U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club

The U.S. Open returns to Oakmont Country Club, outside Pittsburgh, this year. The golf course is being touted as perhaps the most difficult Open course ever. It's been extended to 7,230 yards and features the longest par-3 in majors' history, at 288 yards.

Perhaps the biggest visual difference is the removal of more than 5,000 trees that lined the holes in the 1994 Open. The course was originally built in 1903 to resemble the barren links course in Scotland, and, for 2007, the course was restored to its original form.

The early story is Phil Mickelson, who hopes to rebound from his 72nd-hole collapse a year ago at Winged Foot, but a wrist injury is preventing him from much practice early this week.

Here's a look at the course and some of the action and players early in the week at Oakmont.