By the time the U.S. Open returns to Oakmont in 2016, Tiger Woods will, in all likelihood, already have eclipsed Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships. After all, he needs only five more to surpass the Golden Bear, and that is not counting what might happen today at the Black Course in Bethpage State Park.

That is a safer bet than wondering if Woods, who will be 40 when the U.S. Open returns to Western Pennsylvania, will still be the No. 1 player in the world.

Woods has been the top-ranked player in the world for the past 210 weeks, even though he missed at least half of the 2008 season because of knee surgery following his U.S. Open playoff victory. Since turning professional in 1997, Woods has been the No. 1-ranked player in the world for 552 weeks overall. He has been knocked from that lofty perch only twice -- by David Duval for 15 weeks in 1999 and Vijay Singh for 32 weeks in 2004-2005.

Still, thinking Woods will be the top player in the world in seven more years, despite his superb physical conditioning, likely is as whimsical as thinking Oakmont will flatten its greens and slow the putting surfaces for the U.S. Open. Granted, there is no reason to think he won't be capable of winning in 2016 at Oakmont. Nicklaus won two of his 18 majors after he turned 40 -- the 1980 U.S. Open and the 1986 Masters.

Who, then, will be golf's most dominant player when the U.S. Open returns to Western Pennsylvania after a nine-year absence? Here is a look at some early candidates:

• Rory McIlroy. Ireland's 19-year-old sensation already has won a professional tournament and is the youngest player to be ranked No. 18 in the world.

• Michael Sim. This 24-year-old Australian already is dominating the Nationwide Tour, winning twice and earning $388,117 in nine events, $135,000 more than the No. 2 player on the money list.

• Jason Day. Another Australian with tremendous physical talent. He is only 21.

• Camilo Villegas. He was one of several players who flourished last year after Woods was injured, winning twice during the FedEx Cup playoffs and finishing third in another. He will be 34 in 2016, entering the prime of his career.

• Danny Lee. Only 18 and, like McIlroy, already has won a professional event. Became the youngest to win the U.S. Amateur in 2008, eclipsing Woods' record.

• Anthony Kim. Like Villegas, his career took off after Woods was injured last season, winning twice.

• Ryo Ishikawa. Japan's 17-year-old sensation won a pro event on the Japan Tour when he was 15 and is ranked No. 102 in the world.

• Sergio Garcia. Time, it seems, already has passed by this 29-year-old Spaniard, who has not won a major despite near-misses at the British Open and PGA.

Who was the most recent player to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles? Answer at end.

After he shot 81 and easily handled the challenge of breaking 100 at Bethpage Black, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger immediately thanked his caddie for talking him out of laying up several times during the course of the six-hour, 20-minute round.

His caddie was none other than Rocco Mediate, Greensburg native and five-time PGA Tour winner. Mediate knows a little something about nervy play, having pushed Woods to 91 holes in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines a year ago.

Mediate, who never had met Roethlisberger before their pairing in the recent U.S. Open Challenge, also had some advice for Roethlisberger when he was facing an uphill bunker shot from 155 yards on the final hole at Bethpage Black. He told him to "rip an 8-iron right at the flag," which he did, landing his approach 18 feet from the pin on the back tier.

But that wasn't all the advice.

"I said, 'Let me ask you a question, when you threw that last pass in the Super Bowl, were you thinking about technique or an area where to throw the ball?' " Mediate said. "He said an area. I said, 'There's your area, hit it over there.' There's no time for technique. It's golf. It's time to act and react."

Can we please be spared the repetitive and lame assessments offered by Michelle Wie after every round she plays, no matter how high her score, no matter how many tournaments she fails to win?

After finishing tied for 23rd in the LPGA Championship last week, Wie said basically the same thing she says after every outing, whether it is the LPGA Tour or another miserable attempt at playing on the PGA Tour: "I felt like I played great. I really don't think the score reflected my game. I feel like I did really well. I feel like I was really swinging well."

Five years ago, Wie was a 14-year-old prodigy who was hailed as the Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour, a player who could do great things and draw lots of attention to her sport. And maybe she still can.

But, keep in mind that most important statistic of Wie's fading career: She has won just one tournament -- ONE!! -- outside her native Hawaii, and that was 2003 U.S. Women's Public Links Championship.

Apparently, her scores are, indeed, reflective of her game.

• New Castle CC again will play host to an American Junior Golf Association event July 13-16. It is the second consecutive year New Castle will stage the AJGA tournament.

Curtis Strange won the U.S. Open in 1988 and 1989.