In the 19 years in which he played in the U.S. Open, Scott Simpson was no ordinary participant. He won the 1987 championship at Olympic Club, lost in an 18-hole playoff to the late Payne Stewart at Hazeltine in 1991, missed the cut only twice and posted 14 rounds in the 60s, a number exceeded by only seven players, a few of whom are Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer.

A player of modest ability with a monk's temperament who won a respectable seven times in 26 years on the PGA Tour, Simpson was transformed into a snarling tiger during U.S. Open week. He became known as the quintessential Open player, a guy who drove it straight, stayed out of the rough and didn't make a lot of bogeys. Wherever the championship was held, from San Francisco to Oakmont, there was Scott Simpson's name, almost always on the leaderboard.

"It played into my strengths," Simpson said. "I did everything well, nothing outstanding. I always hit it straight, I was a good iron player and had a good short game. I was always good when par really meant something."

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Facts & figures

Information that might add to your viewing of this week's U.S. Open:

What: The U.S. Open, the second major of the season.

When: Thursday-Sunday.

Where: South Course at Torrey Pines, San Diego, 7,643 yards, par 71. It is only the second public course to host the Open. FYI: It costs $42 for San Diego residents to play during the week, and $145 for visitors.

Cut: Top 60 and ties, and anyone within 10 strokes of the lead after 36 holes.

Field: 156 players, including nine amateurs.

2007 winner: Angel Cabrera.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 1-3 p.m., ESPN; 3-5 p.m., WPXI; 5-10 p.m., ESPN; Saturday, 4-10 p.m., WPXI; Sunday, 3-9 p.m., WPXI.

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Simpson, 52, no longer competes in the U.S. Open, limiting his major championships to the Champions Tour. Unlike Mark O'Meara, another Champions Tour player, he opted not to qualify for the U.S. Open, even though the tournament, which begins Thursday, is being staged for the first time at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., near San Diego, Simpson's hometown.

As a footnote, Simpson is one of three San Diego natives to win a U.S. Open, along with Gene Littler and Billy Casper. Also, his last PGA Tour victory, the 1998 Buick Invitational, was played at Torrey Pines.

Of course, the Torrey Pines that is used to host the Buick Invitational in February -- the course on which Tiger Woods has won five times -- will bear little resemblance to the Torrey Pines that will be toughened, hardened and traumatized for the U.S. Open, once the United States Golf Association is done with it.

"Let me put it this way -- there will be no similarities," said Greensburg native Rocco Mediate, a five-time PGA Tour winner who will be appearing in his 13th U.S. Open. "None."

"The game has changed, it has a changed a lot with equipment, but at the same time the U.S. Open puts more of a premium on accuracy than any other tournament," Simpson was saying the other day on the phone. "I think Torrey Pines will be a great one. They can stretch it out to 7,600 yards if they want, but it will be plenty long enough. And the greens will definitely be harder and faster.

"I think it will change pretty dramatically. This time of year, they'll get what we call the June Gloom, with the fog and the overcast, but the course will still play quicker."

Because there are few tree-lined holes and even fewer doglegs at Torrey Pines, normal U.S. Open strategy could be displaced with a home-run mentality to combat the listed length (7,643 yards, par 71), putting the driver almost exclusively in the hands of most of the players, perhaps even Woods, who is making his first appearance since having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee two days after the Masters.

Woods' layoff has cast a different light on the U.S. Open. Even though he has finished second or better in six of the last seven majors, and has won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines five of the past six years, it seems inconceivable that he might not even be considered the favorite to win the national championship.

Count Simpson among those who think Phil Mickelson, a San Diego native who is coming off a victory at the Colonial (his second in '08), is the choice to win his first U.S. Open. Mickelson has finished second four times, tying a U.S. Open record, the most recent being his final-hole collapse at Winged Foot in 2006.

But he grew up playing Torrey Pines and even won the Buick Invitational there back-to-back years (2000-01).

"I would think it's Mickelson's time," Simpson said. "His putting is coming around and he's hitting it well. He would be my favorite. But how do you ever go against Tiger?"

Curiously, it was Mickelson who was battling health issues heading into last year's U.S. Open, having injured his wrist practicing shots from the heavy rough at Oakmont several weeks before the championship. Mickelson missed the cut at Oakmont, playing with a protective wrap on his wrist.

This year, the questions surround Woods. He has not played in a competitive event since the surgery, which cleaned up some loose particles in his knee. What's more, the procedure was on his left knee, which his swing coach, Hank Haney, said is the more important of the two in the golf swing.

"I know he's preparing as hard as he can physically that will allow him to be ready for the U.S. Open," Mickelson said last week at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio. "And his 80 percent is still pretty darn good. So I've got to be ready. I've got to get my game ready and that's kind of what I'm worried about. And I think the same thing with the other guys."

Mickelson, the world's No. 2 player, will get to find out firsthand how well Woods can perform after the layoff. He and Adam Scott are paired with the world's No. 1 player for each of the first two rounds, creating an early showdown at the U.S. Open that can hopefully carry into the weekend.

"I'm excited," Mickelson said. "I am starting to play well. I feel better than I've ever felt. I've got no more issues with my hands or anything. I feel great. I've had a year now to work on the swing changes with Butch [Harmon]. Those feel very comfortable. I expect a lot out of this summer. I think it could be a very good one."

It could start right at home.