KEY POINTS:
Tiger Woods confirmed yesterday that he will be teeing up in tomorrow's first round of the US Open here and then revealed some of the steps he has taken to ensure he recovered in time from a knee operation. And typical of this sporting one-off, some of his methods have hardly been orthodox.
"When Sam [his daughter] wakes up at 2am I get on the leg-press machine and put her on my lap," he said. "Six hundred repetitions later, she's out." His rivals know exactly how the 11-month-old feels.
The word coming into this event was that Woods' chances of winning his 14th major had been drastically reduced by the arthroscopic surgery he underwent the week following The Masters in April. Speculation on the range was that the recuperation was not as far along as Team Woods were letting on.
He pulled out of The Memorial in Ohio a fortnight ago when his agent said that Woods could not yet put enough weight on his knee to swing properly. Some of his opponents were even peddling the theory that Woods would pull out if he did not feel he was fit enough to win.
However, the first two days of practice has seen Woods stride around Torrey Pines as ominously as ever. His coach, Hank Haney, said his pupil "looked good" and few were arguing. The feeling is that Woods likes Torrey Pines so much that he could prevail even if only at 90 per cent.
He has played nine tournaments here and won six of them, including the Buick in January by eight shots. Granted, the United States Golf Association have rendered this coastal layout almost unrecognisable in its severity and if Woods does have a weakness, it will be exposed here.
Especially as the US Open organisers have, in their wisdom, decided to pair him in the first two rounds with the world No 2, Phil Mickelson and the world No 3, Adam Scott. The glare is always on Woods, yet this week it will surely be as intense as he has experienced.
For these reasons, not everyone takes Woods to be the overwhelming favourite. Meanwhile, some experts are prepared to cast a little more doubt. "I can't believe he's 100 per cent," said Johnny Miller, the NBC analyst. "I don't care how good he looks. I guarantee the knee is a possible issue for him. There's no way he's 100 per cent."
- INDEPENDENT
