SAN DIEGO, California (AFP) - Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are Torrey Pines' stars, so it's no surprise they're the favorites for the first US Open golf championship ever staged here.

Both expect the familiar landscape to spring plenty of surprises when the 108th US Open golf championship begins Thursday.

The course, perched on cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, received an extensive remodel in 2001 to make it worthy of hosting the Open.

It was lengthened - by some 500 yards - and will play at a whopping 7,643 and par-71.

Once again the US Golf Association will line the fairways with graduated rough, getting deeper the farther from the fairway.

The height of the rough may be relatively benign by US Open standards, but a mix of rye and kikuyu grasses will make for unpredictable lies.

"That's the tricky part," Woods said. "We can get lies in that first cut that sit up where literally you can hit driver off of it. But there are some patches where you're looking more sideways trying to get the ball back to the fairway."

Mickelson was delighted with what he saw in practice rounds.

"I think it's the best set-up I've ever seen for a US Open," he said.

Although Mickelson has seen nothing to change his view that Torrey Pines  is the hardest course in the country, he said its current guise would reward skill and imagination.

"What I love about this week is that short game will be a factor," he said. "A skillful player around the greens can get the ball close. I think that having short game be a factor is advantageous to me, gives me a better opportunity to get in contention for the weekend."

Certainly the course will play firmer, the greens faster, than in January, when the PGA Tour's Buick Invitational is held.

Woods and Mickelson have won the Buick nine times between them, but said the course in June will bear little resemblance to the one where Woods shot 19-under in an eight-stroke victory earlier this year.

"Some of the putts have a lot more swing at the end," Woods said. "They're rolling out a little bit more, up and over ridges.

"Like the putt I made this year on 11 (during the Buick), you couldn't make that putt right now. It's just too fast. A good putt would be almost to the front of the green.

"So you can't get away with shots like you did during the Buick."

The USGA underscored the promise of a Woods-Mickelson duel by pairing the superstars together in the first two rounds, along with world No.3 Adam Scott of Australia.

Scott, 27, is among nine players in their 20s with US tour victories this year and leads an Australian contingent that also includes 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.

For Woods, the most likely impediment to such a showdown appears to be his physical condition in the wake of an injury layoff of nearly nine weeks following post-Masters knee surgery.

Woods admitted Tuesday that his knee was still a bit sore, but he vowed to be ready come Thursday.

Defending champion Angel Cabrera is hoping he can sort out putting woes.

"I'm having a rough time on my putting right now," the Argentinian admitted Tuesday. "I have two putters, the one that I used last year at Oakmont and a new one. The one that feels best I'm going to play on Thursday."

Cabrera will be battling history as he tries to defend the title. The last repeat champion was Curtis Strange in 1989.

Nor has the US championship been kind to Europeans - the last European winner was Britain's Tony Jacklin in 1970.

Among those trying to end that drought will be British Open champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Spain's Sergio Garcia - who notched a confidence-building victory at the Players Championship in May.

Also among the European challengers is England's Luke Donald, who has twice finished runner-up at the Buick.

Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa will try to extend the run of international victories that started in 2004, with compatriot Retief Goosen's second US Open victory.

He, too, has had success at Torrey Pines, winning the US Amateur Public Links championship in 1998.

"The course has changed so much," Immelman said. "It was just so long ago.

"We all know it's a lot longer. The other major thing is that the greens are a lot more severe and undulating and there are a lot more plateaus on the greens," added Immelman, who said the course now favors long hitters.

"Make no mistake - this is a seriously difficult golf course, but it has been very fairly set up."