"It's obviously going to be a lot of people out there watching them," USGA vice president Jim Hyler said. "But I think that's a positive. It adds excitement to it. At the end of the day, we think it's very special."

Beyond the circus, the real show could be Torrey Pines.

The city-owned golf course along the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean has been set up to encourage players to use as much brain as brawn. Even though it is the longest course in major championship history at 7,643 yards, the USGA has so many options on the tee boxes that it will not play that long.

The third hole could be either a 5-iron from 195 yards or a wedge from 142 yards. The 14th hole could play all the way back at 435 yards, or all the way forward at 277 yards, so close that players might be tempted to try to drive the green.

Even the 13th hole — about the only one getting any complaints, another U.S. Open rarity — features three tee boxes that will force players to lay up or allow them to take on an elevated green with a fairway metal.

And then there's the 18th.

Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition, persuaded the brass to leave it as a par 5 instead of changing it to a par 4. The hole is 573 yards, reachable in two shots for those who dare, but there is a pond guarding the left half of the green, and the bank in front of the green has been shaved, much like the ponds at Augusta National.

"It really makes you think," Masters champion Trevor Immelman said. "You've got to decide if you're going to for it or lay up. If you hit it over the back and get a bad lie, you can chip it in the water easily. It's going to be a fantastic finishing hole."

Imagine a U.S. Open being won with a birdie instead of a par or bogey, as was the case the last five years.

Not since Bobby Jones at Scioto in 1926 has a U.S. Open champion birdied the final hole to win by a shot. Of course, there's always a chance someone could make double bogey to lose by the same margin (think Mickelson and Winged Foot).

"We wanted to keep it the hardest championship in golf," Davis said. "But we wanted to introduce risk and reward, and widen the scoring opportunities. You'll have a chance to make birdies, but if you don't execute the shot, you can make bogeys or worse. We just want to get them thinking more."

They already are thinking, which has replaced the U.S. Open tradition of griping.

All anyone has heard this week is praise.

"I like the golf course — really like it," British Open champion Padraig Harrington said. "It's a good, stern test, but it seems very, very fair. From what I've heard, everybody is very pleased with the course, which may be a little disappointing. It's always nice when about half the field gives out about it. It looks like it's going to be a good tournament."

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