CHARLOTTE, N.C. (PA) -- Phil Mickelson doesn't think anyone will come remotely close to matching par at next month's U.S. Open.

A San Diego native who lives close to this year's venue of Torrey Pines, Mickelson played a practice round there recently. He took more than a little interest in the difficulty of the rough, which by all reports is long enough to lose a small child in.

"I think it's the hardest course in the world, 7,600 yards at sea level," the world No. 2 said. "Even if it's soft, I don't think anything close to even par will win."

Mickelson said he played with two friends, both former national-level amateur golfers, and that each shot about 85.

"Two very good amateurs had a best ball score of 80," he said.

Mickelson also claims he has grown over the past few years, and that it has negatively affected his putting.

"In the last three or four years, through some of the stretching and stuff, I've probably grown a half-inch to an inch," he said. "I've known that I've become taller for a few years, but I just thought, 'gosh, I'm not putting well'."

To compensate, Mickelson has added an inch to his putter, and is eager to put it to the test after spending part of the past two weeks working with short-game instructor Dave Pelz. He said he had previously developed a fault of not keeping the putter blade square throughout the putting stroke.

"I spent two weeks working on it and trying to get it dialed in, and I putted great," he said. "I'm excited but you never know until you until you get in the heat of competition and have to put it to the test and make the sliding five-footers."

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