U.S. OPEN : At Shinnecock, They Sing Different Troon : Golf: With dreary weather and a links course, tournament has a British Open feel.

As he walked in out of the rain pelting Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Nick Faldo had to agree he is one of the favorites to win the U.S. Open.

Yes, there was something oddly familiar about this cold rain.

“Well, this is a typically British summer’s day,” Faldo said. “This U.S. Open is more British than the British Open.”

That may not be your cup of tea, but America’s national golf championship begins today at storied Shinnecock, a long, virtually treeless, European-links style layout on wind-swept and, so far this week, wet patch of grass and sand on Long Island.

It might as well be in Scotland or England. Many believe the layout gives an edge to players such as Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Nick Price, Greg Norman and Colin Montgomerie.

Faldo, a three-time British Open champion, didn’t dispute this U.S. Open notion.

“Obviously this one is more attuned to a European style or more like a links,” Faldo said. “I feel comfortable out there.”

It was pretty hard to feel too comfortable out there Wednesday. Rain hit Shinnecock for the fourth consecutive day and turned the spectators’ walking areas into ankle-deep muck.

Workers dumped 30 truckloads of sand and gravel on the worst spots. The golf course drains well, but there is a chance that soft fairways will make Shinnecock play even longer than its 6,944 yards.

“No one wanted this type of weather, I know that,” Ben Crenshaw said. “You want to have it dry and firm. This is going to take a while to dry out.”

There is every indication it’s also going to take a while to play. The U.S. Golf Assn. changed tactics for this U.S. Open, mowing the rough around the greens in favor of emphasizing run-off areas.

Raymond Floyd, who won the 1986 Open the last time it was played at Shinnecock, said it’s a huge difference in philosophy.

“They have made the slopes where the ball will in fact run off away from the green,” he said. “That is going to test some skills.

“Instead of having the high rough just right up to the edge of the green, which helps the player because the rough will catch [golf balls], now you are going to have balls that will run away seven, eight, 10 [feet].

“That is something that is pretty unusual in a U.S. Open setup.”

But it’s entirely in keeping with a links-style setup.

Montgomerie arrived at Shinnecock with a new putter and, once he took a look around, some new confidence.

“I think it does favor the Europeans in that there is no real rough around the greens as it usually is in U.S. Open tournaments,” he said.

“There [are] run-offs and so forth and it possibly gives us more opportunity than it has in the past.”

As always, Shinnecock boasts wide fairways and small, firm greens, but the rain may have softened the greens a bit. And the biggest factor might well prove to be the wind blowing in from who knows where and generally disrupting all that it touches.

Crenshaw said wind isn’t that bad.

“It is wonderful to have such a golf course that is so exposed to the elements,” he said. “You are tested on every conceivable shot during the round.”

So other than the rain, the wind, the run-off areas, the small greens and the rough, Shinnecock presents absolutely no problems.

Ernie Els, who won the U.S. Open last year at Oakmont, played Shinnecock for the first time Sunday. That was enough for him to form an opinion of the place.

“It was really very hard,” Els said.

Faldo and Norman arrived at Shinnecock last week to begin preparations for their assault on a major title neither has won.

Fuzzy Zoeller defeated Norman in an 18-hole playoff in the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Norman has had two top-10 finishes in his last nine U.S. Opens.

He led the 1986 Open at Shinnecock after three rounds, but finished with a 75 and tied for 12th.

Faldo came similarly close to a U.S. Open title in 1988 when he lost to Curtis Strange in a playoff at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Faldo finished in a tie for third in 1990 and tied for fourth in 1992, but he missed the cut last year at Oakmont.

“It is important to me,” Faldo said. “This is the No. 1 event in the world that I’d like to win now. That is simple enough on that.”

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U.S. Open Notes

Tiger Woods is playing his first U.S. Open, qualifying because of his 1994 U.S. Amateur championship. Woods issued a written “Media Statement” about his heritage that said he will not comment about it further. Woods said he is African American from his father’s side and Asian from his mother’s side. Woods’ statement said in part: “The critical and fundamental point is that ethnic background and/or composition should not make a difference. It does not make a difference to me. The bottom line is that I am an American . . . and proud of it!” . . . Woods, 19, is the youngest player in the field and one of three amateurs. The others are Placentia’s Chris Tidland, 22, the NCAA champion from Oklahoma State, and Jerry Courville, 36, from Norwalk, Conn. . . . Four-time U.S. Open Jack Nicklaus, 55, is the oldest player in the field.