When On His Game, It’s His Tournament : U.S. Open: Curtis Strange has hit the kinds of shots that have won the tournament twice, but not for almost two years.

Last year, Curtis Strange went to the U.S. Open golf tournament at Medinah Country Club, near Chicago, with great expectations.

He was trying to win a third consecutive Open championship, which hadn’t been accomplished since Willie Anderson, from 1903 to 1905.

There was pressure, but Strange was only two strokes off the lead after three rounds. He faltered on the final day, shooting a 75, and Hale Irwin went on to win the tournament in a 19-hole playoff with Mike Donald.

Strange hasn’t won a tournament since the 1989 Open at Rochester, N.Y. An intense competitor, he said he just hasn’t been playing well this year.

He wasn’t specific about what phase of his game is betraying him, and he isn’t brimming with confidence now, either.

“I don’t know if I expect to do well,” Strange said of the impending Open. “I don’t know what to expect.”

Hazeltine National Golf Club is a typical Open course, with tight fairways, fast greens and forbidding rough.

The course has been almost completely redone since the Open was last held here in 1970. That year Hazeltine was criticized by many of the pros, most notably Dave Hill, who dismissed the layout as a cow pasture.

Asked what it would take to win, Strange said: “You have to do everything well, and then there are the intangibles. You have to think well, be patient and have plenty of guts. The guy who wins here this week will do those things the best.”

Strange ranks 19th on the money list this year, having earned $326,897. For some, that would be a good season so far, but not for Strange, who wants to win another major tournament.

Asked to describe the pressure on him now, compared to when he was a two-time defending Open champion, Strange said:

“There’s obviously a big difference. In one way, it’s nice to sit back and do your own thing. But it was a lot of fun last year, trying to do something that hasn’t been done in a lot of years.”

A precise player, Strange said his game is suited to U.S. Open courses, if he is playing well. He’s just waiting to play well.

Strange said there is no way to compare an Open course to Augusta National, where the Masters is held every year.

“They are at both ends of the spectrum, he said. “Augusta National is a wide-open course that favors long hitters. An Open course, such as this, demands accuracy.”

So who would Strange favor in the 91st U.S. Open that begins Thursday? “Hale (Irwin) has been playing awfully well and should be on the top of my list,” Strange said. “I think Nick Faldo will do well and Corey Pavin has the game.”

He also cited a relative newcomer, Billy Andrade, who has won the past two PGA tournaments, the Kemper Open and Buick Classic, beating such formidable opposition as Irwin and Spain’s Seve Ballesteros.

“He’s a gutsy little player (5 feet 8, 155 pounds),” Strange said. “He’s a straight hitter and doesn’t lack confidence. I think you will see a lot of him.”

Strange ranks the U.S Open in importance above all other tournaments. Having won it twice, he said, motivates him even more.

In contrast to 1970, Hazeltine is getting rave reviews. Weather so far is not a factor with temperatures in the 80s and minimal wind.

“It’s an excellent course and will be a good test, especially if we get some wind, “ Strange said.

Said Rocco Mediate: “I don’t think anybody is going to say one thing bad about this course. I don’t know what this course was like 21 years ago, but those guys had no business saying those things.”

Lanny Wadkins: “It’s everything an Open course is supposed to be. It’s fair and in perfect condition.”

Pavin: “I don’t see it favoring any kind of player. You’re going to have to keep the ball in the fairway, knock it on the green and putt well. I don’t see anything out there that’s going to have someone’s name on it.”

Ballesteros: “The course is very difficult, especially the last three holes. It’s a great, challenging course, and I think it is set up the way it should be. It’s fair.”

Of course, those comments could be retracted quickly if the wind blows and the scores soar as they did in 1970, when Britain’s Tony Jacklin was the only player who shot under par for the tournament.

Ballesteros went more than a year without a winning a tournament. Some people even opined that the three-time British Open and two-time Masters winner was no longer a factor at 34. In his past three tournaments, Ballesteros has won the PGA Championship, Dunhill British Masters and an event in Japan, besides having lost the Spanish Open in a playoff.

Ballesteros has missed the cut twice, been disqualified another time and finished 30th or worse on five occasions in 13 U.S. Opens. His highest finish was third in 1987.