Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette photos
	Sergio Garcia tees off on No. 12 at Oakmont yesterday in a practice round for the U.S. Open. Garcia said Oakmont is the "toughest" course he has ever played. Click photo for larger image. Listen In: Garcia talks about Oakmont with the PG's Colin Dunlap.
	Jose Maria Olazabal told Sergio Garcia that Oakmont is playing much tougher than it was in 1994. Click photo for larger image.
	Camilo Villegas tees off on No. 12 yesterday at Oakmont. Click photo for larger image.

We have all heard the compliments showered upon Oakmont Country Club through the years.

Yesterday, after finishing a practice round and as he walked to his transportation for the week -- a courtesy Lexus sedan -- Sergio Garcia let the following fly when asked if that old track at the top of Hulton Road was the best he has seen this year:

"Definitely the toughest course I have ever played," Garcia said.

And that was after just nine holes. In the first day of official U.S. Open practice, Garcia played the back nine with fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal, Colombian Camilo Villegas and Tennessean Eric Axley, often hitting more than one ball off the tee and also putting a handful of balls on the greens in an attempt to get accustomed to the breaks.

From the looks of things, none of the four was able to come close to mastering those signature greens as more than a few times they would look, bewildered, at their caddie after a putt came to rest in an unintended locale.

Someone asked Garcia if Oakmont's greens lived up to their billing.

"Definitely, yeah," Garcia said of the greens that will roll somewhere between 13 and 13.5 on the Stimpmeter. "There was a lot of movement on them and they were very, very tricky."

The 1:47 p.m. tee time for Garcia, Villegas, Olazabal and Axley wasn't the most heavily spectated practice group yesterday. Not surprisingly, Tiger Woods' early morning group earned that distinction. But the Garcia foursome probably had the second-largest following.

The fact that Olazabal was in Garcia's foursome yesterday wasn't an accident. Garcia picked Olazabal's brain for information on Oakmont.

"He said the course has changed a lot from [1994]," Garcia said of Olazabal, who missed the cut the previous time Oakmont hosted the Open. "But, obviously, we were looking at it and he was telling me it was much tougher than it was in 1994."

Tough?

Just ask Olazabal. Or, better yet, try to ask Olazabal.

Olazabal, unlike Garcia, refused to be interviewed yesterday as he left the locker room toward the parking lot. Olazabal put his open palm up toward a reporter and quickly said "no" before the inquisitor could so much as finish requesting the interview.

Oakmont. It will do that to you.