You really do have to be at Pebble Beach to see just how spectacular this place is.  I’ve played it on video games and seen footage on television, but there’s nothing like the real thing.   And it’s definitely easier on video.

It’s a great set up.   If you miss the fairway by a little bit and you have a chance to reach the green, but miss it by a little bit more and you’re going to struggle.  It’s got firmer as the week’s progressed so it look like it's going to be a pretty firm golf course all week.   Anybody will have to hit it really well around here if you want to score.

The main thing around any U.S. Open is patience and not letting anything bother you. You got to expect that you're going to have bad holes here and there, but you know everyone is going to have bad holes so you've just got to get on with it and try and do the best you can.  I've learned from last year that par in a U.S. Open's never too far away.

I’ve got a great draw and can’t wait to get going with Tom Watson and Ryo Ishikawa.  Ryo’s round about my age and Tom’s not quite and I’m sure we’ll have a great time.  I've played with Ryo quite a lot over the last couple years and I really enjoy his company.  He's a great player. If I was to turn on my TV and watch anyone sort of play it would be Ryo.  He’s a great player and the way he plays and the way he handles himself and carries himself, he's a great role model to a lot of people.

I'm very excited about playing with Tom too. I played nine holes with him at the Masters this year in a practice round and he still hits it as good as anyone out here. I think it's definitely a good draw for me. It should help me relax a little bit.   Obviously Tom’s won around here and I might pick up a few things these first two day that is can I bring into the weekend.

I had to do a press conference today and somebody asked how close my game was to winning a major.  I said I’d be far more comfortable answering that question if I had a few more wins under my belt, but I do go into the championship thinking that I can do it. My game's in pretty good shape so if I can get myself into position going into the weekend I should have a good chance.  I'm ready to win a Major, but there's no rush right now. I'm just looking to win my next PGA tournament or European Tour event, but it would be great to get a good run this week and at least put myself into contention. I finished third at the PGA last year and I got a good feel about what it's about and hopefully I can do that again this week.

Everybody’s talking about the World Cup here and it’s been a welcome distraction.  You wouldn't want to be thinking about golf 24/7, especially not a U.S. Open week. I think you would go crazy.

So who’s going to win? I don't think Europeans are going into this event thinking, oh, we've got to win, it's 40 years or whatever since Tony Jacklin did it, but I think this year there's a great chance that a European could win. Especially the way the golf course is set up. If it continues to get as firm as it has been the last couple of days, it's playing like sort of linksy out there. So obviously Lee and Robert were in the playoff last week, so they're playing pretty good. There's so many others as well. You never know. Hopefully if it isn't myself it can be one of the other Europeans.