European Tour Insider: U.S. Open drought; Wood opts out

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Can Lee Westwood continue his success this week at Pebble Beach and end a 40-year-long drought for the Europeans?

Forty years. That's how long it's been since a European won the U.S. Open.

Colin Montgomerie has come close on three occasions, and arguably should have won as recently as 2006.

Miguel Angel Jimenez came close the last time the U.S. Open was played at Pebble Beach. That is, if finishing second 15 strokes behind Tiger Woods is close.

But it's hard to believe that the majority of Europeans chasing the big prize in California this week were not even born when Tony Jacklin raced to victory at Hazeltine National.

THE 59 SOUND: There are 59 European Tour members playing this week at Pebble Beach, a new record for the year's second major.

With victories stateside already this year for Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose (though he's not at the event this week), and Lee Westwood on Sunday, hopes are particularly high of ending the long, long wait for European success.

Factor in the form of Luke Donald, Robert Karlsson and Brian Davis, and there's plenty of reason for optimism.

Eleven of the Tour members will be making their debut in the event, including Madeira Islands Open champion James Morrison whose priority was more about maintaining his playing rights when the 2010 season began. He followed his win with a second place in Spain and then won the qualifying event at Walton Heath.

The 25-year-old's no stranger to the United States, having been a student at the University of South Carolina. However, he only lasted a year, and failed to earn a place on the golf team, so it was back to the drawing board via amateur golf in England.

A six-month trip to Australia transformed his game, and he turned pro in 2006. Morrison is a late developer, but a confident player who's likely to enjoy the challenge of playing this week's iconic course.

Rafael Cabrera Bello of Spain and the Finn Mikko Ilonen are two others who will surely win again on the European Tour and aim to relish their first U.S. Open visits.

RHYS RISING: The exceptional year already being enjoyed by East Tennessee State graduate Rhys Davies goes up another notch with his visit to Pebble Beach. Not that it's a first time to play the tournament, though. He qualified for Oakmont and admits to being more than a little star-struck.

Yet after climbing into the world's top 50, having won in Morocco and finished second on three other occasions, the superb putter is relishing this chance.

"Now I don't see them as stars," he says "but fellow competitors and people I'm trying to play against and beat."

BJORN AGAIN: Thomas Bjorn has played the U.S. Open 11 times. He hopes to one day make it a dozen, and he's moving in the right direction after a long time in the wilderness. He cites qualifying for next month's Open Championship as one of the reasons for his success last week at the Estoril Open de Portugal.

It was his first win in four trying years during which he slumped outside the world's top 200. Qualifying at Sunningdale gave him the lift he needed.

"Thirty-six holes in one day when you're trying to shoot numbers was crucial for me," the Dane said. "I did the right things when I needed to, and that gave me the belief I could come in here, and things weren't going to go wrong."

MOUNTAIN WOOD: Chris Wood opted not to play the U.S. Open qualifier at Walton Heath, taking his manager Chubby Chandler's advice to concentrate on playing in Europe.

He's had some high-profile rounds, including leading into the last day at the BMW PGA Championship, and there'll surely be more to follow. In order to stay fresh for the big events to come, he's taking this week off and going mountain biking.

Wood will be riding with friends, having bought a new bicycle, and reckons he'll be going "steady on the downhills, but you can hammer it uphill.

"I'm just getting back into it," Wood says. "Chubby said I need to find something different to golf when I'm at home -- apart from my girlfriend which takes up plenty of time. Something like that means I can't think about golf at all. I'm really looking for to it."

ALARM COLES: A fellow English player, Robert Coles, gets a buzz from something else portable. As a diabetic, he has an insulin pump on his belt which kicks in every hour.

"I had a four-foot putt and it vibrated on my back swing, and I shoved it right," he smilingly complained. "The pump is brilliant, but it doesn't always help. You don't want anyone's phone going, but I've got something on my belt that keeps buzzing."