Very excited to be back in America this week and to have another opportunity at playing this year’s US Open! Despite being a long flight away, California is worth the journey every time and I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment so far in La Jolla!

This is my first time playing Torrey Pines but it has to be said that we had some great preparation for this event in tough conditions last week at the Porsche European Open.

To give you a bit of insight into the course here, Torrey Pines is actually one of the most classical municipal Golf Club’s in the US. Its two Courses annually play host to the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open however, this will actually only be the second time the South Course has staged the Major Championship (with Tiger’s unforgettable win against Rocco Mediate in 2008 being the last occasion – and one of the most poignant US Open wins in golf history!).

‘If I learned one thing from playing at Winged Foot last year it's that at a US Open, you can never let the result of one bad shot derail your attitude for the next and I will definitely be renewing that mind set again this week!’

The Course will play firm and fast with birdies pretty challenging to come by…The fairways have been narrowed and are surrounded by various levels of thick sticky Kikuyu grass rough which is severely punishing – at every stage! Truly, there are some patches in that rough where you might get lucky and you could find your ball sitting up…but more often than not, without that twist of luck and a few centimetres over…there’s no choice but to play the ball sideways and hope to get yourself back on the fairway!
On top of that, the greens are a bumpier grass type here too and conceal a multitude of slopes which makes them notoriously difficult to putt on. So with all that said, the ability to save par and avoid bogeys is undoubtedly the key to success this week!

From what we have been told, there has been no real rain in the area for a few weeks now so the condition of the course is entirely down to hand maintenance. Thankfully, and unlike the USPGA last month at Kiawah, the wind will not be too much of a factor with breezes not set to reach over 10mph at any point during the week. Only warm sunny skies projected for us here in California too!

One extra thing to note is that the par 5 finishing hole on 18 is probably the most famous here – with a water hazard situated at the front of the green and some of the thickest rough you can find lining the back…it’s going to be a true risk and reward ending to the round and will definitely produce some exciting moments for spectators and everyone viewing at home too!

All set and ready to get this week started now! Have even managed to watch a couple of re-runs of Tiger’s win in 2008 over the past few days to help inspire that ‘refusal to quit’ attitude! As a matter of fact, if I learned one thing from playing at Winged Foot last year its that at a US Open, you can never let the result of one bad shot derail your attitude for the next and I will definitely be renewing that mind set again this week!

Furthermore, I am having alot of fun week in, week out with my caddy Mike on the bag so whatever this week has in store for us…we are ready and determined to enjoy this thing! Off at 3.39pm local time today…Let’s get going!!