly, most of the American players don’t know quite what to make of it.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Vaughn Taylor said.”I’ve never seen a course as burnt out and dry.Around the greens you’ve got to have all kinds of different shots, and if you hit it in the wrong spots in the bunkers it can get very interesting.”

After his practice round on Monday, Jim Furyk said he had probably hit the wrong club off the tee on at least half the holes before adding that a little local knowledge would go a long way.

Local knowledge will be at a premium, of course, as only a handful of players have ever seen Hoylake before.The last professional tournament played at Royal Liverpool was the 1991 European Open, and only three players who played then will be teeing it up this week: Darren Clarke, Phillip Price, and Paul Broadhurst.

The player with the edge on local knowledge may well be Phil Mickelson, who, true to form, has spent several days painstakingly mapping out his game plan. He flew over on his private jet shortly after his dramatic final hole crash at the U.S. Open and was at the course again last week assessing likely pin positions, studying every nuance of every green, and familiarizing himself with the shifting winds that will undoubtedly play a considerable role in determining the outcome.

“I think the course is just terrific,” Mickelson said. “The bunkers are so well placed in the movement of the holes and it is full of little intricacies. The more I’ve played here the more I appreciate what a golf course this is and how well it was designed.”

His affinity for the course, good form, and extensive preparation probably make Mickelson a marginal favorite despite his U.S. Open blowup and a resurgent Tiger Woods, whose back nine 32 on Sunday at the Western Open and eventual tie for second suggest he is returning to something like his best following the death of his father.

Even so, with Mickelson possibly still hurting mentally and Tiger not quite match fit, there is a good opportunity for one of the 22 Aussies in the field to emulate Thomson’s 1956 victory or Geoff Ogilvy’s recent win at Winged Foot.

A strong contingent of Europeans led by Luke Donald, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, and David Howell will also be eager to stop the rot and win the continent’s first major since Paul Lawrie triumphed at Carnoustie seven years ago.

A couple of South Africans might also be in the mix come Sunday.Trevor Immelman has three top three finishes and four top 10s from his last seven appearances and Ernie Els not only says he has worked out the swing flaws that have seen him struggle for most of the year but he also has positive memories of the course, having won an amateur event here in 1988. A photo of him sporting floppy hair, wearing outdated clothes, and holding the Tillman Trophy hangs in the clubhouse to commemorate that victory. It’s a photo Els would surely love taken down and replaced with something a bit more contemporary.