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"By Alex Myers\nPINEHURST, N.C. -- A bulging disc kept Kevin Na off the course for most of 2013. The thought of the 2014 U.S. Open helped fuel his return.\n&amp;quot;I knew that the U.S. Open&amp;#39;s going to be at Pinehurst and I heard about no rough and about the collection areas and people told me, &amp;#39;This is a great golf course for you.&amp;#39; And I heard it over and over,&amp;quot; Na said. &amp;quot;My caddie [Kenny Harms] came and he said, &amp;#39;We&amp;#39;re going to the U.S. Open no matter what and we&amp;#39;re going to have a chance there.&amp;#39;&amp;quot;\nRelated: What will happen to NBC&amp;#39;s U.S. Open theme song?\nHarms&amp;#39; words look prophetic now after Na shot a first-round 68, but it took a lot of hard work. With Na&amp;#39;s inactivity -- he sat out approximately six months -- the golfer fell as low as 215th in the Official World Golf Ranking after a T-48 at the Humana Challenge.\nFacebookPinterestblog-kevin-na-0612.jpg\nNa has been rapidly climbing since, though. A runner-up at the Memorial last month qualified the one-time PGA Tour winner for this tournament by getting him back inside the top 60 at No. 40.\n&amp;quot;Here I am,&amp;quot; said Na, who has a T-29 and two missed cuts in three U.S. Open appearances. &amp;quot;Obviously, I got off to a good start, I got three more days to play, but it&amp;#39;s a lot of fun. It&amp;#39;s exciting to be here.&amp;quot;\nA big part of Na&amp;#39;s recent success -- he&amp;#39;s currently No. 10 on the FedEx Cup points list -- can be attributed to his short game. He comes into this week ranked No. 2 on the PGA Tour in scrambling, something he believed would serve him well at Pinehurst No. 2.\nRelated: Is it finally Phil Mickelson&amp;#39;s time to win a U.S. Open\n&amp;quot;I feel like one of the strengths of my game, is my chipping,&amp;quot; said Na, who chipped in for eagle on No. 5. &amp;quot;Obviously, if everyone&amp;#39;s missing greens and you have to get up-and-down, I feel like I&amp;#39;ve got an advantage.&amp;quot;\nFollow @AlexMyers3"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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