Cameron Smith is licking his lips at the prospect of tackling Pinehurst No.2 and parlaying his obvious US Open potential into a second major championship crown.
Much has been made of how notoriously difficult the course in North Carolina is playing, but Smith sees the 7548-yard layout as more beauty than beast.
Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion and along with David Graham one of only two Australians to win golf's most testing major, believes Pinehurst No.2 is built for Smith and his masterful short game.
Smith hopes so too.
"I love it," the 2022 British Open champion told the Golf Channel ahead of his opening round on Thursday night (9.18pm AEST).
"First of all, it's like a lot of eye candy going on. It looks so sick.
"The greens are probably the best greens we've putted on I would say close to ever.
"And, yeah, the course is awesome, everything I hoped for."
Smith finished fourth last year after also sharing fourth on his US Open debut at Chambers Bay in 2015.
The Pinehurst greens have been described as igloos and turtle backs, and Smith sees similarities to what he calls the "upside down saucepans" to those at Chambers Bay.
"There's a lot of runoffs kind of similar to that," he said.
"Balls running off everywhere, so there's probably going to be a lot of putting this week off the greens.
"It's just more challenging. It's the US Open.
"You still have to hit the fairway. A lot of centres of the greens and a lot of two-putting.
"You don't want to be above or behind the ball."
Smith is among six Australians in the 156-man field.
He's joined by two-time runner-up Jason Day, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis and qualifier Jason Scrivener.
