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Michael Campbell was a fan favorite on Monday. (Photo: Getty Images)
Michael Campbell was a fan favorite on Monday. (Photo: Getty Images)

Notebook: Winged Foot hosts Campbell's defense

The U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot Golf Club for the first time since 1984 as Michael Campbell will defend the title he won at Pinehurst last summer. Plus, Campbell is a come-from-behind champ, Oberholser kept his card clean, and more.

By PGA.com news services

MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Open, the year's second major championship of the season, returns to Winged Foot Golf Club's West Course for the first time since 1984. Michael Campbell will look to successfully defend the title he won at Pinehurst No. 2 a year ago on a course that has seen Bobby Jones (1929), Billy Casper (1959), Hale Irwin (1974) and Fuzzy Zoeller (1984) win Open titles.

Campbell fired a final-round, 1-under 69 a year ago to finish the tournament at even-par, two strokes ahead of Tiger Woods. It was the first time a player has won the Open at even-par since Lee Janzen in 1998 at the Olympic Club.

SO FAR THIS YEAR: Campbell, ranked 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is a non-PGA Tour member who has competed in five events this season. His best performance was a tie-for-fourth showing at the Mercedes Championships. He also tied for fifth at the British Masters on the European Tour.

Through the 2006 Masters, Michael Campbell has two top-10 finishes in 32 major starts. His other top-10 was a tie for third at the 1995 British Open, his second start in a major.

LAST TIME HERE: The last major
held at Winged Foot was the 1997 PGA Championship, a tournament Davis Love III won by five strokes. The first U.S. Senior Open, in 1980, won by Robert De Vicenzo, was also held on Winged Foot's East Course.

COME-FROM-BEHIND KID: In 2005, Michael Campbell became the first come-from-behind winner at the U.S. Open in the last seven years. Campbell began the final round four strokes back. Before Campbell, the last to come from behind to win at the U.S. Open was Lee Janzen in 1998, who overcame a five-stroke deficit held by Payne Stewart.

GOING HIGH: Michael Campbell's winning total (even-par 280) in 2005 was the highest at the U.S. Open since Lee Janzen won in 1998 with the same even-par 280 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

BOB AND MIKE: In winning the U.S. Open in 2005, Michael Campbell became the second New Zealander to win a major, joining left-hander Bob Charles, who won the 1963 British Open. Twenty-three international players have won the U.S. Open on 29 different occasions.

STAT MAN: In 2005, runner-up Tiger Woods led the U.S. Open in Greens in Regulation (54 of 72) for the third time in 11 starts at the tournament. But it also marked the first time Woods did not win the tournament as he did in 2000 and 2002, the other two years he led the GIR stat.

FINAL-ROUND ANGUISH: The 11-over 81 by Retief Goosen was the highest final-round by a third-round leader of a U.S. Open since Gil Morgan posted an 81 during the final round of the 1992 tournament after holding a one-stroke lead through 54 holes.

COMEBACK KID: In 2005, Davis Love III bounced back from an opening-round, 7-over 77, which left him tied for 113th after the first day, with rounds of 70-70-69 to tie for sixth. It was Love's fourth top-10 finish in 17 U.S. Open starts and his first since a tie for seventh in 2001.

BOGEY-FREE: Arron Oberholser had the only bogey-free round of the 2005 U.S. Open, which came during Friday's second round. Oberholser tied for ninth for his first top-10 in a major championship.

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