As was first raised here on the 606 golf pages, Adam Scott is nursing a broken little finger. Furthermore, the man most closely monitoring his progress is British.

Amateur Gary Wolstenholme has flown out here to Torrey Pines as the first reserve for the 79 fully exempt players in the field.

If one pulls out, the Englishman plays. But until then he is barred from playing the course, so all he can do is use the range and practice putting green.

“It is frustrating,” Wolstenholme said. “I turned up on Saturday night and walked the course on Sunday and there was nobody here, so the rule that says I can’t go out and practice seems a little crazy.”

So, in the meantime, he awaits medical reports on players in the field and without wishing ill, he’s desperate for someone to pull up lame.

Scott is nursing his fractured digit and if he were to withdraw Wolstenholme would get the plum draw with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

The English amateur isn’t getting over excited though. He said: “Adam’s actually played the last couple of days but if he had pulled out there was a lot of conjecture about the grouping I would have been in.

“That would have been a lot of fun because you’ve got the best seat in the house watching the two best players in the world go head to head.

“A few of the pros that I know out here have said to me that they would have paid to come and watch us play, partly because our games are so very different,” Wolstenholme, one of the game’s shorter hitters added.

“Whether Adam will pull out I don’t know. I think from now on anyone here will give themselves every chance to be fit to play and so it may be a last minute thing if I’m called on to the tee.”

Scott’s inclusion in the same grouping as Woods and Mickelson surely highlights a flaw in the world rankings.

A fine player, with what is reputed to be the best swing in the game, he has won some of the biggest titles on Tour. But the likeable Aussie has yet to challenge in a major which must be a pre-requisite for anyone to be ranked as high as three in the world.

At the US Open, Scott has never finished in the top 20 and has made only two cuts in six appearances.

Mickelson, meanwhile, is risking disappointing his home town fans as he pours everything into winning this US Open.

Lefty has the reputation for making the most time for autograph hunters, but he’s altered that policy this week. “I’ve tried to minimize my time constraints,” Mickelson said.

“I haven’t done so many media interviews, I haven’t signed so many autographs. I want to make sure my energy is up this week.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to compete in the US Open, on the course I grew up on, in the prime of my career.”

A bug or food poisoning earlier in the week didn’t help preparations. He admitted: “I’ve had a kind of a rough week, but I feel great now.”

There’s a lot of speculation what the winning score will be in relation to par – especially as the course has been reduced from 72 to par 71.

On the range one leading coach predicted between three and five under and an experienced caddie agreed.

But Ernie Els believes that with the greens set to become firmer the winning score will be over par.