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Woods Won the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002

Golf’s second major of the season and arguably the most demanding and challenging of the Grand Slam quartet gets underway this morning at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island where Tiger Woods, who won this tournament at Bethpage in 2002, will be looking to take home his fourth career and second straight U.S. Open crown.

Last year Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in dramatic fashion. Holing a 12 foot birdie putt on the final hole to force an 18-hole playoff the next day, Woods, essentially playing on one leg (Tiger would be forced to season-ending leg surgery soon afterwards) defeated Rocco Mediate in a thrilling one-on-one battle to earn his 14^th major.

But there will be 155 players chasing Woods (including 14 amateurs) around the Par 70 7,426 yard Black Course. Some of the leading contenders include Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington and Geoff Ogilvy.

Phil has understandably been distracted with his wife Amy’s recent diagnosis of breast cancer. That is actually why I think Mickelson could play well in this tournament, despite the poor result at the St. Jude Classic last week. Mickelson will have the New York crowd support, course confidence with a second place at Bethpage in 2002, and now he has the extra motivation of his wife’s condition to perform well plus an itch to erase that botched attempt to capture an earlier U.S. Open that was his for the taking at Winged Foot.

Though Jim Furyk hasn’t won anything since mid-2007 and hasn’t followed up his 2003 U.S. Open title at Olympia Fields with another major championship, he is playing well and is a gritty, pressure-player. Despite not being a long-hitter, at the same time the U.S. Open is also a survival test that is conducive to grinders and Furyk is one of the best.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, a three-time major winner, has struggled somewhat in 2009. He has failed to record a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this year in eleven events, and missed the cut in two most recent tournaments leading up to the US Open. However, that could also be a sign he is due. A world class player like Padraig can strike at any time and it is his striking skills that put him among the leading contenders.

Aussie Geoff Ogilvy, who won the U.S. Open in 2006 at Winged Foot, is having a solid 2009 with two victories and ranks 2nd in the Fed Ex Cup standings. If he drives it well, he’ll be a contender.

Of course there could be a changing of the guard with younger players like Sean O’Hair, Rory McIlroy and Anthony Kim poised to break through. It just doesn’t seem this would be the venue for that, but these hearty “youngsters” have no fear even for a course this imposing.

In 2002, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park became the first municipally-owned golf course to host a U.S. Open.

At the time, the 7,214-yard, par-70 layout, originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast and later given a major facelift from Rees Jones, was the longest in Open history.

The parkland-style course more than proved itself as a major-championship venue, with only champion Tiger Woods finishing the 72-hole competition under par at 277 (three under). Some minor alterations have been for the 2009 U.S. Open, but the course should essentially feature the same challenging characteristics that the world’s best golfers faced seven years ago. The USGA is proud of the reputation for its major being called “the toughest test in golf” and I’m sure they will have the Black Course ready with all its menace including very soft fairways and three of the par 4s longer than 500 yards, and one of them – the 525-yard seventh – is longer than one par 5.

The U.S. Open is the only major Tiger Woods has failed to win in consecutive years, and a victory this week would make him only the seventh player to win back-to-back. Having won at Bethpage Black in 2002, he will try to join Willie Anderson (1905 at Myopia Hunt) as the only players to defend a U.S. Open on a course where they were the most recent champion.

One thing for certain is that there will be plenty of drama that will unfold between now and Sunday evening that could possibly stretch into another day.

U.S. Open Television Coverage

(All times ET)

* NOTE: A playoff for the 109th United States Open Championship will be conducted starting at noon Monday, June 22. ESPN will broadcast starting at 12 noon. NBC will begin its coverage at 2:00 p.m. until conclusion.