CHANGES made to the Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten Course for October’s Ryder Cup are ready to be unveiled at the Wales Open from June 3-6.

The club’s director of golf courses, Jim McKenzie, has been working closely with Europe captain Colin Montgomerie.

McKenzie said: “We’ve deepened a number of bunkers with larger faces and the rough will certainly be consistently thicker than it has been in previous years.

“The greens will also be a lot firmer, which is something we’ve been working towards since the course opened in 2007 and which has always been a high priority for Colin Montgomerie.

“It means only properly-struck iron shots will be rewarded by stopping quickly on the greens.

“The course has now had the benefit of a few years of growing in and I’m confident it’s the toughest, but fairest, golf course we’ve seen for the Celtic Manor Wales Open.”

The biggest single revision has been the scooping out a huge swale to the left of the green at the long 11th, increasing the chance of wayward shots finding the lake or leaving a tricky tight lie.

“I think it will be a huge advantage for Colin to see the refinements that he has recommended in tournament play before the Ryder Cup,” said McKenzie.

He added: “All along, Colin has insisted that he was not interested in gaining a home advantage.

“If Europe do regain the Ryder Cup he wants it to be because they have played the better golf and not because the course has been tricked up.

“And in all my dealings with Colin since he was appointed Europe’s Ryder Cup captain I have to say he has not been over demanding.”

As yet, United States captain Corey Pavin has not revealed whether any of his potential team members will be competing at the Wales Open.

Luke Donald’s third place at the Verizon Heritage Classic in North Carolina takes him up two spots to seventh on the European Ryder Cup world points list.

Only four of Colin Montgomerie’s side will come from that list, however, and Donald remains way down in 34th position on the European Tour list from which the remaining five automatic spots are awarded.

Latest leading positions in the European Ryder Cup table after the Volvo China Open and Verizon Heritage Classic (top four on world list qualify, then next five on European points list. Captain Colin Montgomerie adds three wild cards on August 29):

WORLD POINTS

1 LEE WESTWOOD 279.1, 2 IAN POULTER 204.2, 3 RORY McILROY 148.6, 4 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 143.1, 5 Martin Kaymer 132.4, 6 Edoardo Molinari 127.7, 7 Luke Donald 108.74, 8 Paul Casey 106.1, 9 Ross McGowan 97.3, 10 Francesco Molinari 91.3

EUROPEAN POINTS

1 Lee Westwood 2,642,626, 2 Ian Poulter 2,137,556, 3 Rory McIlroy 1,442,189, 4 ROSS McGOWAN 1,259,932, 5 MARTIN KAYMER 1,117,045, 6 SIMON DYSON 970,819, 7 PAUL CASEY 938,325, 8 FRANCESCO MOLINARI 875,362, 9 Oliver Wilson 866,721, 10 Padraig Harrington 855,152 (Capitals denote players in qualifying positions)