Johnson is a horse for the course at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Because they keep bringing the U.S. Open back here, someone is going to come up with a name for the accomplishment of winning two tournaments here in the same year. It has to be something better than "mini-grand slam."

How about the Seaside Sweep? The Pacific Parlay? The Clambake Combo? In any case, it has been done before, by two somewhat accomplished golfers, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

It is testimony to how much the game of golf respects Pebble Beach Golf Links that finds it worthy to be an annual PGA Tour stop and a major championship on a regular basis. All week, people have been saying that there really is no comparison between Pebble Beach in February and in June. In the former, golfers are beset by rain and winds. In the latter, they are met with hard fairways and lightning greens.

"You hit driver a lot more in February," Dustin Johnson said. "The ball doesn't roll at all. So then coming into the greens, every club you hit spins back. So it's a lot different with the ball bouncing a lot."

Then again, Johnson added: "Yeah, it's a lot different. But it's still the same golf course."

No one hopes that philosophy holds up more than does Johnson, who will enter the final round Sunday hoping for his own personal three-peat. He won the AT&T National Pro-Am last year and again this year. At the turn last night, he was 4 under par, one shot behind Graeme McDowell and three strokes ahead of Woods, who had made a run with a 31 on the back nine that is difficult 12 months out of the year.

Johnson is well regarded by his fellow pros, in no small part because of his play on a course they all respect. "He's just stupid long. It's just ridiculous," Woods said, impressed, after having played a practice round with him Monday. "I mean, 226 [226 yards] on the 17th and it's into the wind and he hits 4-iron over the green. I don't know how many of you guys [reporters] have that shot, not too many of us out here certainly do."

Speaking about the practice round, Woods added, "The way he played was very similar to the way he played in the AT&T."

Johnson, after his round Friday, tried to make the connection between winter and late spring on the Monterey Peninsula: "You've just got to pick out your spots where you want to land it. It's the same as in the AT&T. The ball is coming backward, then instead of going forward. But you still have to have good spots to land the ball and you've got to have good lines off the tee."

The differences can be pretty pronounced. For starters, competitors in the AT&T no longer have to contend with the world's No. 1 player. Woods has taken that off his schedule.

Also, the atmosphere could not be more distinct. In February, the tone still is the one set years ago by Bing Crosby, Phil Harris and Jack Lemmon's quixotic try at making the cut. Rounds are long, with the spotlight mainly on the likes of Bill Murray pulling a spectator across the ropes to dance with her.

At the Open, the tension can be almost too thick to bear. Earlier this week, reigning British Open champion Stewart Cink said: "You know, half the players here don't want the responsibility of coming down the stretch with a lead at a major. It's not an easy thing to do."

Woods spoke Saturday of staying patient, of hanging in there. "It's all fluid out here," he said. "You have to make adjustments."

Still, it's not all bad. Pebble Beach is much prettier this time of year. "It's kind of nice," Johnson said, "not wearing rain gear."