Erin Hills, Wisconsin still stage 2017 US Open

Erin Hills, a newly-opened public golf course in Wisconsin, has been chosen as the venue for the 2017 US Open by the United States Golf Association.
An announcement was also made on the eve of the 2010 event at Pebble Beach that the tournament would return to this year's course in 2019.
Taking the US Open to Wisconsin, on a site 35 miles from Milwaukee, will see the championship return to the American mid-west for the first time since the 2003 tournament at Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago.
Set on rolling hills, Erin Hills was described by US Open course set-up man Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competitions, as boasting "one of the greatest natural inland sites for a golf course that I have ever seen".
Davis added: "It also happens to be an excellent test of golf."
Along with the new venue for the US Open in 2017, the USGA were delighted to announce a return to Pebble Beach.
"Erin Hills has been open just a few years, but it has justifiably earned its reputation among the best golf courses in America," USGA president Jim Hyler wrote in a letter to USGA members.
"Pebble Beach is a national treasure, and we're thrilled that they will once again host our two oldest championships."
The return to Pebble Beach in 2019 will mark the links' centenary that year and will be the sixth visit for the US Open, having hosted the 100th US Open in 2000.
The famous California links, which is staging this year's event, starting on Thursday, will also stage the 2018 US Amateur championship.

Laing and Kennedy win finals at Aberdeen Links

By DAVID GRIEVE
Caley's Chris Laing and Bon-Accord's Frank Kennedy were celebrating tonight after capturing their respective titles in the 2010 Aberdeen Links Championships.
Chris played fantastic golf to beat Bon-Accord's Matt Smith by 3 and 2 and immediately dedicated the win to his best mate Andy Massie who was a regular participant in the Links himself but sadly passed away earlier this year.

Chris got off to a flyer with a par, par, birdie start to go three up with Smith looking very nervous in his first "major" final.
Matt steadied the ship with a win at the fourth only for Chris to regain his three-hole advantage with his second birdie of the night at the fifth. The sixth was halved in pars.
Then Smith holed a 50yd wedge shot for a half in birdies at the long seventh. Birdies were traded at eight and pars at the ninth put Laing out in three under par and three up.
Holes were halved up to the 13th and Chris went dormie at the 14th with a par 4. Smith rallied to win 15 but a solid par 3 at the 16th by Chris was good enough for the title.
The Murray Cup final it was a much tighter affair. Frank Kennedy won the first but his lead was short-lived as Northern's John Hosie won the third. They then exchanged holes four to seven and a par 4 at the ninth put Frank one up at the turn.
Kennedy's bogey 4 at the short 10th was good enough for a two-hole lead but John rallied again to take the 11th. A solid 4 at 13 put Frank two up again only for John to take the 15th. A superb pitch at 16 to within inches of the cup had Frank dormie standing on the 17th tee only for John to show great fighting qualities to win 17 and take the match up the last.
Kennedy showed his experience by hitting a solid shot on to the last and putting stone dead for victory.

Tonight's results:
LINKS HANDICAP SHIELD FINAL
Chris Laing (Caledonian) (7) bt Matt Smith (Bon Accord) (6) 3 and 2.

MURRAY CUP FINAL
Frank Kennedy (Bon Accord) (11) bt John Hosie (N) (11) 1 hole.

FRIDAY'S FINAL
LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP
5.30 Barrie Edmond (Bon Accord) v Alex Cruickshank (Cruickshank).

CRAIG LEE RECOVERS FROM BAD START TO MAKE

 TOP 10 AT END OF ROUND ONE

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Craig Lee showed he is made of the right stuff when he shook off the potentially demoralising effects of a double bogey 6 at the first hole to finish the first day at Bovey Castle, near Exeter, Devon in joint seventh place.
Lee returned a two-under-par 68 in this week’s PGA EuroPro Tour event, the Dunlop Masters. He is only three shots behind the joint pacemakers, Englishmen Matt Allen and Graeme Clark.
Stirling-born Lee, now playing out of Aspire Golf Centre, near Aberdeen, cancelled out his two dropped shots with birdIes at the short second and sixth on his way out ini par 35. He moved two under the card with further birdies at the 10th and long 12th before dropping a shot at the 16th.
But Lee, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, finished in style with his fifth birdie, a 4 at the long 18th.
Next best Scot was Steven Mackie from Dunnikier Park. Like Lee he started with a double bogey 6 but he finished strongly with birdies at the 13th and 16th for a one-over 71.
Three Lothians men are bracketed together in 37th place on two-over-par 72 – Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw), John Gallagher (Swanston) and Lee Harper (Archerfield Links).
McAllister finished with an eagle 3 while Gallagher had a double bogey 6 at the fifth followed by birdies at the sixth and seventh.
Harper birdied the third, fourth and 15th.
Barry Hume (Haggs Castle) was heading for a 72 until he ran up a double bogey 7 at the last hole for a 74. He also had a double bogey 6 at the sixth.
Scott Henry (The Carrick on Loch Lomond) returned a 74 with two 7s on the inward half.
Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie Golf Links) and Graham Rankin (Drumpellier) finished on 75.
Paul Doherty had a 77 with a couple of double bogeys and Kevin McAlpine (Alyth) had a triple bogey and two double bogeys in compiling a 79.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 70
65 Matt Allen (Eng), Graeme Clark (Eng).
66 Nick McCarthy (Eng0, James Busby (Eng).
67 Sean Doherty (Eng), Bean Jones (Eng).
68 Craig Lee (Sco), Daniel Perrett (Eng), Steve Uzzell (Eng), Stuart Archibald (Eng), Chris Roake (Eng).
Selected Scottish scores:
71 Steven Mackie (jt 26th).
72 Shaun McAllister, Lee Harper, John Gallagher (jt 38th).
74 Scott Henry, Barry Hume (jt 65th).
75 Keir McNicoll, Graham Rankin (jt 75th).
77 Paul Doherty (jt 95th)
79 Kevin McAlpine (jt 113th).

WALKER CUP STARS SAFELY THROUGH TO LAST 32 AT MUIRFIELD

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE RandA

The three stars of Great Britain and Ireland’s 2009 Walker Cup team contesting the Amateur Championship this week, Tommy Fleetwood, Chris Paisley and Stiggy Hodgson, picture by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography, have safely made it through to the last 32. They join 29 other players representing 15 nations, who are one step closer to the Open Championship exemption and the Masters Tournament invitation on offer to the winner.
Fleetwood, 19, finished stroke play qualifying two shots clear of the field after he followed an opening-day 70 at Muirfield, with a six-under-par 65 at North Berwick. Despite going two holes down after five today at Muirfield, the World Amateur Golf Ranking number nine rallied to turn the match around and win 2 and 1.
“The first few holes were a bit of a struggle,” said the 2008 Amateur Championship runner-up. “Towards the end though, when I really needed it, I played well.
“I’m still feeling confident. As long as I play well, I think I’ve got a good chance of going all the way. You never know who you’re going up against, but I fancy my chances here.”
Displaying similar levels of confidence is Stiggy Hodgson, who comfortably defeated Royal Liverpool’s Tom Boys 4 and 3.
“You can’t get over-confident, but I feel confident enough. I’m going to be tough to beat,” said Sunningdale’s Hodgson, who took two points from four against the USA last September at Merion Golf Club.
“I’m striking it great and putting well, which is nice. I can’t get too excited yet, though. It’s only my first round, and I didn’t play fantastic today, but it’s job done.”
Completing the trio of Walker Cup players is Stocksfield’s Chris Paisley. The 24-year-old progressed with a 3 and 2 victory over Italy’s Mattia Miloro.
“The Walker Cup gave me lots of confidence,” explained Paisley, who graduated from the University of Tennessee last year. “I had two halves in the singles there, and both were really good games. It gave me confidence that I can play on a big stage like that.
“It was good today, just a steady performance. I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough.”
International players progressing included Jin Jeong of Korea and Australia’s Kieran Pratt, both of whom won their matches by two holes. And, like Fleetwood, Hodgson and Paisley, they are brimming with confidence going into the rest of the week.
“I’m hitting it well and I’ve been putting pretty well this week, so I’m quite confident of hopefully winning this one,” said Jeong, the world number 10.
Pratt, who won the 2010 Lake Macquarie Amateur by 11 strokes, said: “Hopefully I can lift it in the next few matches and put more pressure on my opponent. But I got enough out of today to move on and be confident over the next few days.”
Others to make it into day four include Welshman Rhys Enoch, Scotland's James Byrne, Bolivia’s Sebastian MacLean, Yuki Usami of Japan and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander.
Tomorrow will see 32 become eight, as the remaining competitors play two rounds of match play.
The 36-hole final will be played on Saturday. The winner will receive exemption into the 150th Anniversary Open Championship and a Masters Tournament invitation

                         JORDAN FINDLAY     MICHAEL STEWART       JAMES BYRNE

Byrne, Stewart and Findlay keep home flag flying in last 32

FROM THE SCOTSMAN.COM WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
On a day that saw the Americans suffer a wipe-out at the Amateur Championship, how ironic that the three Scots left standing at the last-32 stage at Muirfield are players who have spent productive time at colleges in the United States.
From the group of ten that qualified for the match-play stage, James Byrne, Michael Stewart and Jordan Findlay are all that's remaining of the home contingent, though they all have sound enough credentials to go all the way and become the first Scot to lift this title since Stuart Wilson at St Andrews in 2004.
Byrne, the top Scot in the world rankings, swept into the third round with an impressive bogey-free performance in beating Tiago Rodrigues, a young Portuguese player with a tidy short game, by 5 and 4 on another glorious day in East Lothian.
"I said to my caddie, Richard Lamb, that my strategy was to have no bogeys and that was the key," said the 21-year-old from Banchory, who moved up a gear after an eagle-3 at the long fifth, where he holed from 30 feet, and kept his momentum going, thanks to a great recovery from thick rough at the tenth.
Byrne, who lost in the last 16 at Formby 12 months ago before producing a blistering run of form that saw him lift the Tennant Cup and East of Scotland Open – he also came within a whisker of qualifying for The Open – has spent the past three years at Arizona State University and points to the recent NCAA Championship, played over the Honors Course in Chattanooga, as a good indication of the standard of golf he now enjoys on a regular basis.
"The course was 7,400 yards, the rough was think and it was wet – a lot tougher than this week," added Byrne, who won a long-driving contest with a blow of 325 yards early on in his spell in Phoenix and reckons he's added about 20 yards in distance off the tee since he left Scotland.
"I shot one-over-par for three rounds and finished 41st – over here I'd have been in the top ten."
Byrne, who has been coached by Inchmarlo's Andrew Locke since he was ten but is also benefiting from some mentoring from Dean Robertson, is aiming to turn professional after next year's Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen and admits he is thinking seriously about taking a leaf out of Martin Laird's book by staying on in America.
"That's still to be decided but I'm leaning towards the Martin Laird way through the Nationwide Tour, which seems much stronger than the Challenge Tour in Europe," he said.
Stewart, the 2008 Scottish boys' match-play champion from Troon Welbeck, was at East Tennessee State University for two years but isn't going back after the summer, having decided that he's gained enough from the experience and now needs to be back in Scotland to give himself the best possible chance of making that Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team.
"I loved it over there but felt that I had secured sufficient experience of golf and life," said the 20-year-old. "My big goal now before I turn professional is to make the Walker Cup team – I want to play in an event of that stature and experience having a home crowd behind me."
After plotting his way around the magnificent Open Championship venue the previous day, Stewart took off the handcuffs yesterday and bagged five birdies in sweeping aside Germany's Philipp Westermann by 5 and 4. "I was able to play my usual attacking golf and played so much better," he said.
Findlay, a 22-year-old former British boys' champion from Fraserburgh, also had a spell at East Tennessee State, sharing two of his years there with Rhys Enoch, the player he meets in the third round, and the other two with Rhys Davies, who is making a strong challenge for a Ryder Cup debut on Welsh soil later in the year.
After holing his 9-iron second shot from 145yd in winning an all-Scottish clash against Lundin's James White, Findlay, originally fifth reserve for the event, revealed how close he'd come to suffering a serious injury in a car crash as he headed down from the North-east to Largs to see Bob Torrance, his coach of nearly four years.
"I used to travel up and down in one day, leaving Fraserburgh at 4.30am," he said, "That was just stupid and one day I crashed my car into a pole in Dundee. The car was written off and I was very lucky to escape with a couple of scratches.
"Since then, I go down to Largs for a week, staying in a bed and breakfast close to Bob's house."
Enoch, a Great Britain and Ireland squad member, beat Peterhead's Philip McLean, who rallied with back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th but bowed out after being unable to make another one at the 17th, where he found the same spot at the 17th where Gary Evans famously lost a ball in the 2002 Open.
The other MacLean in the field is still standing, though. Sebastian, the 20-year-old from Bolivia who is an eighth generation descendent of a Scot, recovered from "an impossible" position in a greenside bunker at the penultimate hole as he beat Kiwi Ben Campbell.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS

Tiago Rodrigues (Portugal) bt Cian Curley (Newlands, Ireland) 3 and 2.
Leonardo Motta (Italy) bt Patricio Salem (Peru) 4 and 3.
Scott Crichton (Aberdour) bt Amir Habibi (Rochester and Cobham Park) 4 and 3.
Mattia Miloro (Italy) bt Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) 4 and 3.
Toby Burden (Hayling) bt Andy Sullivan (Nuneaton) 4 and 3.
Morten Orum Madsen (Denmark) bt Adam Carson (Long Ashton) 4 and 3.
Elias Bertheussen (Norway) bt Chris Harkins (Ayr Belleisle) 3 and 2.
Darren Wright (Rowlands Castle) bt Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) 1 hole.
Jose Maria Joia (Portugal) bt Andrew Hogan (Newlands, Ireland) 4 and 3.

SECOND ROUND
Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall) bt Andrew Shakespear (Five Lakes) 2 and 1.
Rasmus Lykke-Kjeldsen (Denmark) bt Xavier Feyaerts (Belgium) 1 hole.
Peter Baunsoe (Denmark) bt Laurie Canter (Saltford) 1 hole.
Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne) bt Clemend Berardo (France) 4 and 2.
Sebastian MacLean (Bolivia) bt Ben Campbell (NZ) 2 and 1.
Henrik Norlander (Sweden) bt Clement Sordet (France) 5 and 3.
Rhys Enoch (Truro) bt Philip McLean (Peterhead) 2 and 1.
Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh) bt James White (Lundin) 2 and 1.
Tom Lewis (Welwyn Garden City) bt Alex Ching (US) 3 and 2.
Jonathan Hurst (Shaw Hill) bt Mervin Rocchi (France) 4 and 3.
Jin Jeong (South Korea) bt Toni Hakula (Finland) 2 holes.
Romain Wattel (France) bt Trent Whitekiller (US) 1 hole.
Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) bt Philipp Westermann (Germany) 4 and 3.
Paul Cutler (Portstewart) bt Jonathan Bell (Royal Blackheat) 4 and 3.
Kieran Pratt (Australia) bt Emilio Cuartero (Spain)  2 holes.
Yuki Usami (Japan) bt Leo Lespinasse (France) 5 and 4.
James Fox (Portmarnock) bt Paul Shields (Kirkhill) 2 and 1.
Alan Dunbar (Rathmore) bt Michael Buttacavoli (US) 2 and 1.
Edouard Espana (France) bt Matthew Southgate (Thorpe Hall) at 19th.
Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale) bt Tom Boys (Royal Liverpool) 4 and 3.
Alex Christie (Tyrrells Wood) bt Olivier Rozner (France) 1 hole.
Alexis Szappanos (Germany) bt Mu Hu (China) 1 hole.
Stephan Jaeger (Germany) bt Oliver Farr (Ludlow) 5 and 4.
James Byrne (Banchory) bt Tiago Rodrigues (Portugal) 5 and 4.
Are Friestad (Norway) bt Leonard Motta (Italy) 4 and 2.
Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth) bt Scott Crichton (Aberdour) 3 and 2.
Chris Paisley (Stocksfield) bt Mattia Miloro (Italy) 3 and 2.
Toby Burden (Hayling0 bt Charlie Cossins (Bath) 1 hole.
Morten Orum Madsen (Denmark) bt Nino Bertasio (Italy) 2 and 1.
Andrea Pavan (Italy) bt Elias Bertheussen (Norway) 1 hole.
Darren Wright (Rowlands Castle) bt Warren Harmston (Wentworth) 4 and 3.
Jose Maria Joia (Portugal) bt Ian Winstanley (Formby) 1 hole.

FOUR OF TOP FIVE WORLD-RANKED SCOTS

ARE STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Your chances of becoming a top amateur golfer are improved if you go to university. Perhaps a sweeping statement but just look at this week's updated RandA World Amateur Golf Rankings. Four of the five leading Scots are currently students at university, three of them in America, the other at home.
In all there are 11 Scots in the leading 500, 32 in the top 1,000 of this week’s new set of ratings of the world's competitive amateur golfers.
James Byrne (Banchory and Arizona State University), pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, and Ross Kellett (Colville Park) are the only Scots ranked in the top 100.
Byrne has dropped from No 18 last week to No 20 this week while Kellett has gone up one place to No 81.
Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck and East Tennessee State University) is the third highest ranked Scot at No 220, down five places from last week.
Stuart Ballingall (Dunstan Hall and Missouri University) is hardly a household name in Scottish amateur golf but the Anglo-Scot from Norwich is the fourth highest-Scot in the WAGR at No 235, down 10 places from last week.
James White (Lundin and Stirling University), fifth individually in last week’s world universities’ men’s championship in Spain, is the fifth top Scot in 237th place, up eight places.
The next three are all from the North-east of Scotland – Fraserburgh’s Kris Nicol (257, down nine places), Peterhead’s Philip McLean (294, down three) and Aberdeen Hazlehead’s David Law (326, down one).
The only other Scots in the WAGR top 500 are Mark Hillson (389th), Glenn Campbell (4275th) and Peter Latimer (428th).
THIS WEEK'S RandA WAGR
Top 10
1 Peter Uihlein (US) (no change).
2 Bud Caley (US) (+1).
3 Russell Henley (US) (+2).
4 Nick Taylor (Can) (-2).
5 Patrick Reed (US) (+4).
6 Jonathan Randolph (US) (-2).
7 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) (no change).
8 Andrea Pavan (Ita) (no change).
9 Tommy Fleetwood (+1).
10 Jin Jeong (SKo) (-4).

Scots’ rankings
20 James Byrne (-2).
81 Ross Kellett (+1).
220 Michael Stewart (-5).
235 Stuart Ballingall (-10).
237 James White (+8).
257 Kris Nicol (-9).
294 Philip McLean (-3).
326 David Law (-1).
389 Mark Hillson (-8).
427 Glenn Campbell (-5).
428 Peter Latimer (-5).
528 Greg Paterson (-8).
558 Gordon Yates (-15).
624 Ross Bell (-6).
642 Steven McEwan (-7).]
698 Bobby Rushford (-5).
704 Paul Ferrier (-5).
707 James Hamilton (-78).
725 Fraser McKenna (-6).
729 Matthew Clark (-6).
739 Gordon Stevenson (-7).
759 Paul Shields (-10).
770 James Ross (-10).
777 Daniel Sommerville (-9).
821 Mark Bookless (-3).
835 Andrew Gunson (-4).
853 Craig Watson (no change).
881 Steven Rennie (-5).
909 Paul Betty (-6).
927 Michael Daily (-6).
938 Ross Crowe (-1).
976 Sam Binning (-6).

Hickory Open at The Carrick on Loch Lomond on July 7

NEWS RELEASE
The Carrick on Loch Lomond will welcome golfers from around the world next month, when the magnificent championship course set on the banks of the infamous Loch Lomond, hosts the inaugural Hickory Open on July 7.
The event offers golfers of all abilities the chance to experience golf in its purest form, playing an 18-hole Stableford competition with hickory shafted clubs as used by golfers in the early 1900s.

England pick five new caps for Euro boys' team championship

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
England will field five new caps, three of them from the Midlands, in their six-strong squad to contest the European boys' team championship at Klassis Golf and Country Club in Istanbul, Turkey from July 6 to 10.
The newcomers, most of whom are stepping up from under 16 level, are James Burnett (Sleaford, Lincolnshire), Greg Eason (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire), Liam Harper (Lydd, Kent), Paul Lockwood (Hessle, Yorkshire) and Nick Newbold (Kedleston Park, Derbyshire). The other member of the team is Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire, Gloucestershire), while Oliver Carr (Heswall, Cheshire) is reserve.
Burnett has been an under 16 cap since 2006 and enjoyed a successful 2009 in which he shared victory with two others in the inaugural Junior County Champions Tournament, finished runner-up in the Midland Youths and the Lincolnshire Championship and was a quarter finalist in the British Boys. A member of the England Under 18 squad, so far this year he has been fifth in the Fairhaven Trophy and tied sixth in the McEvoy Trophy, while a closing 66 helped Lincolnshire to second place in the recent Midland Boys Qualifying.
Eason, who will turn 18 while in Turkey, will be making his England debut having this year finished third in the McEvoy. He shot rounds of 67 and 65 for Leicestershire in the Midland Boys Qualifying in what was his first tournament since suffering a virus which prevented him representing England in the Thunderbird Junior International in the US the previous week.
Harper, 17, is another member of the Under 18 Squad who has been an under 16 cap for the past two years. He has represented the EGU in South Africa, Germany and the Netherlands where he finished third in last year’s Dutch Junior Masters. This year, he has been joint runner-up in the Fairhaven Trophy.
Lloyd, 18, is one of the most promising talents in English golf with a string of successes. A former South West and North of England Under 16 Champion, he retained the North of England title in 2008 when he also won the Ernie Els World Junior Tournament in South Africa. Last year, when finishing second on the Titleist Footjoy EGU Boys Order of Merit, his victories included the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, the County Champions Tournament and the Gloucestershire title, while he was runner-up in the Carris Trophy. He was also a member of England’s victorious team in the Boys Home Internationals and of the GB&I team in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. His good run of form has continued in 2010 with second place after a playoff in the McEvoy Trophy and joint sixth in the Lytham Trophy.
Lockwood, 18, has been emerging as a power in Yorkshire over the past two years. He finished runner-up in the North of England Youths but won the under 18 title and was a regular in his county’s men’s team, winning most of his matches. This year, he finished second in the Yorkshire Boys Championship with a closing 68 at Moortown, finished tied sixth in the McEvoy Trophy, joint seventh in the Darwin Salver and shot two 70s for the county in the Northern Qualifying at Wallasey.
Newbold, 17, is another under 16 international who finished runner-up in the Midland Boys last year and was involved in the five-way playoff for the McGregor Trophy. He also finished tied fifth in the Dutch Junior Masters, sixth in the Junior County Champions Tournament and reached the last 16 of the British Boys. This year, he has finished fifth in the Lagonda Trophy, came successfully through the Brabazon Trophy qualifying and fired a closing 66 to steer Derbyshire to victory in the recent Midland Boys Qualifying at Horsley Lodge.
England has won the European Boys title on eight occasions, in 1981, ’85, ’86, ’89, ’94, ’95, ’99, and 2004. Last year in Holland they finished fifth behind winners Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Mind your own business, Tiger answers question

 about his marriage

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE

By PHILIP REID at Pebble Beach, California

No one in the field has more majors – 14 – and, you’ve got to believe, still counting. No one in US Open history has decimated a field the way he did, by 15 shots back in 2000. On that day, as everyone else struggled to beat par, no one had ever looked as invincible as he did.

Yesterday, Tiger Woods – the world’s number one golfer for the past 206 straight weeks, which equates to just two weeks short of four years – returned to this favoured haunt of his hard by the Monterey peninsula and, if that aura of invincibility has disappeared due as much to his off-course indiscretions as any change in club or ball technology, there was evidence of a man regaining control of his life.

Of course, the question of his marriage came up. It got short shrift.
“On the basis that all of our professional lives are affected by our personal lives, can you tell us if you’ve got any resolution one way or the other with Elin yet?” he was asked.
Woods gave a five-word answer. “That’s none of your business.”
Instead, Woods – who will seek to add another major title to his own CV and consequently cut into the career record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus – is entirely focused on his golf and renewing his battle with this tough old links against the world’s best players.
And, reassuringly for him, the neck injury which caused him to withdraw during the final round of the Players Championship in May, and which forced him to take a second unintentional break from the sport this season, has healed sufficiently for him to approach this major with a renewed air of confidence.
“The neck is better. It’s not where I want it, but it is better, no doubt. It gets sore from time to time but I can recover for the next day. And I haven’t had any days where I couldn’t go (and play) the next day. That’s a big step in the right direction.”
On the state of his game now compared to the Masters? Woods’ response?
“Way different. Way different. I’ve played so much more since then. I only had a few weeks to get ready for Augusta after being off for quite a while.”
Woods has made only four appearances on tour this season, with a best finish of tied-fourth at the Masters in April. Certainly, he has got a good draw for the first two rounds, being grouped with Lee Westwood – “where I play I seem to get Lee” – and Ernie Els.
“As far as my game, I’m very excited about how it’s progressed, since before the Memorial (two weeks ago) and now here. It’s gotten better. The more time I’ve been able to practise and play, it’s started to solidify. I’m actually really excited to see it up on Thursday.”
Back in 2000, the examination that was set posed problems for everyone – except Woods. How did he perceive the challenge this time? “Well, it’s the toughest rough we play all year. It’s the narrowest fairways, the hardest greens, the trickiest pins. Other than that, yeah, it’s pretty simple.
“As far as the set-up is concerned, you have to be patient. You have to understand it’s a long haul. You’re not going to make a lot of birdies and the whole idea is not to make any big numbers.”

Watson and Woods are not talking ...

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE.
CHILL IN THE AIR: It was chilly enough as Tiger Woods played his practice round on Tuesday. As he waited for two groups ahead of him on the 10th tee, it got even cooler.
The gallery parted, and Tom Watson stepped onto the tee.
Watson made small talk with some of the players, the gallery and Roger Maltbie, but made no effort to speak to Woods, who was sitting on the bench. Woods never made eye contact with Watson or any attempt to speak to him.
Watson was critical of Woods earlier this year, saying that along with needing to show more humility after his downfall, he needed to clean up his language on the course.
Both are U.S. Open champions at Pebble Beach and Stanford University alumni.