As the world’s best golfers tee-off at Royal St George’s on Thursday, Andrew Brooks, the man who played a key role in Ben Curtis’s surprise 2003 Open victory, pinpointed the three main ingredients needed for success at Sandwich.

As the club professional for the past 17 years, few people know their way around the links course better than Brooks. He said: "To win the Open here you’ve got to drive the ball straight, enjoy the luck of the draw and show great mental strength."

The 65-year-old Scot, who played in six Open Championships himself, said: "You definitely don’t want to be in the rough. The rain we’ve had in the last month has made a difference and if you keep missing fairways, you’re going to score poorly.

"But you have also got to be lucky with your tee-times. With play starting early and finishing so late in the day, the weather changes can be amazing.

"If you are out on the course and the wind suddenly gets up your chances can be blown away.

"The thing about St George’s is that there are no easy holes. Every one represents a different challenge, so you need to have great mental strength all the way around."

Brooks will be retiring at the end of the year but his contribition to Curtis’s success eight years ago is already secured in Open championship folklore.

The American arrived at Sandwich as a 400-1 outsider, having never played the course before and went to see Brooks for some tips before his first practice round.

Brooks added: "He just asked me how to play the course. So we went and had lunch and I told him how to play it if there was an east wind.

"As I talked he wrote everything down. When we’d gone through that he got up to go.

"I said ‘let me stop you there’ and told him to sit down and to start again because we were only half done as he also needed to know how to play the course when the wind blows from the other direction.

"Later in the week, Ben came in and said the information had been absolutely correct and when he made his speech after winning the trophy, he was gracious enough to mention the advice I had given him."