The cinematic 108th U.S. Open is finally over, 91 holes later. We'll see what time has to say about where this epic ranks amongst the all time greats, but it's hard not to believe that it will go down as one of the all time best major championships.

Sure, Tiger battling a troublesome knee and the pesky Rocco Mediate are obvious storylines, but don't discount how the USGA's course setup played a defining role in generating excitement, interest and challenge over the five days.

If you missed any of the content posted here related to Mike Davis and Jim Hyler's setup of Rees Jones' design, you can review the week's worth of posts here. Thanks for checking in.

I spent most of the day tracking the 14th hole and the fun surrounding the 267-yard tee location. You'll have to wait until next week's Golf World for my full account but it's safe to say the hole succeeded in every way with 71% of the players taking a crack at the green.

Check out what Tiger had to say about laying up on 14 after his round:

14, I couldn't have had a worse number. It was a 5-wood front number for me, but it was into the wind. I can't get a 5-wood there. Now I have to lean on a 5-wood, which means it brings the left bunker into play. I don't know if I can even get it all the way to that left bunker. If I bale right, I have absolutely no pitch. If I hit a cut 3-wood I have a choke down 3-wood and hit a cut. That's not exactly an easy shot. If I overcut I'm in the right bunker with virtually no shot. If that tee would have been on the back part of that tee, I could have hit a 3-wood with no problem. But it was on the front part, and it was perfectly caught between clubs. I said all right, no big deal. I can still make three by laying up. I laid up to a good number, had a little wedge and hit a little hard and ended up making par.

In the meantime, Mike Davis was kind enough to share some exclusive insights into the Tiger-Rocco Mediate playoff course setup.

Third Hole
A front right hole location likely means using the back tee playing around 190 yards.

13th Hole
The hole is going back left, and the USGA is undecided on tee location. It'll either be on the up tee at 539 yards, or the 599 tee.

14th Hole
The hole location will be cut in the front left, not far from today's spot, allowing Davis to keep the tees at the 277-yard spot. Where he puts the markers is still up for debate, but Tiger's remarks make the tee placement a major decision.

16th Hole
The hole is going to be cut center right, so Davis will play the 225-yard right tee nearest No. 15 green.

18th Hole
The tees will remain at the 520-yard area that has been employed the last three days.

I thought you might enjoy a few images of No. 14 this morning after the setup. I'm outta here soon, so enjoy the round and check back in tomorrow for a recap of the tournament.

Oh and watch some of these hole locations, especially No. 17. It's in a bowl and all balls are funneling to it.

The course is set at just (!) 7282 yards.

The 2008 U.S. Open final round will have a tough time topping the epic Saturday show put on by Tiger Woods. Witness to the stretch from 13-18, I've never experienced such loud roars and buzz at a sporting event. Throw in the the setting sun, Tiger's knee acting up and you half expected some guy in a fishing jacket and baseball cap to run onto the 18th green and yell "cut!"

As tough as that will be to beat Saturday in the entertainment department, Sunday's final round setup should afford opportunities for Tiger's pursuers to post red numbers.

Third Hole
This harrowing par-3 goes back to the 142-yard tee, with a hole cut in the front left. In essence the players are playing from one perch to another perch. The fronting bunker is a tough up and down, but a two-putt for the inevitable tee shots not holding the green plateau where the hole is cut will not have an easy two-putt. Great potential for drama here. Especially if that yacht with the massive American flag returns. How beautiful was that?

Fourth Hole
As difficult as No. 3 will play, look for a front right hole location to make this par-4 play easier than it did Saturday when the USGA moved the tee up 40 yards to ease the blow of the diabolical front left hole. A northwest wind turned No. 4 into the third toughest of round 3, yielding just two birdies. Look for players to work balls off of the right greenside hill and light this up.

Ninth Hole
Originally expected to play as much as 60 yards shorter, the length of drives this week means the tee will stay on the elevated complex where a 612-yard sign rests. Still, expect the shorter of the two tees to be used, reducing the yardage by nearly 20 yards and allowing more players to have a go at the green in two.

14th Hole
The USGA's Mike Davis revealed exclusively to GolfDigest.com that the decision has been made to move this 435-yard hole up to a 277-yard forward tee (see photos below). The hole will be cut close to the right greenside bunker. The forecast calls for a north or northwest wind, the same as Saturday. This will make the hole play longer, concerning Davis that more players might lay up than he hopes. However, in pre-tournament discussions with some players and caddies, some have suggested they would be more likely to have a go at the green if there is a headwind to hold up their shots. We'll find out Sunday!

16th Hole
The left tee will be back in play with a back left hole location, providing an all-carry shot that should play in the 200-yard range and look dynamite on TV.

18th Hole
It'll be tough to top Sunday's heroics, but a front right hole location and the use of the 530 yardage again should make things interesting, assuming Tiger hasn't run away from the pack by this point.

(The view from Sunday's final round tee location, followed by the lay-up view. The hole will be tucked close to the right greenside bunker.)

Note the tucked No. 13 hole up front (wowser!).

The Wall Street Journal's John Paul Newport profiled Mike Davis in his Saturday column. This tidbit concerning an alteration to Davis' initial hole plan caught my eye:

With the green speeds finally up to the goal of 13½ feet on Wednesday, Mr. Davis altered five of the 90 locations. "In every case it was to make them easier," he said. On the 18th hole, he moved one location a pace to the right because he deemed it unnecessarily taxing for players putting up and over a nearby ridge to stop the ball near the hole.

After two rounds with a 74.982 scoring average the operative word is fair. But a few players dug a little deeper to offer course setup related compliments and insights.

Rocco Mediate, currently T2, commented:

It's so hard. The greens are so firm. They're not really firm, they're not real, real firm yet, but they're plenty. You see the scores -- a lot of guys said this golf course will play much easier for a U.S. Open. If somebody gets to 3-under, it's 3-under par, and it's not going to get easier on the weekend. It seems like they always run first day is easiest, second day is a little harder and it keeps going.

Q. How do you compare this to other Opens?

ROCCO MEDIATE: This is the best. It's perfect. Nothing is wrong. The pins are all good. He put 18 up two days, I like to see that. 13 was way back today. I think that's great. And the 3 and 16 changes, I think that's a great idea. They're doing a great job. I think most of the guys will say the same thing. I haven't heard any complaining this week.

Luke Donald said:

This year, I love the set up of how it's been set up. It's been very fair. I think if you are a little bit off target, it's still giving you a chance to get to the green and make par that way.

If you're way off, then usually you're in some pretty bad rough and have no chance of getting there. So the course setup has been very good this year, and I think that that obviously helps make a great U.S. Open venue. But it's really just a matter of having a good solid golf course and setting it up in a hard but fair.

Geoff Ogilvy said:

You can change the score so much where you put the tees and the pins. If you have all the par-5s back, you have a third on the back tee, and you tuck the pins, under par is a phenomenal score. But if you put some tees like yesterday and have some pins in the balls, and all of a sudden there seemed to be quite a few birdies out there yesterday. So the setup man has complete say over what we shoot, I think.

Q. Have you ever seen a Major course where they could control the scores so much without a sprinkler involved?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's awesome. There probably has been a lot of courses in the past, they just haven't ever done it. There's plenty of par-5s we play at Majors that you can forward at the tee. At Augusta they don't do it, because they got rid of the old tees.

Oakmont you could have easily moved 12 up a hundred yards last year. And you could do it most places.

Here they're actually doing it. I changed on the third tee forward today, which they obviously -- it's going to be into the wind, they want people to go for it, and it's going to move it up another tee.

The third hole is a unique hole, it's a cool hole from both tees. You can make it a wedge or 5-iron, which is cool. You can probably do it on nice courses, but now they've just started doing it, which is just cool, I think.

After round two, that's what I overheard Pat Perez telling a group of reporters in the "flash" interview area near No. 18. Th tone was mildly whiny mixed with a nice dose of perplexed.

He was explaining why the course was playing so tough. Or perhaps we've found out that 7,600 yards on kikuyu is actually a nice simulation of how golf used to be played...about 15 years ago.

I checked in with Mike Davis to hear what he thought of Friday's second round and surprising paucity of low rounds.

"I really don't know," Davis said. "Overall the course was longer today, but I'm surprised that the players are not hitting as many fairways as I thought they would."

Davis says he's "happy" with the first two days because the setup provided the "opportunity to make birdies" while remaining U.S Open-stern.

Davis was in surprisingly good spirits despite having his briefcase stolen from his hotel room, costing him his passport, credit cards and laptop. San Diego Police are investigating and have received confessions from two suspects but have little confidence that they will be able to recover the stolen goods.

Asked if he would take out this extreme inconvenience against the players or hold it against Torrey Pines' chances of hosting a future U.S. Open, Davis laughed before kindly sharing some exclusive information going into Saturday's third round. The latest setup twists are by far the most radical of the week and sure to generate plenty of discussion.

(Note: as part of his and Championship Committee chair Jim Hyler's more open-minded approach, these ideas are subject to change.)

I can't offer photographs today, my computer crashed and I'm on a loaner. You can go to the USGA's site for excellent views of all holes.

Third and 16th Holes
Both tees will be set up at the traditional pads they were situated on for round 2, with right hole locations on both.

Fourth Hole
Saturday may see the week's biggest twist to date on this 488-yarder clinging to the cliffs. Davis plans to cut the hole behind the front left greenside bunker. Because this is an upper-tier quadrant that's virtually inaccessible with a long iron, the tee will be pushed forward 40 yards.

The only players who know about this possibility are those who quizzed Davis about his setup over the last two weeks. I know that includes Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy, who are both on page one of the leaderboard.

The shift at No. 4 should provide an interesting and unexpected decision for most of the field. With fairway bunkers that are 289 yards to carry but only 238 to reach, Davis hopes to entice a few players to create a short iron second shot.

11th Hole
This is not the most exciting one-shotter on the planet. Actually, it's downright dull. But Davis is going to offer a back right hole that contrasts nicely with Friday's back left location In addition, he is considering placing the tee markers forward about 15 yards on the massive tee used by everyday Torrey golfers. He's also planning to use the tee space to set the markers toward the left, allowing a creative player to work a shot off the large green tier in reverse Redan-like fashion.

12th Hole
Playing as the toughest hole after two rounds, look for the tee to go up nearly 30 yards, reducing the yardage from 504 to 477. The shorter yardage will bring a back left hole location, the toughest on the 33-yard deep green.

13th Hole
Saturday play goes back to the 539-yard tee so expect plenty of players to go for it. Davis is eyeing a dicey front-center hole location that may bring the steep bank into play. Look for plenty of excitement here.

18th Hole
Davis ended up moving the tees even more forward on Friday and will keep them at around the 535 yardage that players saw Friday (and still had trouble with).

...to explain what I'm seeing out on the golf course. yes the rough is brutal. Yes, there's a little breeze, albeit a steady one minus any kind swirling Amen Corner nonsense, and yes the greens are firmer and faster today.

But I've just walked the first nine with Tiger-Phil-Adam and several of the hole locations are downright easy. The 12th, 13th and 14th are in the easiest spots possible, while the 15, 16th and 17th were in tough but not impossible locations. Only the 10th and 11th would fall into the super touch category in my view.

On the front nine I've seen the 1st, 2nd and 3rd and only the 3rd hole spot stands out as super difficult, with it perched on a spot that makes putts from above the hole downright scary.

That said, the inability for many to post red numbers today should only encourage Mike Davis and Jim Hyler to stick to their plan to offer bold risk-reward possibilities on the weekend, likely ensuring the theatrics that the fans so desperately want.

Alright, off to the final nine holes for Tiger-Phil-Adam.

Thursday afternoon ended up not being nearly as difficult wind-wise as expected, but apparently the conditions were still tough due to bumpy greens (read Ernie Els's comments here). Oddly, I chatted with a writer following Els, Ogilvy and Rose about how nicely the ball seemed to be rolling for late afternoon poa annua.

So much for our eyes.

You can get the round one stats here. Not surprisingly, No. 12 played as the toughest hole and the par-5 eighteenth as the easiest.

On paper, Friday's setup sounds a lot tougher, perhaps in reaction to the forecast, which is for a pretty benign, warm day.   Here are a few of the highlights the USGA has planned for round 2. I'll update this with the hole locations when they are available.

3rd Hole
After Thursday's fun upper tee experiment proved to be the highlight of the first round, the tee goes back to the 195-yarder playing to a hole cut again in the back left.

This will probably be a bit of a letdown as No. 3 has already become everyone's favorite to watch. Times writer John Hopkins told me today that it's joined his list of the world's best little holes.

13th Hole
Reachable in two for most players Thursday, this one is going back to the first of two new tees constructed for the Open. It should play about 20 yards under the 614 listed from the gliderport tee complex. Afternoon players may still get home in two here if the wind is helping. The hole will be cut in the center  rear of the green, so don't be surprised to see a short approach shot spin off the green and down the hill.

16th Hole
Thursday this played as a forced carry shot over canyon and bunkers to a back left hole, but for round two the tee is shifting to the traditional 225-yard look with a front right hole.

18th Hole
Mike Davis was pleased with Thursday's tee placement here, which put the hole 20 yards under the 573-yard tee sign yardage. That meant that 300-yard drives were left with second shots from 250, which Davis says puts the shot in the "go" range for many.  And the setup worked, with it playing to a 4.800 average, yielding one eagle and 57 birdies.

Look for the tees to remain in the same general area Friday, with a back left hole location.

Mike Davis strolled through the media center midday so I asked what he thought of the early portion of Thursday play where Justin Hicks leads with a 68, followed by Rocco Mediate and Stuart Appleby posting 69s and the field averaging 75.2 as I post this.

Besides his expected pleasure at the array of scores and the ideal course conditions, Davis said he was surprised there weren't some lower rounds because of "the great scoring opportunity" that morning players received.

He said the afternoon forecast calls for a nice breeze that should dry the greens out some more, though Davis is hoping they don't get too "crusty." Asked if they might apply a little water during play to make them less dry and bumpy, he said that would not happen.

I walked the first 9 with Tiger-Phil-Adam, and the buzz from tee one on centered around Phil Mickelson not using a driver. Tim Rosaforte blogs about the history and oddity of Phil's 14-club selection decisions here.

One USGA official even walked by and after I noted the awesome scene of fans, ocean and buzz surrounding No. 8, asked "What's with Phil not using a driver?"

Setup wise, it hasn't cost him early in the round (the putter has), but look for it to come up when he gets to No. 13 where the tee is set forward and right on the 542 tee, and on No. 18 where it's up about 20 yards from the 573 sign (as expected).

Overall the course is perfect and tees are placed where we expected. Some water was applied last night (wet Skechers here) and the bunker fire scare from yesterday was put out as Mike Davis predicted.

Here's the round one hole location sheet.

I stopped by the USGA's, err, the American Express Experience tent and chatted with the USGA's Matt Pringle about the fascinating "TruFirm" device he invented to test green firmness. With Golf Digest changing their conditioning criteria, I could see a day where all superintendents will have one of these devices. But for now they are only for USGA Green Section staffers.

This week at Torrey, the USGA's Dave Oatis and Jim Moore are testing green firmness before and after play. This is the fourth Open where the device has been in use.

Here are a few images of the device, minus the handheld computer that you plug into the top of the device.

During today's USGA press conference, Championship Committee head Jim Hyler touched on the USGA setup philosophy, while USGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Mike Davis offered an exclusive heads up for GolfDigest.com readers on what to expect for the opening round.

(If you aren't familiar with the course, do check out the USGA's array of interactive offerings which highlight each hole.)

Of note:

3rd Hole: expect to see the par-3 third played from the short left tee at 142 yards. (See photo left). I spent some time here Wednesday afternoon when the fog lifted and it was fascinating to see how poorly players were judging the yardage from this elevated tee. Tiger, Phil and Adam will arrive here early in the morning, so don't look for club selection troubles for them. But afternoon play should be another story.

13th Hole: the USGA plans to not debut it's new tees here, and instead use the short left tee (542 yards), one of two used during the Buick Invitational.  much Phil Mickelson's complaints about the back tee can wait another day.

Speaking of Tuesday's remarks, Mickelson phoned Davis to clarify his press conference comments from the day before, though I'm not sure how he can claim there was anything unclear in his initial remarks.

Davis confirmed that Mickelson's concerns were legitimate if the USGA had used the 614-yard tee all four days, but as explained here, that won't be the case.

16th Hole: the alternate tee playing over the canyon will be employed, offering a tough shot into what is expected to be a pretty stiff breeze Thursday afternoon.

I ran into a few players this morning and they were howling about the Torrey Pines bunkers making a sudden and not particularly positive overnight shift from soft to quicksand-like.

"I wondered if it was a bit of monkey-business," Matthew Goggin said.

The USGA's Mike Davis admitted that the bunkers were way fluffier today than expected, but in no way was it designed to generate plugged lies.  And Championship Committee chair Hyler, who spoke at length about the course setup today, confirmed that what players saw is not the hoped for bunker character the USGA wants when play starts tomorrow.

"We don't want balls burying in the bunkers," he told me just after facing the 60 or so scribes in attendance.

Torrey Pines super Mark Woodward confirmed that the sand had been fluffed up as part of the normal bunker preparation work but that he would be looking at the bunkers this afternoon with Davis and Hyler.

Davis went a step further.

"We're aware of the issue and you could even see this morning that they were a bit fluffier than we wanted," he said. "They will be watered tonight."

That's not to say players should expect to see the sand soaking wet. Instead, the sand will be returned to its state players saw Sunday and Monday. Just enough dryness to ensure that balls sit down, making it difficult to put spin on the ball, while allowing skilled player to pull off a recovery shot.

Steve Elling filed an excellent story on the reachable par-5 18th and the possibility that we might actually see a birdie or eagle finish to win the U.S. Open. At the end of the piece Elling noted that there has not been a birdie on 18 to win the Open in 82 years.(Bobby Jones at Scioto in 1926.)

Since the USGA's Mike Davis and Jim Hyler figure to never play the 573-yard tee here, players might be in for a surprise since they've been teeing it up from the USGA sign during the practice rounds.

Playing shorter it should be more reachable, but the shaved lake banks may have a say in how shots are received.

I shot some images of the 18th green complex so you can get a sense just how easy it is to end up in the lake. They Torrey Pines folks have shaved the banks to a fairway height cut so that any ball getting near the edge will head into the water.

This does complicate things with the Buick Invitational's traditional front left hole location where it's too easy to spin back into the pond. So look for Sunday's final round hole to be cut in the front right, allowing a bold player to run a shot up.

After what seemed to be a minor setback, the golf course feels much more firm today. Using the  Skechers method of determining how wet my shoes get making the 4.3 mile trek back to the media center, I can happily report that the shoes returned drier than yesterday's crab cakes.

The USGA and course super Mark Woodward use more scientific soil moisture readings to determine whether any light mistings of the putting surfaces were necessary, and other than an application to the 18th green this morning, they held off watering the other greens.

The difference in firmness compared to Monday is impressive. The light gray sheen we've come to expect at a U.S. Open is starting to appeared and there's a nice first bounce to balls hitting the green. With the sun trying to crack through today and a promising forecast over the next few things, look for Torrey Pines to firm up even more.

On a less positive note, several players suggested a bit of "monkey business" has taken place with the bunkers. After I've had a chance to talk to Mike Davis and Jim Hyler, I'll let you know more.

Most of my media center mates are shocked that I am so excited about the prospects for an exciting finish Torrey Pines. They're even more perplexed I won't join in on redesign bash sessions. Several have wanted to declare it the worst U.S. Open course ever, and I insist that there is no way that's the case as long as Bellerive is still out there.

Besides, since when has architecture really mattered with the typical USGA course setup? Narrow fairways, rough and teeing it up from the plates every day don't exactly show off all a course has to offer.

So with Mike Davis trying to vary setups, architecture should matter in the future. And when the Open does return here, and it will when there's talk of $50 million in profit, I offer this food for re-design thought before the next four days of play commence (because why not give you something to look at while Chris Berman is yammering away?).

Third Green
Every time I'm on this green I swear the shaper looked at the plan upside down. The contours look a lot better from the rear of the green, where logic would tell you golfers were supposed to address this mess from. Blow it up, make it a modified Redan and embrace the canyon even more.

Fourth Hole
This should have been a classic, instead it's a mess. There is no strategy to the tee shot unless you consider an automatic lay up to be strategic.

During a practice round for the Golf Digest Break 100 deal, Justin Timberlake told someone the hole is best approached from the 5th fairway. He's right. The green complex penalizes drives hit down the left and center where the all the risk is.

Solution: reward play flirting with the canyon down the left side, and close off the opening to the green for those bailing out right.

Sixth Hole
A tree immediately off the tee needs to go and not much else makes sense from there on. The potential exists for a fascinating split fairway tee shot option incorporating the canyon edge. But the green complex will need to be rebuilt to give meaning to any kind of tee shot options.

Seventh Green Chipping Area
This bizarre bathtub tacked on to the green complex looks awful and plays even worse. In no way is it natural, interesting, attractive or easily maintainable. It does stop balls from going into the canyon, which was probably the intent with this being a municipal course.

The Bland Eighth, Ninth and Tenth
These greens used to be much more interesting and character filled prior to the redesign. Not exactly aided by attractive surrounds, these could really use some strategic interest. The eighth is close, but the boomerang feel needs to work like one of MacKenzie's old greens. Right now the left front is goofy.

The Steps On No. 13
Lacking any kind of character or interest, these "look at me" manmade disasters only add to the freakish nature of the green where balls that roll off the front trickle 50 yards down a hill. I'd blow the hole thing up, move the green down the hill and put the 14th tee on the current 13th to set up a killer tee shot over the canyon.

I haven't heard many negatives from players until today when Phil Mickelson made the 4-mile journey to the media center and was asked about some of the USGA's alternate tee locations. Check out this exchange:

Q. You talk a little bit about No. 14, can you talk a little bit about No. 3, the possible change at the tee box, and 13, too, and their impact on the tournament?

PHIL MICKELSON: I love playing up on 3 to that left pin. You're not going to go at that pin from the other tee. But the angle that the short tee on No. 3 gives, it now allows you to go at the pin, if you miss it long it's not in the hazard it's just longer into the green. Guys will go at that left pin. I think it will be exciting. Because you're going to see some birdies, but you're also going to see some 4s and 5s. 13, the par-5, that new tee box is terrible. It's the biggest waste of money that I've ever seen. But it doesn't matter what I think, we're going to end up playing it and I've got to be ready for it. But it's terrible.

Brief break here for boring questions before someone smart grabbed the microphone.

Q. I can't remember the last time I saw you talk so passionately about a golf course-related thing. What is it about that particular tee is it that struck you as being a waste of money?

PHIL MICKELSON: On 13?

Q. Yes. You usually don't say it quite so unequivocally.

PHIL MICKELSON: Because there's no other way to look at it. It's just terrible. The reason it's so terrible is that before there was great risk/reward. There was great reward if you hit the fairway from the tee where you could go for it. Because it's such a tough shot from the bottom of that hill for birdie. But from the back tee nobody can reach it. Everybody's going to be laying up to the same spot, some with a 6- iron, some with a 3-iron, and everybody is going to have the same pitch, it's like a par-3 from the bottom of the hill. So there's no opportunity for a longer player to take advantage of his length. There's no opportunity for a guy who strikes it straighter to take advantag! e of his skill. And there's no opportunity for a guy who wants to take a little bit of risk and try to get it by the green and be rewarded. So it's just a terrible tee box.

Phil is right. And he's not.

Yes, the back tee poses a certain test that many of us would not consider ideal. However, over the course of four days wouldn't it be more interesting to see a variety of tees used here, including the 614-yarder?

The point of this tee is to provide a different look at a course that the players know well. To pose different questions over four days instead of the same question each day.

Let's see what Phil says after four rounds from a variety of locations.

As far as temporary driving ranges go, the setup at Torrey Pines is pretty spectacular. Four box tees were constructed immediately following the Buick Invitational where the North Course's 9th and 10th holes play. Targets include fairway bunkers from those holes along with small greens cut down and are highlighted by standard golf course flagsticks. 

The only negative according to players is the left to right breeze, which isn't ideal for right-handed golfers looking to avoid "coming over the top" of the ball.

Players are also using the North Course's 18th green to practice wedge and bunker play.

A few images from Tuesday:

No shortage of insights from the Tiger Woods press conference today at Torrey. Let's go...

This ought to please course super Mark Woodward and his hard working team:

The golf course is in perfect shape. It's totally different than what we play here in January. The greens are rolling. You're finding the slopes are pretty significant out here, and we're not used to seeing the ball roll this much.

The greens are perfectly smooth. It's going to be a great test. The way they have set it up with different tees, different lengths. It can play so many different ways that it's going to be very interesting to see how the scores turn out.

On the new 614-yard 13th tee:

Well, we're almost on Black's Beach (laughter). So -- I don't know, maybe we can hit up and over the cliff to get to the fairway. It's unbelievable how far back that is. That usually is where they start their hang gliding over there. It's hard to believe it's that far back.

He noted something to look out for in the lay up area:

It's a matter of hitting it down there and playing off the tee. You have a big enough fairway. Lay it up in the fairway and hope you won't get it in any divot, because everybody will lay up to the same spot. They're going to move the tee up the other two days, so hopefully that will give us a break.

On how he likes the idea of pushing the 435-yard No. 14 tee forward to make it a driveable 277-yarder:

The setup could be so varied, where certain holes that you wouldn't think are holes you can pick up shots on and you can. I think that's going to be the exciting thing. You have some birdie holes out there. And you do really feel like you should make birdie on those holes.

Regarding the greens, which prompted some of his most interesting comments in response to Tod Leonard's questions.

It's actually interesting, the first bounce is a little bit springy. It takes a pretty good hop, but then it starts stopping. Speed has picked up over the last two days, noticeably. I don't know if they're going to pick up another six inches or a foot come Thursday. But they're starting to get that little sheen to them today.

But it's just a matter of -- they could get a little bit firmer, but I don't think they really want to. If they play all the tees back for a couple of days I hope they don't get them too firm.

Q. Do you have to guard against seeing a line that you think you saw in the Buick?

TIGER WOODS: Yes.

Q. And you're not seeing here?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, the lines are much higher here now. I'm used to seeing lines a little bit straighter, a little lower, and with a lot less pace. Some of the putts have a lot more swing at the end. They're rolling out a little bit more. Up and over ridges. Like the putt I made this year on 11 you couldn't make that putt right now. It's just too fast. A good putt would be almost to the front of the green. So you can't get away with shots like you did during the Buick.

Lorne Rubenstein teed Tiger up with an interesting question and Tiger missed the point, unfortunately:

Q. The USGA in the last few years, at least since 2004 seems to have introduced more uncertainty into its setup for the golf course for the U.S. Open. While Augusta National seems to go the other way, and maybe next year will return some uncertainty to that. First of all, do you agree with that. What place do you think uncertainty do you think it has in the setup for a Major?

TIGER WOODS: Well, what the USGA has done is given itself flexibility. If the golf course is playing too hard, if the wind kicks up, if the greens are getting out of control, what happened at Shinnecock, they don't want to get into that situation again. They have the ability now to move tees up, play holes differently, give guys a chance to make birdie. And even so we've had more flexible tournaments, but the scores have still been over par.

Related to the uncertainty concept, I thought Tiger's final remarks about the possible winning score proved surprising:

It's really hard to answer because I don't know how they're going to play it. If they play it up all days then you'll say under par, for sure. Play it back every day, then you'll probably say over par. But since it's a mixture you don't know what it's going to be.
And it's a little bit frustrating as a player, because you always have an idea what the score is going to be going into the event. But this year it's a little bit different.

And thank heavens for that!

Not to belabor a point that will probably be hammered home ad nauseum during pre-tournament news conferences, but many things have changed at Torrey Pines South since January's Buick Invitational, won by Tiger Woods.

The main difference is the health and density of the rough, but more interesting are the changes to the way Torrey Pines plays thanks to setup and conditions.

Just a few things I've noticed:

No. 2 fairway: Even with the dense kikuyu turf, the tight cut and firmer ground has made the No. 2 fairway tilt more pronounced. There is now an emphasis on playing down the left side to avoid having your ball roll into the right rough. Unfortunately this poses a dilemma since drives missed left have little recovery chance (the green is going away from you slightly if you are in the left rough).

No. 3 tee: It's been well chronicled, but the USGA will be using a fun little 142-yard tee to offer an alternative to the 195-yarder. Look for the upper tee to be used to left front and the really cruel left back hole location.Though this green has changed the most at 13 feet on the Stimp. The normally simple hole locations on the right are now impossible to get close to if you miss your tee shot left.

No. 4 Fairway: This wind-exposed hole playing along the bluffs looked to be a possible problem in May, but more grass has appeared and balls should stay up on the short stuff (there were concerns that most tee shots would roll into the rough or into the hazard).

No. 4 Green Approach: Mike Davis requested a tight turf approach on the right and got it. This should be a fun spot to watch and see shots working off the bank and down on to the green. Though the bank is steep, every ball I threw still ended up in the middle of the green, so it should work as an approach.

No. 6: Converted to a 515-yard long par-4, it's the longest in U.S. Open history and may play about the toughest. There's an awkward eucalyptus off the tee and an even more awkward fairway contour, with the worst rough on the course separating fairway and canyon edge. Throw in a pretty severe green and this will play as the toughest hole at Torrey Pines this week.

No. 8:  This plateaued green figures to be the other big putting change since January, with left hole locations likely unusable under U.S. Open conditions.

No. 13 Green: Definitely the most sensitive spot on the course right now, the USGA has aggressively monitored this green and has cut back the number of mowings this green received in recent days after balls were rolling off the front with relative ease. It's never good when they have to put netting down below a green, but look for the USGA to continue to monitor this green to prevent any kind of embarrassing episode ala Southern Hills in 2001.

No. 14: The fairway was narrowed here near the green, and the 277-yard tee was re-aligned to aim more at the green.

No. 16 Tee: A 195-yard lefthand alternate tee will be used at least once, probably more. It brings the canyon into better view for television and makes the back left hole location look imposing. It also shifts this to a forced carry par 3 while the 225-yard right tee allows for a run-up shot.

No. 18 Green Complex: Don't expect the traditional Buick front left hole location to be used for Sunday's final round. The USGA has cut down the lake bank grass to a super low height and balls spinning back in the front left will end up wet. In fact, don't be surprised to see someone putt off the green and into the lake. The only thing that could save them is a drain cap on the left side (and let's hope that does not happen!).

I've had the chance to visit Torrey Pines four times since January and the transformation of the golf course conditioning is a thing to behold. Working with USGA agronomist Pat Gross, superintendent Mark Woodward has assembled a team to transform a layout that just a year ago had the USGA scared to death about the prospects for this week's U.S. Open.

The greens took a long time but they've finally reached the speed and smoothness hoped for (the USGA says 12.8-13.4 on the Stimpmeter for this week but I won't be surprised if they push them even more).  Remember too that a 13 reading at Torrey Pines is somewhat mild compared to 13 at Oakmont, where the contours are much more severe.

The fairways, resodded with grass from local golf courses over the last few years to consist of kikuyu grass, provide stunning consistency though the ball isn't rolling nearly as much as you'd find at a normal U.S. Open venue (or even as much as it was in May). And with Mike Davis and Jim Hyler offering 26-30 yards in width to compensate for Torrey's 7,643 yard total, the landing areas are playing incredibly wide for a U.S. Open. And that's a good thing.

Here's the only negative, and it's minor. The kikuyu is going to be a factor in the roughs. Davis had ordered the roughs overseeded with rye grass to weed out the noxious weed kikuyu (it works), however a confluence of extreme warmth, late rains and perfect growing conditions encouraged the kikuyu. And while it will get plenty of attention, the shocker to me is just how nasty the rye grass is.

Last week I photographed some balls thrown into the first rough cut off of the fairway (top photo right). This area bordering the fairways is 15 feet wide and 2 1/2 inches in depth.

Note how some balls sit up and others nestle down. Davis wants recovery shots but he's also ecstatic at the unpredictability of lies players will find  Both of those stances ares quite a shift from the past where the USGA thought all balls reaching the rough should be treated equally (translation: hack it out!).

There really isn't much you can say about the next layer that we'll call the primary rough (3 1/2 inches). As the photos (right, top and middle) demonstrate, if you nestle down in the kikuyu, it'll be a victory to get your ball back the fairway. (Yes, there are two balls in that first image showing the first green off in the distance.)

And finally, there's the mostly kikuyu stuff at 6 inches where fans will be walking. (Photo right, below). Right now, you can see why it would be tough to get a ball back into the fairway. Thankfully, in most instances the spectators will reduce its impact by the time tournament play starts Thursday.

The moral of all this? Torrey Pines will favor the strong and long off the tee.

Sorry short hitters, you don't have much chance this week.

Kirk Kenney in the San Diego Union Tribune posted a note on reaction to the 13th hole's new 614-yard tee that players are seeing for the first time ever. The complaints center not on the 240-yard carry, but instead, the apparent lack of strategic interest.

Pat Perez, who grew up in Cardiff and worked during high school at Torrey, is puzzled by the changes.

?I don?t really know what the thinking was there for 614,? Perez said after his Monday morning practice round. ?It was basically going to play as a par-3. If you?re in the fairway you have to lay up, or if you?re in the fairway you have to lay up. So everyone is going to be hitting the same shot, which is about 115 yards. It?s going to play as a 115-yard par-3 back there. That?s about it.

The USGA's Mike Davis and Jim Hyler actually have always had plans to vary play between three tees, including one that puts the hole in the 550 range. They are reserving the right to decide which days they will be on various tees, pending weather and player feedback. Though with pace of play in mind, it's unlikely the shorter tee will be used Thursday and Friday.

The Kenney piece also touches on what happened to a few balls today hitting No. 13 green. Look for  players to talk about the possibility of balls spinning 60 yards off the green and down the fronting hill. I spoke to a marshall who had been stationed there all morning and he said early on this morning that most third shots were spinning off the front and down to the netting.

But he also noted that the USGA officials out early were mapping hole locations on the far right and left wings of the green, both of which are protected by sand.

In other words, only a poorly hit shot will be spinning down the hill. Still, this would rank as my top hot spot on the course right now.

USOpen.com's Ken Klavon went behind the scenes with Mike Davis, Jim Hyler and a course setup entourage in May to give you an insider's look at the hole location selection process.

The 2006 champion at Winged Foot arrived at Torrey Pines last Thursday to begin his preparations. He allowed me to tag along for a round observed by his personal trainer Steve Allan on the bag and friend Greg Welch, the world famous triathlete who lives in San Diego.

A Scottsdale resident, Ogilvy, wife Juli and their two children have rented a home in the area this summer to escape the heat and allow Geoff to the "Jack Nicklaus thing" of hanging out a major venue several days before most arrive.

Ogilvy is not from the Dave Pelz school where you document every nook and cranny of a golf course. In fact, I'm always amazed at just how little he'll putt during a practice round. (His theory is that you can replicate the putts you need to work on most at the putting green, while the greenside chips are tough to find at most practice areas).

Instead, h