* Sergio Garcia. Was just heckled seemingly all the time at Bethpage in 2002. An exceptional ball striker both from the tee box and from the field. A below average putter heading to a venue that demands a solid putting stroke. Still it only takes four days of rolling the rock to receive a lifetime of congrats.

* Angel Cabrera. The only player in 2009 who has a shot at the Grand Slam. Went out and won the Masters. A power player with a streaky putting stroke who if he gets it rolling early, will ride the wave all week long. Searching for his second US Open and his third major.

* Padraig Harrington. Been G-R-I-N-D-I-N-G on the range all season long to implement changes to his game. The changes may be there but the results have not been so far. Bethpage is long, narrow and if the weather forecasts are correct, wet and windy for at least the first two days. No doubt Harrington can grind with the best of them but his game has to be in sync to eke out a win.

This being the US Open, there will be other names that pop up here and there on the first page of the leader board or make a run on Thursday or Friday. It almost always happens at the US Open. But who would be who could be this year's Rocco Mediate? Well, when Rocco teed it up last year at Torrey Pines he was ranked 158th in the World Golf Rankings.

At No. 158 heading into this year's event at Bethpage Black is Thomas Bjorn of Denmark. He's not in the Open this year, but another of the "B's" who's also in the 150s in the WGR is in the mix at Bethpage. Matt Bettencourt, who held the 54-hole lead at Jack's place two weeks ago is ranked No. 152 in the world and just could turn that final round experience at The Memorial into something special at the Open.

The USGA always has a little bit of fun with the tee times come Open time. I picture a group from the competition committee sitting around, just as you would for your fantasy football league, throwing around ideas about who should be with whom in a group. Some of the gems from this year's pairing sheet:

* 8:06 am Thursday #1 tee: Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera. Woods won the '08 Open, Paddy the '08 British & '08 PGA, then Angel won the '09 Masters. Next?

* 8:17 am Thursday #1 tee: Ryan Moore, Ben Crane, Eric Axley. Three, how shall we say, very deliberate players following Tiger's group. Allows for a lot of space between.

*7:44 am Thursday #10 tee: Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Steve Stricker. Stenson and Karlsson are both from Sweden, Stricker looks like he could be from Sweden. Or is it that Strick is from Madison, Wisconsin and Stenson and Karlsson look like they could be from Stoughton?

* 7:55 am Thursday #10 tee: Geoff Ogilvy, Jim Furyk, Paul Casey. One member of this group does not have a US Open trophy at home...that they won.

* 8:17 am Thursday #10 tee: Andres Romero, Eduardo Romero, Miguel Angel Jimenez. Oh to be a Spanish fly on the wall if only for the bantering back and forth in this group.

*1:25 pm Thursday #1 tee: Sergio Garcia, Camilo Villegas, Adam Scott. This group is for the ladies.

* 1:47 pm Thursday #1 tee: Rocco Mediate, Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman. The all-almost-won-a-US Open group.

* 1:03 pm Thursday #10 tee: David Duval, David Toms, Darren Clarke. The 3-D group.

* 1:14 pm Thursday #10 tee: Anthony Kim, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson. The Young Guns Group

* 1:25 pm Thursday #10 tee: Soren Kjeldsen, Soren Hansen, Peter Hanson. The golfing foursome of Soren-Soren-Hansen & Hanson.

* 1:36 pm Thursday #10 tee: Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson. One member of this group doesn't own a US Open, while two members of this group have two and could easily share.

* 2:09 pm Thursday #10 tee: Thomas Levet, Jean-Francois Lucquin, Raphael Jacquelin. The French Fries, French Toast and French Onion soup group.
The only thing missing is Jean van de Velde.

The only thing certain in this the 109th playing of the United States Open at Bethpage Black is that the United States Golf Association is going to give every opportunity for Old Man Par to come out on top when all is said and done on Father's Day this Sunday.

There will not be many, if any, under par scores at this US Open, especially if the rains come early in the week and The Black plays all of its 7,400 plus yards. If Tiger is on, it's his to win. If not there is no one in the field who is a clear cut favorite, again, especially with the expected conditions on a demanding, challenging golf course with players under extreme pressure to perform. The three "Ps" are key this week; patience, persistence and pars will be the rule of the day, every day, Thursday through Sunday.

Add it all up and it should be a dandy from start to finish.