Reteif Goosen quietly confident of chances

Surprisingly underrated and often overlooked, twice champion Retief Goosen aims to do what he does best at this week's U.S. Open.

The shy South African, who won last year's title in brutal conditions at a sun-baked Shinnecock Hills, likes what he sees at Pinehurst and plans to go quietly about his business when he launches his title defence on Thursday.

"The greens are in perfect condition out here, and they're going to be hard and fast," the 36-year-old popularly known as 'The Goose' told a news conference on Tuesday.

"I see the greens to be quite similar to Shinnecock by the time we get to the weekend, unless we get lots of rain.

"They are in great shape and, if you putt well this week, the ball will stay on line."

Ominously for his rivals, world number five Goosen is one of the best putters in the business and known for producing red-hot runs of form on the greens.

U.S. Open champion for the first time at Southern Hills in 2001, Goosen won last year's tournament after needing only 11 putts over the final nine holes.

In all, he took 24 putts in a closing one-over-par 71 as he held off Phil Mickelson by two shots.

The smooth-swinging South African possesses two other attributes that are highly prized at U.S. Opens, extreme patience and a strong mind.

U.S. Opens, by and large, are played in gruelling conditions and the ability to grind out a score becomes paramount.

"The U.S. Open is all about patience," said Goosen. "It's difficult to get out there and make six birdies in a row. Six pars in a row is pretty good around a course like this.

"I think patience is going to have a lot to do with it, very good course management.

"The way these greens are, if you can hit in the middle of the green every hole, you'll be great. You can't go at any of the flags on most of these greens."

An introvert by nature but widely viewed by his peers as the forgotten fifth member of the so-called 'Big Four' of Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Mickelson, Goosen seems to thrive on difficult golf courses.

His closing 71 last year was achieved when the field produced an average score of 78.7.

"I like the tougher golf courses where you have to grind out a little bit more, work hard for a par," he said. "I prefer this type of golf really to a golf course that you know you need to shoot 26 under par to win.

"I think generally everybody sees the U.S. Open as being the toughest one to win and the toughest golf course to play on.

"Last year Shinnecock was tough. This week I think Pinehurst will be tougher than Shinnecock.

"I can't see that anything really below par could win this week if conditions stay the way they are now."

Goosen, who has been grouped with British Open winner Todd Hamilton and U.S. amateur champion Ryan Moore for the first two rounds, will launch his title defence on Thursday at 0755 Eastern Time (1155 GMT).