Oakmont Country Club is not preparing for a U.S. Open, not like last year when the club was a daily flurry of activity and some type of construction was always being done.

That does not mean all is quiet.

Oakmont has used some of the money it received from the United States Golf Association to build a guesthouse and grill room around the swimming pool, make improvements to the clubhouse, reconfigure the front entrance to the club and make some slight changes to the areas around the golf course.

But Tom Wallace, the club's general manager, said the enhancements were part of a master plan to upgrade the club's facility and infrastructure and help protect Oakmont's status as a national historic landmark.

"We spent a lot more money on the club than what we made in the Open," Wallace said. "The membership felt we had to protect the integrity of the clubhouse, as we did with the course."

The new guesthouse at the pool includes locker rooms on the first floor and overnight rooms and fitness facility on the second floor. One of the guest rooms is named for U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera.

The grill room includes a kitchen, service counter and dining area for pool users. Oakmont members have been without a pool since 2006 because the area was used to construct the media compound for the U.S. Open. It will be re-opened Memorial Day weekend.

"We felt we might as well beautify [the pool area] while we're moving everything," Wallace said.

But that's not all.

The men's grill room in the clubhouse has been expanded by 1,000 square feet with an addition that includes new lighting, new interior design, flat-screen plasma TVs, leather couches and a new outside porch area. Pictures from the U.S. Open, taken by local photographer Jack Wolf, adorn the walls.

Also, the original pedestrian bridge that spans the Pennsylvania Turnpike has been replaced with a wider, concrete bridge. In addition, a stone wall is being constructed along the turnpike border to minimize noise from the turnpike and replace the chain-link fence that ran along the property.

Because the turnpike had to remove trees beyond the 10th green, mounds with fescue grasses were built to serve as a dramatic backdrop to the hole and hide a service road.

Those additions are being funded by the turnpike, which is expanding to six lanes in that area.

"It will make it more aesthetically pleasing than a chain-link fence," Wallace said.

Which active PGA Tour player has the most career victories in the state of Texas? Answer at end.

Hank Haney, the swing coach for Tiger Woods, said he didn't know if the world's No. 1 player would return from arthroscopic knee surgery to play in a PGA Tour event before the U.S. Open. But he doesn't know if he needs to.

"It would be nice for him to get a tournament in," Haney said. "But I don't think it's necessary. He's proved he's able to come back from long layoffs."

Woods had surgery on his left knee April 16, two days after he finished second to Trevor Immelman at the Masters, and said on his Web site he would be out for 4 to 6 weeks. Haney said Woods' knee has been bothering him "for quite some time" and that it was "something he has been dealing with."

However, Haney said the knee did not affect Woods at the Masters, where he finished at 5-under 283, three shots behind Immelman.

"I talked to Steve Williams [Woods' caddie] and he said that's the best he's seen Tiger hit the ball at Augusta National," Haney said in a phone interview. "He just didn't putt very well."

Woods began rehabilitation on his knee Thursday, 10 days after the surgery. It is the third time Woods has had some type of medical procedure performed on his left knee, which, according to Haney, is the more important knee in the golf swing.

"That's not the knee you want to have hurting," Haney said. "But, it's not like this is a new injury. He's been playing with this, and he played fine at Augusta."

Bill Hillgrove had never heard anything like it when he joined Alcoma Country Club back in the 1970s and still hasn't come across anything to top it since. It remains one of his favorite golf stories.

"Two guys playing high-low against two other guys," said Hillgrove, the radio play-by-play voice of the Steelers. "They come to No. 8 at Alcoma, which is a little par 3, and they go par-ace ... and lose the hole."

How so?

"The other guys go birdie-ace," Hillgrove said. "Two holes in one in the same group. Imagine."

Hillgrove is the master storyteller, many of which he recites at his charity tournament, the Bill Hillgrove Invitational, which is June 2 at The Club at Nevillewood. The event, in its 27th year, benefits the UPMC Cardiovascular Unit. Entry is $450 per player.

• The Homestead Lions Annual Celebrity Scramble is June 25 at the Westwood GC in West Mifflin. Call 412-461-6032.

• Junior Team Golf, a summer league that forms teams of youth golfers, is having spring tryouts at Pine Creek Golf Center in Allison Park through May 10. Times are 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The league, which includes 20 sessions over eight weeks, begins June 16. Call 412-720-2791 or visit www.JrTeamGolf.com.

• The Golfin' Around-Patriot Girls Tournament, benefiting the Wounded Warriors Fund, is May 5 at Birdsfoot GC, Freeport. Entry is $90 and includes dinner. Call 412-734-8980.

Corey Pavin has won four times in Texas -- the Shell Houston Open (1984), the Valero Texas Open (1985) and the Colonial (1985, '96). The only regular tour stop in the state he hasn't won is the Byron Nelson Championship.