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Everything is bigger and better at the U.S. Open, and that includes the maintenance staff that has Pebble Beach Golf Links sparkling in the sun.

In recent days, what could be called a “Super Army” has descended on the storied course.

Unlike the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where Chris Dalhamer relies on his usual staff of 36, the Pebble Beach superintendent is being assisted by a grounds-crew army of up to 100. The team now includes volunteer superintendents and assistant superintendents from around the world, some from as far away as Japan and Australia.

For the 38-year-old Dalhamer, who is the host superintendent at the U.S. Open for the first time in his career, the extra help is not just a huge relief, but necessary to keep the course in pristine championship condition.

“To do all the details we want to do, it takes a lot of time,” said Dalhamer, who has been a U.S. Open course maintenance volunteer himself, helping at Torrey Pines in 2008 and Shinnecock Hills in 2004. “You kind of have to throw the whole kitchen sink at it.”

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In what is a scene comparable to the FBI searching for evidence in a forest, every square foot of the course is meticulously swept, from the No.1 tee box to the back area of the 18th green. The goal is to make the course perfect — not just for the players, but also for spectators on the premises or for those watching from home.

“We do everything from mowing, raking bunkers, fluffing the rough and fixing divots to 

picking up every fallen leaf,” said Dalhamer, a native of the Monterey Peninsula. “Basically, we comb the entire golf course.”

To make doling out orders easier, Dalhamer, the captain of the group, simply splits his work force in half. One half works on the front nine and the other half maintains the last nine holes.

“The biggest thing is the players starting on both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees, so we have to prepare both sides,” said Dalhamer, who arrived at Pebble Beach in 2005 after a few years of being the super at Spyglass Hill. “The approach is to prepare everything in order, going from hole to hole.”

Tee times starting at 7 a.m. means an early wake-up call.

Dalhamer and his squad generally begin duties around 4 a.m., having received orders from Mike Davis, USGA senior director of rules and competition, and from the USGA’s agronomist, Pat Gross, in meetings the day prior.

In what is a definition of dedication, some members of the team don’t end their day until dusk, putting in days of up to 18 hours.

And for the volunteers, there’s no overtime pay; in fact, there’s no pay at all. Instead, there is the satisfaction of knowing they’ve been a part of setting up Pebble Beach for the national championship.

“Truly it is an honor to just be able to prep a golf course like Pebble Beach on a daily basis,” Dalhamer said. “To be able to prep it for a U.S. Open is really special. I can’t be thankful enough for my staff and all that they’ve done in the months and years leading up to the championship. As for the volunteers, the gratitude is certainly there. We can’t thank them enough.”

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Ian Poulter didn’t hesitate for a second when asked whether he agreed with Lee Westwood’s assessment that Pebble Beach is the best course in the world. “Comfortably,” he replied.

Excuse the boys of summer their heightened sense of excitement, therefore, as they contemplate the start of the US Open here today, followed by the 150th anniversary Open at historic St Andrews in the middle of next month.

Throw in an almost too-rich mix of intriguing storylines and, in golfing terms, it really does not get any better than this. Not a vuvuzela in sight, either.

For so many of the leading characters, this is surely their time and place if it is ever going to happen for them.

Phil Mickelson, for instance, reached 40 yesterday, and if the sentimental favourite is going to win his national championship after no fewer than five runner’s-up finishes, he is not going to have a better chance than here in his native California. Mickelson’s resilience was summed up by his caddie Jim Mackay, who has worked with him since he turned pro 21 years ago.

In 2006 at Winged Foot, the leftie needed a par at the last to win, a bogey to tie Geoff Ogilvy, and ended up with a double.”‘What an idiot,’ he chastised himself. But 24 hours later, he was ringing Mackay and inviting him and his family to Disneyland.’That’s Phil. Not once has he let a loss get to him,’”said Mackay. “Once it’s over, it’s over.”

The same could be said for Westwood, with three top-three finishes in a row in the majors but still seeking a breakthrough victory. ‘You’re definitely going to win one i f you keep believing,’ Mickelson told him after relegating him to second place at Augusta.

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Perhaps a nice omen for Westwood is that it was at Pebble Beach in 1992 that Tom Kite, a player he resembles in terms of career achievements, finally landed the major befitting his rich talent. I’ve known Westwood for 15 years and I’ve never seen him so relaxed and contented. Has his victory in Memphis last week taken too much out of him?

Set against that concern is the fact that all his best finishes in the US Open have come when the venue is situated on the West Coast. At 37, and in the form of his life, if not now, when?

For players of medium length off the tee, like Poulter and Luke Donald, this venue and the Old Course represent the perfect twosome. Both will play firm and fast, so length will not be an issue.

Pebble Beach has probably the smallest greens of any top course, so turn up without a laser touch with the mid-irons and a gossamer feel with the short ones and you might as well forget it.

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If you consider the world’s great golfing distnations, Kazakhstan doesn’t immediately spring to mind.

It is, it’s fair to say, a long way from Pebble Peach, California, where this weekend the game’s greats are battling it out for theh US Open.

The only bunkers I could find reference to before my trip were ones from the Soviet era nuclear bomb test sites.

But as I stood at the side of the 18th green at the Zhailjau Golf Resort (www.zgr.kz) course watching the opening round of The Kazakhstan Open – the richest and arguably most important event on the PGA European Challenge Tour – it all became clear, ­literally.

It had been miserably wet on my first day in the former capital Almaty. Suddenly, the mists and low cloud started to clear and as the weather improved so did my spirits.

The most stunning and beautiful looking golf landscape I’ve ever set eyes on was unfolding before me.

Broad sweeping fairways and smooth, undulating greens were slowly coming into focus.

To the south, towering snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan mountain range were unveiled in early evening sunshine.

Standing there I quietly thanked whoever it was in Kazakhstan who commissioned Arnold Palmer’s company to design a course in this remote territory.

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Not for nothing is Arnie regarded as “The King” of golf. He doesn’t lend his signature to anything less than perfect. And this was golfing heaven!

Golf is new to Kazakhstan. It is only now, since the collapse of communism and break-up of the USSR in the early 1990s, that the Kazakhs have been allowed to embrace a game once regarded as the most dubious of bourgeois sports.

Fortunately, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the nation’s president, enjoyed his introduction to golf when he visited the US in 1994.

Two years later, he backed a plan for a nine-hole course at the Alatau health resort near Almaty. Within six months the planned membership of 50 had spiralled to over 300 and the course was extended to a full 18 holes. That course became the delightful Nurtau Golf Club (www.nurtau.kz) and the first of six courses across the country to date.

When Italian Edoardo Molinari won the €64,000 prize at the Kazakhstan Open’s (www.kazakhstanopen.com), it saw him catapulted on to the bigger European Tour this season and well on his way to the chance of a place in Colin Montgom­erie’s European team at this year’s Ryder Cup in Wales.

Kazakhstan’s love of the game is a proud sign of the nation’s new independence – a declaration that Kazakhs are open to business investment and keen to share their heritage with a wider audience.

Visitors are now welcome… and there is plenty to see.

Travellers have passed through Kazakhstan for many centuries. Almaty was just one of the stopping points on the Great Silk Road, which marked the trade route from Europe to China and the Far East.

Now it is at the heart of an affluent and thriving economy, clearly benefiting from Kazakhstan’s oil and mineral wealth. There seemed more fancy 4×4s on the roads than you’d find in Chelsea.

A modern city keen to embrace the West, it’s also trying to celebrate cultural traditions long suppressed by communism.

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Newlywed Rush Limbaugh will be brushing up on his golf game.

The Golf Channel said Thursday the radio commentator will be the third celebrity featured in “The Haney Project.” In the series, Tiger Woods’ former coach Hank Haney gives celebrities tips on improving their golf game.

The third edition of the series will be taped later this year. It will air next spring.

Charles Barkley and Ray Romano were the first two celebrities to get tips from Haney on the show.

Limbaugh will also talk about his love for golf in this summer’s Golf Channel series “Golf in America.”

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Beach, Fla., to an event coordinator he met at a golf tournament.

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Baltimore golfers putt their money toward a great cause recently, raising more than $5,000 for BARCS and drawing attention to the city’s animal abuse problem.

Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation just presented the city shelter with a check for $5,408, money raised over Memorial Day with its “Closest to the Pin” contest. BMGC Executive Director Jon Ladd presented a check to BARCS Programs Director Debby Rahl and Baltimore City Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Task Force Chair Caroline Griffin at Carroll Park Golf Course. 

The golf organization was inspired to host the event after young boys beat a small Labrador-pit bull puppy to death with a branch at the Carroll Park Golf Course.

“Animal abuse is occurring too often in Baltimore City, just look at what occurred yesterday in West Baltimore as a dog was hung from a fence,”  Ladd said in a statement.  “We were saddened by such a rise in these incidents and wanted to do whatever we could to help bring attention to the prevention of animal abuse. We thank all of our generous golfers who donated and helped us raise a lot of money for these defenseless animals and the people who care for them.”

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The Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Task Force worked alongside BMGC at the golf event.

“We were so thrilled to partner with BMGC, because this company took a terrible tragedy and turned it into something positive,” Griffin said.  “We literally spoke to thousands of golfers over course of the Memorial Day weekend and talked to them about the problem of animal abuse.  We were just thrilled at the success of this event and it helped us to spread our mission.”

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A 3rd District Court judge on Thursday denied a request to move the trial for a teenager accused of pulling the trigger in the February 2009 West Valley City golf course slaying of 18-year-old JoJo Lee Brandstatt back to juvenile court.

Attorneys for Antonie “Hunter” Farani, who was 14 when he allegedly shot and killed Brandstatt, recently argued before Judge William Barrett to have the case returned to juvenile court. Farani was certified as an adult by a juvenile court judge in December — meaning he will face trial in district court and serve time in an adult prison, if convicted.

Farani’s attorneys, Rodney Parker and Richard Van Wagoner, contended Utah’s juvenile certification statute is unconstitutional, saying the process violated Farani’s right to a fair trial and imposed the risk of a greater punishment.

If Farani’s case had stayed in juvenile court, he could have been incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility only until he turned 21. In the adult system, he faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of Brandstatt’s murder.

Farani is charged with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping and five counts of aggravated robbery.

In his Thursday decision, Barrett wrote the defense claims that the certification process is unconstitutional had no merit.

Also, defendants in Brandstatt’s slaying are Spencer Isaiah Cater, 19, and Jeremiah “Jay” Ha’k Williamson, 27, who face the same charges as Farani, except they are charged with murder instead of aggravated murder. A fourth participant, 20-year-old Shardise “Kaiso” Malaga, pleaded guilty in March to manslaughter and two counts of aggravated kidnapping for her role in the crime and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

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Barrett scheduled trial dates for Farani, Cater and Williamson from Oct. 12 through Oct. 22. Attorneys for the defendants at one point discussed separate trials for each defendant, but Barrett has scheduled all the defendants to be tried together.

Farani confessed to the Feb. 6, 2009, killing of Brandstatt during a videotaped interview with West Valley City police, according to prior court testimony. The teen, who turned 15 on Nov. 23, said he was high on marijuana and pressured to pull the trigger by Cater, who allegedly believed the victim “knew too much.”

Gregory Brown, 19, has testified Brandstatt was targeted in part because he wore a red shirt and claimed allegiance to a Norteño gang, a rival of the defendants’ Crips gang.

Brown said he was kidnapped by the four defendants when he met them at a West Valley City Wendy’s to trade marijuana for a gun. The group robbed him and said if Brown was able to get $2,000 by the end of the night through robberies, they wouldn’t kill him, he told the court.

According to Brown, he called Brandstatt, who agreed to meet up with the group at Kearns Junior High School with the address of a gang member to rob, he said. When he arrived, Brandstatt was wearing a red T-shirt and red shoelaces, a color that indicated a connection to Norteño gang members. Brown alleged Farani said, “Let’s just finish off this Norte.”

The defendants drove to the golf course where Brandstatt was shot and then they allegedly coerced Brown into using a pellet gun to rob three convenience stores afterward. Defense attorneys have argued Brown was a willing participant and not a victim.

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Golfer Rocco Mediate accepted an invitation to play in this week’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Mediate, who will be playing in his 15th U.S. Open, was the runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course near San Diego following a 19-hole playoff.

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Mediate, the No. 1 alternate after sectional qualifying, was offered the spot because Lee Westwood, who won the St. Jude Classic yesterday, was already in the field, the United States Golf Association said in a news release.

Mediate’s best finish this year is a tie for 48th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He’s also missed nine weekend cuts and withdrawn twice in 14 U.S. PGA Tour events.

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Paula Creamer badly wants to give a thumbs-up at the end of this weekend’s ShopRite LPGA Classic.

It’s been a while since the 23-year-old LPGA Tour star has been able to use her left thumb for anything, let alone gripping a golf club.

Wednesday’s pro-am round marked just the second time Creamer has played 18 holes since undergoing surgery in Birmingham, Ala., on March 30.

“It feels good,” Creamer said after her round on Seaview’s picturesque Bay Course. “My thumb won’t be completely healed for quite a long time, but it’s progress. There was a point when I honestly didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to play golf again.”

She reached that point during the first event of the season, the Honda PTT tournament in Thailand. Creamer, who had first hurt her hand last year, was actually playing well despite the discomfort. Through 15 holes, she was 5-under par.

On the 16th hole, her pain turned to agony.

“I swung the club and felt it pop or tear or something,” Creamer said. “I just immediately went down on the ground and started to cry and I played the last three holes in tears.”

She initially opted against surgery, however. She saw three hand specialists and various physical therapists in search of treatment and/or a brace that would permit her to play golf without an operation.

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One of her quests landed her at the Philadelphia Phillies’ spring training complex in Clearwater, Fla. She visited with the Phillies’ medical staff and spent some time hitting golf balls over the fence at Bright House Field with an 8-iron.

“The trainer I work out with knows the Phillies,” said Creamer, who is nicknamed “Pink Panther” for her fondness for the color. I actually threw out the first pitch (at a Phillies game last summer), so we kind of have that bonding.

“I hit some pink balls out on the field, which was pretty cool. The (grounds crew) was watching me take divots and they were running over and putting sand in them. It was the first time they said anybody’s ever hit a golf ball off their field, so it was pretty neat.”

A few weeks later, she was feeling blue.

Just like the Phillies’ Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and company, Creamer went into a hitting slump. Treatments, therapy and a cast failed to help alleviate the pain she felt whenever she tried to swing. The turning point came while she was attending the Tavistock Cup, the annual competition between residents of Lake Nona and Islesworth golf communities in Orlando, Fla.

“I was holding the Tavistock plate and I just watched it fall out of my hand,” said Creamer, who lives in Islesworth. “I had the operation a couple of days later.”

Dr. Thomas Hunt repaired stretched ligaments and a “hyperextension of the metacarpal phalangeal joint,” according to Creamer’s management team, IMG.

This weekend’s ShopRite Classic, which is back after a three-year hiatus, will give Creamer a chance to recapture some of the magic she first displayed at the same tournament in 2004. Then 17, she finished tied for second behind Cristie Kerr, barely missing a chance to become the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament and the first amateur champion since 1969.

“It’s been a crazy couple of months for myself, but I’m glad to be back,” the eight-time LPGA Tour winner with nearly $7 million in career earnings said Wednesday. “My goals are just to really enjoy myself. I’ve been sitting out for so long it made me realize how much I truly love the game and how much I missed it.”

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