The National Open, as Americans are fond of calling the US Open, returns this week to Washington's best-known golf course. Congressional is famous for the dramatic final day in 1964 when Ken Venturi survived blasting heat and a 36-hole final day finish to win the championship.

Venturi had been the thought of as the likely successor to Ben Hogan and three times at Augusta he had lost in devastatingly close finishes. Then in the early '60s he inexplicably lost his game and, by 1964, many had just about given up on his career as a player.

Instead he came to Congressional with some faith in his game, a result of some improved recent form in recent tour events. Despite being told by a doctor that playing the final round was risking his life, the dreadfully heat-affected Venturi instead played flawless golf and won by four shots.

The course then fell out of favour as an Open venue although it hosted the 1976 US PGA and the tour's Kemper Open for many years. Greg Norman won there early in his American career suggesting Congressional suits a long high ball hitter. Like Norman, Venturi was a master of the long irons and when the Open finally returned in 1997 it was another fine long iron player who prevailed.

Ernie Els beat out Colin Montgomerie who blew his chance on the second day when he thought it wise to pick an argument with some alcohol-fuelled fans set on baiting the easily reeled-in Scotsman.

He made a 76 that Friday to follow an opening 65, a round partner Davis Love called the best ball-striking round he had ever seen.

It was Els' second Open triumph and so beautiful was his game that most thought he was destined to win many more important championships. Instead he has won only once since, the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield.

No-one quite imagined how Tiger Woods would come to completely dominate the game as he did and Els is the one player most think has been most affected by Woods rule over the top flight of the game.

Els had a terrific chance to win last year at Pebble Beach but small mistakes at the end eventually were too much to overcome. He still plays beautifully and no one rules out a challenge.

This is an odd looking championship if picking a likely winner is the measure.

Woods is not playing, the result of a knee that appears to have all but given out.

If he was a footballer he would be out for the season.

Maybe he will be back for The Open at Royal St Georges but who really knows? He gives away little more than he absolutely has to and his camp is saying nothing that suggests an early return is likely.

Even his caddy, the New Zealander, Steve Williams has sought employment elsewhere. This week he will be working for Adam Scott, a man who finally played right up to his unquestioned potential at Augusta when he was only beaten by the extraordinary four-birdie finish by Charl Schwartzel.

Williams may be a real help to Scott. He is assertive and hands out his advice with complete confidence.

No one can point to a clear favourite for the first time since Woods' 1997 triumph at Augusta. Phil Mickelson won at Augusta last year and blew the field away in Houston the week prior to Augusta earlier this year but he went off a week early and was never a factor. He is always a dangerous player and time is leaking away for him in his home Open. Like Sam Snead before him, it has been a championship of frustration for Mickelson as his own critical mistakes as well as the play of others has seen him denied great chances a handful of times.

Luke Donald, the clean hitting and methodical Englishman, is the latest to ascend to the top of the rankings. With the collapse of Woods' stock price, that place will move around to who ever plays well for a few months at a time. It was the German Martin Kaymer in the final part of last season but Donald has barely been out of the top ten any week he has teed up this year. He has clearly played better than anybody else and if one man is to be burdened with the most likely winner tag it is the quiet Englishman.

His countryman, Lee Westwood, is more than due a major championship but, like Montgomerie, he has suffered many times right at the end of big events. They say if you hang around often enough you win one eventually but Montgomerie proved that is no guarantee.

The Australians were terrific at Augusta with Scott, Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy all finishing in the first four.

Ogilvy has been battling an injured shoulder since but he had a much-needed run last week in Memphis. He is no fan of that course but ‘I like the way I am playing' he said last week.

Writing his regular column for an American magazine last week he spoke of the importance of the short game at the US Open.

‘'I know that I am going to miss six greens a round and the rough is so thick that many times during the week I am going to have to get down in fewer that three shots from inside eighty yards to save a par,'' he wrote. When he is playing well there are few better at that than Ogilvy and it is the most obvious skill separating him from Scott.

Scott made something of a breakthrough at Augusta when he finally, in a major championship, he merged his talent for great hitting with a putter - a long one - that worked right until the end.

It will be something of a surprise whoever wins this week - and that is a reflection of the state of the game in this era. The question ahead of this US Open at Congressional is: Is it a new post-Woods era or will he come back and challenge again?