Site: Torrey Pines Golf Course (South course)  -  La Jolla, CA
Yards: 7,643     Par: 71
Defending: Angel Cabrera 285  (beat J. Furyk & T. Woods by 1)
Field:   World Top 25: All   Other Notables: Everyone who’s physically able.

Notes: This will be the 108th playing of the U.S. Open, a number which is always easy to remember as it is in sync with the calendar year………Twenty-one players have won the title more than once, including: Willie Anderson (4), Ben Hogan (4), Bobby Jones (4), Jack Nicklaus (4), Hale Irwin (3), Julius Boros (2), Billy Casper (2), Ernie Els (2), Retief Goosen (2), Ralph Guldahl (2), Walter Hagen (2), Lee Janzen (2), Johnny McDermott (2), Cary Middlecoff (2), Andy North (2), Gene Sarazen (2), Alex Smith (2), Payne Stewart (2), Curtis Strange (2), Lee Trevino (2) and Tiger Woods (2)………Of these, only six have claimed the title in successive years: Willie Anderson (the lone man to do it thrice, in 1903-05), Johnny McDermott (the first native-born winner, in 1911-12), Bobby Jones (1929-30), Ralph Guldahl (1937-38), Ben Hogan (1950-51) and Curtis Strange (1988-89)………Omitting the various British-born pros who claimed the title after emigrating to America, only nine foreigners have won the Open: Harry Vardon (1900), Ted Ray (1920), Tony Jacklin (1970), David Graham (1981), Ernie Els (1994 & ’97), Retief Goosen (2001 & ’04), Michael Campbell (2005), Geoff Ogilvy (2006) and Angel Cabrera (2007) – and one would have to be blind in order to miss the fact that of these nine, five have come since 1997, including the last four in a row!………No amateur has won the title since Johnny Goodman in 1933 (a situation which now may last into perpetuity), and only four other amateurs have matched Goodman’s feat: Francis Ouimet (1913), Jerome Travers (1915), Chick Evans (1916) and, of course, four-time winner Bobby Jones (1923, ’26, ’29 & ’30)………Torrey Pines becomes only the second publicly owned facility ever to host the Open, following the 2002 lead of the Black course at New York’s Bethpage State Park………Prior to 2002, the only non-private clubs to host the event were Pebble Beach (four times) and Pinehurst (once), both upscale resort facilities………The 1912 site, today’s the Grover Cleveland Golf Course (Amherst, NY), is presently a public layout but was strictly private (as the Country Club of Buffalo) at the time it held the Open.

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Elsewhere…
On the women’s side, the LET journeys to the Algarve for the Portuguese Ladies Open, the JLPGA tees it up at the 15th playing of the Suntory Ladies Open in Hyogo Prefecture, and the Futures Tour travels to Decatur, IL for the Futures Players Championship.  In Europe, the Challenge Tour ventures to France for the Open de St. Omer (an event oddly co-sponsored by the full-fledged E Tour) while the Senior Tour travels north to Wales for the Ryder Cup Wales Senior Open.  Finally, the Canadian Tour actually plays an event in Canada this week (!), returning to Vancouver for the Times Colonist Open.