MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Feel like a hike? A little jaunt up the first green at Winged Foot would probably do the trick.

Every U.S. Open course has its devilishly tricky areas. This year's "thorough examination of golf" is highlighted by Winged Foot's severely sloped greens, most of which angle downward from back to front.

End up on top of the hill above the hole and — well — there's a good chance things won't be pretty. Try to keep it too low and — well — that could be ugly, too, because the front third of most greens are sloped so severely, the ball will run right off.

"Some of the most severe greens you'll ever face," said Tiger Woods, who returns to tournament play Thursday after a nine-week layoff.

When last seen, Woods wanted to break his putter over his knee after a particularly bad final round on the greens at the Masters.

"I practice my putting quite a bit," he said.

Good thing, because this course has the potential to make golf's greatest look silly. It did it to none other than Jack Nicklaus in 1974 at the Open later dubbed "The Massacre at Winged Foot." He lined up his first putt of the tournament at the back of the green, tapped it and watched as it rolled ... and rolled ... and rolled completely off the front.

"I imagine I wasn't the only one who putted off that green that day," Nicklaus said in a recent interview in Golf Digest. "In fact, my guess is quite a few did."

With a cool wind blowing Thursday morning, play began when qualifier Andrew Svoboda, a Winged Foot member who has won the club championship four times, teed off into the right rough. He chipped into the fairway, then onto the green for a two-putt on No. 1 to start his day with a bogey.

Phil Mickelson, in search of his third straight title at a major, had a 7:55 a.m. tee time. Woods wasn't to start until the afternoon.