The defending champ is ready.

"I’ve seen the course plenty of times," Lee Janzen said Tuesday after his fourth practice round at Pinehurst No. 2 in a week. "And unless some weather comes in and the course plays completely different than what I’ve seen already, I know the shots I’m supposed to hit. It’s just whether or not I can do it."

Janzen hit all the right shots down the stretch of the 1998 Open last June at The Olympic Club. He headed into that eventful Sunday round in fourth place, five shots off the pace of Payne Stewart. Four birdies over the final 15 holes vaulted Janzen to a two-under-par 68 and the title by one shot over Stewart, who came home with a 74.

He had captured his first Open championship in 1993. By becoming a two-time winner, Janzen joined an elite group. Only 18 players have won it more than once.

If Janzen can win this week, he would be mentioned in the same breath with some of the greatest players of all time. Willie Anderson, Robert Trent Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus captured four Opens and Hale Irwin three.

Janzen likes the way the course is set up.

"The fairways are generous. The rough is very plentiful. The greens could be treacherous. Last Monday or Tuesday, you could barely make a ball mark in them. They’ve been softer the first couple of days this week. I hope to see them more like last week. But I think the course is probably the fairest setup I’ve seen for a U.S. Open."

Going into the 1998 Open, Janzen had been on a dry spell of sorts. He won three tourneys in 1995 to bring his career total to seven, but went winless in 1996 and 1997.

Janzen can’t pinpoint the reason the U.S. Open seems to bring out his best.

"I guess I’m still trying to figure out what it is," he said. "I love the U.S. Open. It’s a major championship on one of the great courses we have in the country every year. Maybe I just like the tough conditions. Because the course is so tough, it eliminates a lot of players. If you’re playing well, you have a much better chance of winning the U.S. Open than you do a regular Tour event."