BETHESDA, Md. — Tiger Woods is a couple thousand miles away nursing his injured left knee and Achilles tendon.
phil mickelson’s form has not been sharp since he won in Houston back in April.
Luke Donald, the flavor of the month as the No. 1-ranked player in the revolving-door world rankings, and Lee Westwood, the player Donald displaced at No. 1 a couple weeks ago, are listed as the favorites by the bookmakers.
But does anyone really look at those two Brits, neither of whom has won a major yet, as odds-on picks to win the U.S. Open this week at treacherous Congressional?
The answer to that question is a resounding no. So who is the favorite to win this week?
“The course,” Westwood said, only half-joking.
Truer words have not been uttered around these grounds so far this week. Congressional, which at 7,574 yards is the second-longest U.S. Open layout in history behind only Torrey Pines in 2008, will be either the hero or the villain this week, depending on your perspective.
If you’re tuning in to see the best players in the world carding birdies and eagles you’re tuning into the wrong place.
If you’re looking forward to seeing the best players in the world battle for their sporting lives trying to make par, Congressional in a USGA set-up is your place.
The thick, lush rough is penal and the greens — even in yesterday’s practice round — look cruel and crispy and likely are to run at least a Monaco Grand Prix 14 on the Stimpmeter.
Mickelson, for one, is not a fan of what he’s seen of the designing tweaks made by Rees Jones at Congressional, calling it “monotonous” in its brute force and length.
“I’m not a big fan of the way [Jones] redesigned it,” Mickelson told The Post. “I’ve got to put that aside and find the best way to shoot a low score and know that I never have to play there again.
“It’s very monotonous and doesn’t reward good shot-making, doesn’t reward you for taking on a pin and being 15 feet by the hole, because your ball ends up being 50 feet away,” he said. “I’ve prepared to play very conservative — playing to 40 or 50 feet away from the pins because there’s no sense taking any risk. There’s no reward.
“I’ll have to get really sharp from 40 to 50 feet and have some great lag putting and hopefully make a few.”
Though critical of Jones, Mickelson is a big fan of the way USGA executive director Mike Davis has set the course up, saying the hard holes are brutal but the easier ones allow a player to get aggressive.
“That provides opportunities for birdies and bogeys so a good player has an opportunity to make up ground with pars on the lead,” Mickelson said.
U.S. Open defending champion Graeme McDowell said keeping approach shots below the hole will be crucial.
“You cannot go long on pretty much 90 percent of the greens here,” McDowell said. “If you hit it over these greens you’re making bogey at best. The bunkers are ... probably the most interesting part of the set-up this week. There’s a lot of sand in the traps and the balls are plugging a lot.
“The winning score is not going to be very far from level par,” McDowell said. “I don’t see anybody going crazy around here.”
The toughest stretch of holes is probably the 233-yard par-3 second hole, the 466-yard par-4 third hole and the 470-yard par-4 fourth. On the back nine, the 467-yard par-4 14th hole and the 490-yard par-4 15th loom with the most muscle.
“The USGA can make it play as hard or as easy as they want,” Jeff Overton said. “They have a lot of options. They usually like it to finish around par, but they can make it 7-over par if they want.”
mcannizzaro@nypost.com
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