Pebble Beach hasn't been this firm since...uh oh

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Davis Love III, who survived a playoff in the sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, to earn a berth in the 110th U.S. Open, has seen Pebble Beach enough to know that the condition of the seaside layout two days before the championship is already optimal.

"It's firm, and if it gets any more firm, look out," said the former PGA champion, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am twice, in 2001 and 2003. "I mean, it probably about as perfect as you can get it right now."

Tom Lehman echoed a similar sentiment. "It's perfect, and you hope they don't change a thing between now and the start of the tournament," the former British Open champ said. "But already you can see some shots that you'd never see here in February -- or maybe any other time."

Case in point was the par-3 seventh hole, the downhill 107-yard dinky hole that already has put the fear in players. Though it takes only a cut-off sand wedge to reach the green, the ball can't carry more than to the front of the green because the first bounce is 6-8 feet high before releasing to the back. Love and his caddie, Jeff Weiser, could only smile when they watched Love's ball bounding 30 feet past the flagstick.

Asked if he ever saw the greens more firm, Love replied, "No, except for that last round in 1992, and that was really something."

-- Dave Shedloski