It's not the same Tiger Woods, either.

Woods has never gone this long without seeing a major championship course he had played before.

He showed up a week ago for his first look, and was back from the weekend to get reacquainted with a course that has gone through an extensive restoration first on display in the 2014 U.S Open. Woods missed that one recovering from the first of four back surgeries.

What hasn't changed is the nature of the U.S Open.

"This golf course is going to test every single aspect of your game, especially mentally, and just the mental discipline that it takes to play this particular golf course. It's going to take a lot," Woods said on Tuesday after a third straight day of playing nine holes.

This is his first U.S Open since Winged Foot in 2020.

Tiger played alongside Perth's Min Woo Lee during Tuesday's practice round. PHOTO: Getty Images.

He has practised. He has chipped and putted. Woods just doesn't play very much, courtesy of a 48-year-old body wracked by injuries – five back surgeries, four knee surgeries, and those were before his February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles that shattered his right leg and ankle.

This will be only his 10th tournament since that accident, and it's the first time since 2020 that he has played three straight majors. And so, it's a matter of needing more repetition, and more competition, but not having a body that allows for that.

What to expect this week?

"I feel like I have the strength to be able to do it," he said. "It's just a matter of doing it."

Woods spent Tuesday morning with Max Homa and Australia's Min Woo Lee, with 15-year-old son Charlie along for the ride. More than just a spectator, Woods said Charlie knows his game as well as anyone and can serve as an extra set of eyes.

"He gave me a couple little side bits today, which was great, because I get so entrenched in hitting certain putts to certain pins, I tend to forget some of the things I'm working on,” Woods said.

– Doug Ferguson