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All the latest reaction from the players in the Bethpage locker room ahead of the US Open which starts on Thursday.

Tiger Woods on returning to the site of his 2002 US Open triumph.

"I'm excited to be here. Obviously this golf course brings back some great memories for me. It's good to be back and I've enjoyed playing out here. The practice rounds have all been good and I'm really looking forward to Thursday. I like my chances in any Major."

Phil Mickleson (pictured) on the layout at Bethpage for this year's event.

"The set-up is perfect in that the fairway width is tough to hit but it's fair. I think the course is going to allow players to separate themselves who are playing well because they can recover."

Paul Casey on coming into the tournament as one of the in-form players.

"My golf has been great this year and I need to continue that run and keep putting in the hard work. We're getting into the meat of the season right now. Not that the beginning of the year hasn't counted for anything but with three Majors coming up in fairly quick succession, it's very important that I continue to play that good golf."

Rory McIlroy on the prospect of playing in his first US Open.

"I've never really experienced anything like this before. So I could say to myself top-20 finish will be great but I don't want to just finish in the top 20. I want to try and do better than that. It's all new for me still. So I don't quite know what to expect when Thursday comes or what way the golf course will be set up. But if I can go out and play the way I know I can, I know I'm able to shoot under par on this golf course."

Luke Donald on returning to the site of his first ever US Open

"It was my first US Open and I had good memories here, played pretty nicely, actually," Donald said today. I think I was second in total birdies for the week so I had a good week. I made too many mistakes, obviously, but with nine holes to play I was top five or something and made a few bogeys coming in but it was quite a solid 18th place finish. The last time here was a long time ago but if I play well this week I should have a good chance."

Martin Laird on being the only Scottish player playing in the event.

"Hopefully I can put up a good performance because I'm sure there'll be a lot of people in Scotland watching, not just to watch me but to watch the US Open and it will be good to have my name up there."

Sergio Garcia on the prospect of the playing in front of the famously passionate Bethpage crowd.

"I think we know that New York and New Yorkers are very passionate. I love New York. I love the people around here and I'm just looking forward to seeing where I can go this week."

Geoff Ogilvy on the sign at the first tee that says: "The Black Course is an extremely difficult golf course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers."

"This is probably the only golf course with a warning at the first tee. I've seen lots of rules written down on the first tees but I've never seen warnings. The greens are relatively puttable. The hard part is getting it to the green in regulation. Long and high is an advantage here for sure, because there are long shots you have to fly on the green and stop."

Jim Furyk on returning to a course where he missed the cut in 2002.

"I'm going in with a positive attitude because I know it's going to be set up different. I'm going to like the way it's set up. I've liked the (US Open) setups the last three years. It (2002) was a power-dominated US Open, which is very rare when you think about the history. Not being a power-oriented guy, I'm not going to sit here and whine about it because I think the US Open is more down my alley most times than not."

Masters champion Angel Cabrera on being partnered with Tiger Woods.

"I hope I can play the whole tournament with Tiger. Playing with the number one is the best... Can it make it harder for me? Well, I take it as a challenge. Of course, it gets a bit complicated with the movement of the people but I insist I'd love to play all the tournaments with him."

Padraig Harrington on how the crowd in New York might affect him.

"I generally have played very well in boisterous crowds. The more noise around the golf course, the better for me.It adds a buzz to the event where there's an ambient noise reverberating around the golf course, cheers and everything like that. It just makes it more exciting."

Kenny Perry on whether he will be able to get over the disappointment of his collapse at the Masters.

"I know I can do it. It's just I've got to rethink it a little bit when I'm coming down the last couple of holes and not get ahead of myself. But I look forward to the challenge."

South African James Kamte on playing nine practice holes with Tiger Woods.

"It was unbelievable. At first I was nervous and didn't want to play with him but I thought it would be a bit embarrassing to get a chance and then not use it. So I thought I would just play and see what happened, and I actually I played pretty well. It was a great experience."

Henrik Stenson on the challenges facing the field at Bethpage Black.

"Hard. Long. Wet. All the par fours that are long in numbers - if you don't hit the fairways, you're off straightaway. I don't know if one is going to play harder than the other. But I could give you a list of five or six instead of one."

Anthony Kim on gaining confidence from his turn as caddie for Justin Timberlake last week on the Open layout.

"I saw Justin Timberlake hit a shot out of the rough with a five-wood from 210 and a couple of skips and it stopped. You wouldn't see that at Oakmont or even at Torrey Pines. If you hit long irons or hybrids or whatever you have into the greens, the ball is holding."

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