Driving past yesterday when I arrived back home in Scotland, there was something that shocked and excited me at the same time. The only green grass to be seen was on the greens and, even then, there wasn't too much of it.
I don't think I remember seeing a golf course so burnt up since watching and his 2-iron win at a few years ago. My initial reaction was shock, but the excitement soon followed.
This is what golf, especially links golf, is all about. Firm, fast fairways that can send your ball any direction they feel like, approach shots that have to be landed 20 yards or more short of the green, and chip shots that never really leave the ground.
This type of golf is something that you almost never see while playing in the States on the . You can pretty much guarantee that every week is going to be similar, with perfectly manicured fairways and greens - and thick, heavy rough all the way up to the side of the green that swallows up your ball.
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Congratulations have to go out to .
He played brilliantly on Sunday and managed to survive longer than everyone else on a course that was taking chunks out of the top players in the world right from the start.
There are times when I watch golf on TV and think it looks fun and wish I was there. Last Sunday at Pebble Beach was not one of those days; it looked brutal!
A few of the hole set-ups looked a little questionable (17 in particular, with only seven players hitting the green on Sunday) but, overall, it seemed like the course was superb with good shots being rewarded and bad ones being severely punished.
It's always great to see Europeans doing well over here, especially when they are Brits, and seeing three wins in a row on the PGA Tour is very encouraging in a year.
I just wish there were more saltires being seen at the top of the leaderboards. Hopefully I'll get one up there in the near future!
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The US Open was the first major that I ever played in back in 2007 at and I remember how excited I was when I qualified while playing on the Nationwide Tour.
The was regarded as the toughest test of them all, if at times an overly extreme one, and I was going to get to see how I fared.
I did not know at the time that I was headed for not only the hardest major but it was also around probably the most difficult course the US Open is played on.
The greens were firmer, faster and had more slope than I have ever seen, the rough so thick if you missed the fairway by two yards you needed a full swing (aiming sideways) to get the ball back on the fairway and we had a par three that played over 300 yards one day!
Let's just say, I realised immediately why players say they need a week off to recover after playing this tournament. However, I absolutely loved it.
Unfortunately, I missed too many fairways that week which then goes hand in hand with missing the cut, but I will always remember my week at Oakmont and the crowds that were bigger for practice rounds than I had ever seen before on a Sunday.
I am glad I got to experience playing in a US Open with the course set up bordering on unplayable, since that was the last year that the USGA really got fiendish like that.
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I was born and bred in Glasgow, but now I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and make my living on the US PGA Tour.
I won my maiden Tour event in October 2009 - the first Scot to do so on US soil since Sandy Lyle won the Masters in 1988.
I want to win again and play in this year's Ryder Cup, so I'll be letting you know how I'm going about it, as well as providing you a behind the scenes look at the PGA Tour.
