Some interesting tidbits leading up to the U.S. Open

— Tuesday was the day before the day before the U.S. Open golf tournament begins at Chambers Bay here, and, as always, it came with some interesting tidbits.

— The U.S. Golf Assn. said that it makes very little profit on the general operation of its showcase event.

“Expenses are just too high,” said Mike Davis, USGA executive director.

But do not send contributions in envelopes. What it fails to make in tickets, T-shirt sales and hot dogs, it makes up in TV rights fees. This year, Fox took over broadcasting the tournament and Davis said that his organization operates on about a $200-million annual budget. That money is pumped back into the game, he said.

— Tiger Woods said that his most recent swing change was now in its final refinement stage and he feels ready to play and ready to challenge. He has said that now 437 times in the last seven years, ever since he limped around Torrey Pines and then smashed into a fire hydrant.

— The USGA now has technology that weekend players can put in their pocket and carry as they play. Eventually, this technology will show all the places golfers almost never end up going on a golf course and thereby showing places where course operators will no longer have to water.

— From Davis, a sentence you thought you’d never hear from the USGA: “You can say we have here a U.S. national championship course that is hard and bumpy like the British Open, and that’s great.”

bill.dwyre@latimes.com