U.S. OPEN Woods prepares to defend title in golf's toughest test

A win at the 103rd U.S. Open would put the PGA superstar in elite company.
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (AP) -- The U.S. Open was supposed to be the one major championship that gave Tiger Woods fits.
He didn't drive the ball straight enough. He couldn't handle the rough.
He played too aggressively, turning attempts at birdie into bogey or worse.
Sure, Woods manhandled Augusta National to win by a record 12 strokes in 1997. But he chopped it around Congressional that summer and at Olympic Club the following year, both times finishing 10 strokes out of the lead. Just look at him now.
One of the best
Woods not only is the defending champion in the 103rd U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, he is on the verge of becoming one of the most dominant players in golf's toughest test.
A victory on the 80-year-old course south of Chicago would be his third U.S. Open title in four years and put him in elite company. Only Ben Hogan and Willie Anderson won the national open so many times in such a short span.
"I think it's everyone's hardest test," Woods said. "You have to drive the ball well there. You have to hit your irons well and you have to make a lot of 8-footers for par. It's the most physical and mental test we play. There's so much stress on every shot."
Hogan is defined by the U.S. Open. He won in 1950 after a near-fatal car accident, repeated in 1951 and won his fourth title in 1953. Anderson also won four U.S. Opens, and he is the only player to win three in a row (1903-05).
Clearly, Woods is capable on any course, at any tournament.
He already is the youngest of five players to have won the career Grand Slam -- scoring records at all four of the majors, no less -- and he is the only player to win four professional majors in a row.
His mystique often is linked to Augusta National, where he has won three green jackets.
But when his swing is pure and the putts are falling, is Woods tougher to beat at the Masters or the U.S. Open?
"Probably the U.S. Open," Woods replied. "If you're hitting the ball well, you can really separate yourself."
He proved that in both his U.S. Open victories.
Setting records
Pebble Beach in 2000 was the most mesmerizing performance in history.
Woods shot par or better all four days, became the first player to finish in double digits under par, and won by 15 shots, the most in major championship history.
Last year at Bethpage Black, he made two meaningless bogeys on the final three holes and still won by three shots. That made Woods the only player to twice win wire to wire.
So why all the worry five years ago?
Woods was wild off the tee and never knew how far he was hitting his irons. That's why he overhauled his swing, a process that took 18 months and paid huge dividends.
"I was trying to play the correct shot, but I couldn't play it at the time," Woods said of his early U.S. Opens. "My mental approach hasn't changed. It wasn't that I was too aggressive. I just couldn't play the shot. That's why I changed my swing, to be more consistent."