US Open / Bill Elliott / 14 June 2008 /

Bill Elliott tells us how Torrey Pines is playing this week and highlights the fact that imaginative golf will be rewarded. Woods is in the driving seat but will his knee hold up?

It's official: Tiger Eldrick Woods is not from this planet.

Nine weeks away from competitive golf, following surgery on his left knee and visibly wincing now and then at Torrey Pines, he is hopping from birdie to eagle to par and back again in this US Open. Would you believe it? The other question is, I suppose, when will I ever learn?

He has not yet won it of course but with two rounds to go who can bet against him. This is a statement, not a question.

Probably the biggest favour he has been handed this week in California was the USGA's decision to form a marquee group of him, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott. The Aussie world number three does not figure much on the Woods radar but Mickelson does. Oh yes. Whatever else Woods was going to do this week he was not going to be outscored by smiley Phil.

And so it has proved to this point. Mickelson left his driver out of his bag - some cunning plan, eh? - and Tiger has used his big stick to beat his arch-rival over the head. Motivation never has been a problem for Woods but occasionally he needs something to get himself really fired up and Mickelson is that red flag to Tiger's bull this week.

Having stomped all over Mickelson, it only requires victory tomorrow night - actually about 3am on Monday, London time - for Woods to secure the most significant major victory since he marched to his first at the Masters eleven years ago. If he does win his third US Open and his 14th major this weekend, then his total domination of everyone else will be secured for at least another couple of years.

He disappointed me, a lot of others and certainly himself when he failed to win the first leg of his proposed Grand Slam at Augusta three months ago. He also failed to tell anyone that his left knee was giving him increasing gyp at the time. We shouldn't be surprised for Woods never, ever admits to any weakness.

But now we know and what we know is that this left knee threatens his career. This is the third op he has had on it in the last several years and it is only going to get worse. Whatever else Tiger Woods does, he is surely not going to be playing big-time golf in six or seven years time. This, of course, only adds yet more urgency to the time he has left if he is to overtake Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 majors.

Meanwhile, get set for a roller-coaster ride over the next 48 hours. Torrey Pines is a brilliant venue for this US Open and the way it has been set up by the USGA does these blokes real credit. Yes, it can be penal but the rough is not daft and the opportunity is there for a careful and imaginative player to score very well indeed. We're not talking many shots under par here but we are talking under par which is pleasantly shocking for a US Open.

Two holes may now dictate what happens ultimately. The 14th, a 435 yard par four, may have 80 yards shaved off it for the last round so that it becomes vaguely accessible off the tee while the 18th, a par five guarded by a parge pond, offers risk-reward. This means that over the last few holes any player within reasonable distance of the green can make up two, possibly, three strokes on any leader.

It will take cojones and it will take luck. Tiger, despite what you may think, is not the only player to possess these qualities. Even the stupid money now says he will win but, you know, there just might be a chance of this not happening. Especially if that knee pain really does kick in. Anyone know what an alien knee looks like?

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