Welcome to the 2010 United States Wide Open from Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.

This could just very well be one of the more epic U.S. Opens of all-time, what with the venue and talent level that is on hand for the season's second major. With all the variables mixed in, it also could bring us a rogue winner as well.

It literally is that wide open.

The Pebble Beach Golf Links that the PGA Tour played during the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am back in February was nothing like what the field will experience in first-round action Thursday. When the tour was in town five months ago, it was for the sixth event of the season and part of the West Coast swing. Doesn't that seem like eons ago? In addition to Pebble Beach, the AT&T uses Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Spyglass Hill Golf Club in its rotation over four days of competition. Wet weather is seemingly always a factor.

Not this week.

This week it is all Pebble Beach, all the time, under dramatically different atmospheric conditions.

In February, the idea at the AT&T was to go low. This week, it will be interesting to see how the USGA decides to protect par on a golf course that will seem both familiar and unknown.

THE FIELD
I have always stated that in regards to Tiger Woods and major championship golf that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, of any conversation. Now, I'm not even sure if he'll win an event this season, much less a major, such is the state of his game.

With that said, what Tiger did off the course has certainly brought so many more players into the mix, especially at this venue, where you don't have to be someone who bombs it eight miles in the air to take advantage of the golf course.

And in case you haven't noticed, the "Young Guns," a group of players under 30, seem better prepared and more fearless than ever before. It's funny that Tiger created this monster with younger players getting more reps, using better equipment, paying more attention to fitness and nutrition, and receiving better instruction. Now, he seems ill-prepared to deal with the onslaught of outstanding young talent that is coming at him at alarming speed.

Is talent or experience more important? How many times have you or I "played" Pebble in some simulated form? If Ryo Ishikawa can post the first 58 ever shot in a Tour event to win overseas and Rory McIlroy can shoot a final round 62 (on the same weekend, no less) to win at Quail Hollow, does it matter that Ryo is 18-years old and Rory is 21?

Right now, at this event/venue, would you take Tiger and Phil or Ryo and Rory? How important is it that the "Young Guns" in the field don't carry the same baggage that Tiger (accumulating since Thanksgiving '09) and Phil (five second-place finishes in the U.S. Open) carry? The variables are what makes this game so fascinating.

TEE TIMES
The USGA always does an outstanding job with the groupings for the first two days of the US Open and this year is no exception.

The World Cup Groups off the first tee at 9:22 a.m., 9:33 a.m. and 9:44 a.m. include; Toru Taniguchi (Japan), Soren Hansen (Denmark), Edoardo Molinari (Italy), followed by Francesco Molinari (Italy), Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) and Hiroyuki Fujita (Japan), then Tim Clark (South Africa), KJ Choi (Korea) and Mike Weir (Canada)

Home away from Home group, 9:55 a.m. Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby from Australia

The Good Ole Southern Boys group, 10:06 a.m. Matt Kuchar, Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank

One-hit Wonders group, British Open version, 3:03 p.m. David Duval, Tom Lehman and Ben Curtis

Best Players yet to win a Major group, 3:14 p.m. Sergio Garcia, Steve Stricker and Paul Casey

Up Close Group, 3:36 p.m. Lee Westwood, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods

US Open Winners group, 9:44 a.m. off the 10th tee, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Angel Cabrera

Major Champions All group, 10:06 a.m., 10th tee, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Y.E. Yang

Old and New group, 3:47 p.m. Ryo Ishikawa, Rory McIlroy and Tom Watson

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