Golf:

OK, let’s get this out of the way now — there is no way Tiger Woods is going to top last year’s U.S. Open.

Nobody who even has a passing interest in the game knows that. The real question: Is the part-time Corona del Mar resident going to be only the third person since 1950 to repeat as U.S. Open Champion?

That by the way is this week’s trivia question. Who are those two golfers to win the U.S. Open in successive years? Keep reading for the answer.

Here is why I think Woods will accomplish the feat.

The U.S. Open is at Bethpage Black in Long Island, New York for the second time. It became the first municipal golf course to host a U.S. Open in 2002. The winner of the event, you guessed it, Tiger Woods.

The course favors Woods. It is long, measuring out at 7,445 yards, more than 200 yards longer than 2002. There are three par 4s that are more than 500 yards in length and the 16th hole is a 605-yard par 5.

“There are a lot of long par-4s,” Woods said. “I believe there’s three that are over 500 yards. That’s long. I remember growing up and a 420-yard hole was a long par-4. It’s amazing how golf has changed. But it’s just a number and just gotta go out there and obviously hit good shots.”

With recent rain the course is playing even longer, but Woods doesn’t think the United States Golf Assn. officials will utilize the full yardage every day.

“I will be curious to see how the USGA sets it up, how much they can move the tees around like they did last year,” Woods said. “Last year it supposedly was supposed to be the longest U.S. Open in history, but we never played it that long. Tees were mixed and matched. And you had to really think about what you were doing out there. I’m sure they’ll probably do the same thing this year with it being so wet.”

Not that Woods needs any more motivation in a major championship, but if he wins he will be the only Grand Slam winner to have captured all four majors in back-to-back years.

Woods also has the chance to become the first person to win 10 USGA championships. He won three U.S. Junior Amateurs, three U.S. Amateurs and three U.S. Opens.

To achieve those milestones, Woods knows what he must do in order to be successful.

“You have to have every facet of your game going,” he said. “You have to drive the ball well. You have to hit your irons well, and at most Opens, you know speed on the greens is usually an issue. Not this year, obviously, it being so wet and soft. But generally this is the hardest major we face year in, year out; narrowest fairways, highest rough.”

Driving the ball has often been an issue for Woods in recent majors, but he worked on a swing change before the Memorial Tournament and in the final round hit all 14 of the fairways en route to winning.

That was two weeks ago and Woods has been further encouraged by more recent practices.

“The whole idea of practicing this week was to make sure I became more comfortable on what we’re working on and more efficient at doing it,” Woods said. “I’ve had some good practice sessions at home, and my practice rounds here this week have been really good. I’m really looking forward to getting out there and competing and playing.”

Let me translate that last sentence. It means, “My game is totally on and the only one that can beat me this week is myself.”

Woods will win by four shots and will join Ben Hogan (1950 and 1951) and Curtis Strange (1989, 1989) to win consecutive U.S. Opens since World War II.