Regulars at a PGA Tour event find only the scenery the same

SAN DIEGO - Ben Crane has played at the Buick Invitational four times, enough to know his way around. So when he drove up to Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open, he was surprised when a guard stopped him from going into the parking lot.

"I told him, 'I'm here for the U.S. Open,'" Crane said Monday afternoon. "And he told me the parking lot was on the driving range. I thought, 'Man, there's going to be a lot of broken windshields.'"

Then came to the finish to his practice round. He found it strange that there were no grandstands to the right of the 18th green.

Sunshine gave way to a soupy skies late in the afternoon, a cool ocean breeze felt refreshing. That was familiar.

But it doesn't take long for players to realize that they might be in on the same course, but this isn't the same tournament.

The U.S. Open begins Thursday on the South Course at Torrey Pines, a city-owned golf course that has been home to the PGA Tour since 1968 but now gets a makeover for  what many call the toughest tournament in golf.

The rough is lush. The greens are firm.

Tiger Woods won by eight shots at Torrey Pines in January, posting his three rounds on the tough South Course in 11-under par. Fat chance of that happening this week.

Even so, those who are regulars at Torrey Pines expect to have a slight advantage, even if they can't find the parking lot (now on the range), the driving range (occupying the fourth and 10th holes of the North course) or the locker room (no longer in the lodge, rather a trailer behind the new parking lot).

Carl Pettersson was among those on the new range late Monday afternoon, reliving memories of his runner-up finish in the Buick Invitational five years ago. He was a rookie, and what a shot of confidence that gave him.

Too bad it was the week Woods returned from knee surgery and won by four.

"Tiger came back one week too early that year," Pettersson said.

In that respect, not much has changed.

Woods had yet another surgery on his left knee two days after the Masters, missing two months and making his return at Torrey Pines, where he has won the last four years, in the U.S. Open, which he has won the fewest times (twice) of the majors.

It was hard to tell he was recovering the way he played the front nine Monday morning in a practice round with Bubba Watson and Jordan Cox, an amateur from Stanford.

"He didn't say 'Ow' to me, so it must be good," Watson said.

The threesome teed off at about 7 a.m. under an overcast sky and with no wind coming off the Pacific Ocean. Woods pulled out after nine holes, spent some time on the putting green and then walked toward the Lodge at Torrey Pines at about 10:15 a.m., accompanied by two San Diego policemen, caddie Steve Williams and swing coach Hank Haney.

Woods didn't speak to reporters.

"He looked good," Haney said. "He'll be OK. No problems so far."

Woods scrambled in and out of bunkers and crushed some drives. He didn't appear to favor his knee.

"I don't think the surgery affected him at all," Cox said. "He's hitting it really, really well right now."

Woods didn't hit every fairway. He played mostly tee to green, not bothering to putt out on every hole. The three did spend time chipping and putting toward anticipated pin placements at Torrey Pines.

Most of all, he looked fit.

"He's got a whole career to worry about," Watson said. "I don't think he's going to mess it up. That's what he did, he pulled out of Memorial because he felt he wasn't ready, and if he wasn't ready here, he wouldn't show up, no matter what the course was, no matter what the crowd wants, no matter what the media wants. He's not going to end his career on some stupidity."

Those who played in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday spent most of their time on the range, or got out late for nine holes. Most were impressed with the look of Torrey Pines, from the graduated depths of rough to the greens that were much firmer than in January, when damp conditions left them bumpy.

Torrey Pines will play as a par 71 because the sixth hole has been converted to a par 4.

"It's fair," Crane said. "This is the best setup I've seen in the last couple of years."

How that translates to a U.S. Open remains to be seen. Angel Cabrera won last year at Oakmont at 5-over 285, and Geoff Ogilvy won the year before at Winged Foot with the same score, winning a major without once breaking par in any round.

"Guys will have an advantage if they've been here," Crane said. "But they can make this as tough as they want to."