Ernie Els hopes to rekindle former glory

Three players in the 156-man field at the US Open have won at Congressional. Only one of them knows what it takes to win a US Open. That would be Ernie Els, who captured his second US Open title in 1997 at the Maryland course.

Els is hoping the memories of 14 years ago assist him in changing the course of what he says has been an "atrocious" season so far.

"It's been a very weird, weird year this year so far, but my sense of urgency is very much there. I'm putting a lot of work into my game. I need to basically find a way of letting it happen. Maybe this week. There's an art to it in many ways. That's why you've got to take your hat off to guys who have won a lot of majors because this is in real-time - there's no playbacks, no do-overs, no second serves.

"You have to play your shot and then you've got to hit your next shot. You can't be thinking about 'I'm going to make history now and this will get me my first win of seven or eight'.

"I've found myself in that situation and those are probably the ones that I've screwed up. And the other ones that I won I just stayed steady and basically stayed the course. There's a very fine line going either way."

When the AT&T National came to Congressional in 2007, KJ Choi won over Steve Stricker. A year later, Anthony Kim closed with a 65 for a two-shot win over Fredrik Jacobson. Tiger Woods had rounds of 64-66-70-67 when he won in 2009. He won't get another crack at Congressional this week because he is not playing due to left leg injuries.

"The course definitely plays different than when I won in 2007," Choi said after practice. "The tee shot - when you're standing on the tee box, the holes played different. You have to attack differently. They've pulled it back 20, 30 yards on some of the holes, so you have to draw your shots, where in 2007, I could fade my shots."

Even so, the experience of winning has helped Choi feel like he knows his way around. He knows where he can miss, and where the big numbers are waiting if he misses in the wrong spot. "I think the key point is whether you're able to hit your second shots and stop it on the green, stick it to the green, stick it to the pin within four or five yards," Choi said. "Once you're able to do that, I think you have a better advantage."

Early reviews on Congressional are favourable as a stern but fair test, but the greens are not quite as firm as they tend to be when the competition gets under way tomorrow.

Among the favourites this week - because of the major, not the location - is Lee Westwood of England, who is No 2 in the world and getting closer than ever to winning his first major.

Westwood had a putt to get into the play-off at Torrey Pines in the 2008 US Open.He had a par putt to get into a play-off at Turnberry a year later, and he had the 54-hole lead in the Masters last year.

"I think if you're a good player, you're going to have disappointments because you're going to be in contention a lot, aren't you?" Westwood said. "You're going to have lots of chances to win major championships."

It wasn't always that way for Westwood. Even though he rose to No 4 in the world earlier in his career, it took him until a few years ago to start getting seriously close. His first US Open happened to be in 1997 at Congressional. "My first impressions were it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be," Westwood said. "The toughness of a US Open set-up takes you by surprise when you've never played it before."

For the players who haven't been back in 14 years - Els and Westwood among them - there are a few big changes. The par-3 18th has been switched to a different direction and now is the tenth. The closing hole - the old No 17 from 1997 - is now a 523-yard par 4 into a green surrounded by water. By the end of the week, par might be a good score. By the look of it early in the week, however, some players feel as though they at least have a fighting chance. "There's no tricks to this golf course," Westwood said. "You could almost turn up Thursday and just play it because it's such a good, honest test."

PHIL Mickelson, Bubba Watson and American Ryder Cup captain Davis Love have more than the US Open on their minds this week - they are also off to the White House.

Congressional is less than ten miles from downtown Washington DC and the trio have been invited to meet Barack Obama on the eve of the event.

The President is a keen golfer and plays the game left-handed - like Mickelson and Watson, of course.

It was at Congressional in 1997 that a serving President last watched the championship. That was Bill Clinton.