"This is exciting for the Open."The R and A like to think of their championship as the world's Open, never just the British Open. The chances of the US Open following suit and having a qualifier in Britain? Nil. Dawson hopes the overall strength of the field will improve but admits romance may be lost in the process "It is a balance," he said "We want to have the strongest field possible teeing up. There may become romance in people qualifying in far flung places."For the first Open in 10 years at St George's, the players will find a lengthened course with nine new tees, many strategically placed to make better use of the hazards, such as the huge bunker on the fourth.

Prize-money has been increased only marginally, with the winner still getting £700,000, but advance ticket sales are ahead of schedule. The previous record at Sandwich of 130,000 for the week is likely to be broken.St George's is another all-male club to host a major championship and is not thinking of changing any time soon. "We asked a number of ladies who play here regularly whether they would want to become members and the answer was 'no'," David Bonsall, the club captain, said.But Dawson revealed that the executive branch of the Royal and Ancient, which acts as the governing body for the game worldwide, except in the States and Mexico, may breakaway from the club itself. "It is something we are actively considering and may need to get on with in the near future," he said.* The United States Golf Association has accepted 7,820 entries for the US Open at Olympia Fields, near Chicago, in June. Exempt Europeans are Thomas Bjorn, Nick Faldo, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie, Jose Maria Olazabal and Justin Rose.

The youngest entrant is 13-year-old Mu Su, from Florida, the oldest George Bellino, 68, of Ohio.. Wigan have welcomed their new Australian signing, Nick Graham, to the club in time to make his debut against Bradford on Friday night, but have denied that Mark Gasnier will be their next overseas recruit. However, Lindsay says that Gasnier, the St George-Illawarra centre, who toured with Australia two years ago but has failed to make New South Wales' 32-man squad for this year's State of Origin series, is not his next target.All Wigan's overseas players reach the ends of their contracts after this season, but the club may not be ready to lose the experience of players like Craig Smith and Adrian Lam.Hull are having trouble booking Treister on a flight, because of cancellations caused by the SARS virus, and are not certain that he will arrive in time to make his debut in their next game, at Castleford on Monday. The Cas scrum-half Mitch Healey, who has been out since February with a hamstring injury, should be fit to return.. Northampton have been in pipe-and-slippers mode for much of the Premiership campaign – insufficiently consistent to challenge for a place in the Twickenham grand final, nowhere near bad enough to join the dead-beats currently trying to plot a route through the thicket of last-ditch relegation scraps. All the same, they could have done without losing two hardened tight forwards, the honest-to-goodness Jon Phillips and the brilliant double Lion Tom Smith, at this late stage in the proceedings. Neither will play again this term, and as a result, the Midlanders must fill a hole in the second row and conjure a new loose-head prop out of thin air before facing Harlequins and Leeds over the next 11 days.These games are more important than Northampton's mid-table position – fifth out of 12, a point behind Leicester in fourth and all square with Leeds – might suggest.