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WRALSportsFan

Monday Marks Official Start Of U.S. Open Week

Jun 13, 2005

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. — PINEHURST, N.C. -- After years of anticipation, the U.S. Open is finally taking over the greens at Pinehurst No. 2.

Watch WRAL's U.S. Open Preview Special: Course Of Champions at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Over the weekend, traffic at the Moore County airport picked up, with a third of the players flying in Sunday.

Practice began bright and early for them Monday morning, for some of the biggest names in golf, who will spend the next few days getting ready for Thursday's first tournament round.

On Monday, it did not take long for the crowds to gather to watch Tiger Woods practice. Word spread quickly that the golf star was on the green. In just a little under an hour, the crowd had grown from a few dozen spectators to hundreds.

The last time Pinehurst hosted the U.S. Open was 1999 when the late Payne Stewart picked up the victory.

More than 38,000 tickets have been sold for each day of the U.S. Open, including the practice rounds.

Security will be a lot different at this U.S. Open. In 1999, fans only needed tickets to get in to the event. Now, they can expect all sorts of security measures.

Hundreds of officers from more than 20 law enforcement agencies plan to patrol the grounds. They are using state-of-the-art cameras and bomb-sniffing dogs to inspect vehicles.

Crews also built an 11-mile fence around the perimeter of the course.