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Former AFL star Brendon Goddard admits caddying for good mate Marcus Fraser at the US Open at Pebble Beach will be more nerve-wracking than his trio of grand final appearances.

Goddard was asked to carry the clubs of fellow Australian Fraser when the European Tour veteran snared a spot in the US Open field via sectional qualifying in England two weeks ago.

Neither Goddard nor Fraser had set foot on the iconic seaside California course and the pair were still in awe after three practice rounds since arriving on Saturday.

"I never thought the first time I'd walk the fairways of Pebble Beach would be caddying at a US Open; it's pretty special," Goddard told AAP on Monday.

"I was watching on TV when Tiger Woods won the (2000) US Open here by 15 shots and I watch the (US PGA Tour's) Pebble Beach Pro Am every year, but being here has outdone my expectations."

Fraser, 40, a winner of three European Tour events, will contest his fourth US Open this week and says says Goddard will keep the atmosphere relaxed.

"Brendon loves golf more than I do; he's a golf tragic, a competitive guy and pushes me pretty hard," Fraser said.

Fraser says contesting a US Open at Pebble Beach is a lifelong dream.

"It's such an iconic venue," Fraser said. "To see the par-3 seventh hole for the first time is special.

"It sneaks up on you; when you walk from the sixth green to the seventh tee you think, 'Holy shit!' You're standing on one of the most famous par 3s in the world."

Former AFL No.1 draft pick Goddard, 34, retired from football last year following a 334-game career with St Kilda and Essendon.

He played in three grand finals for St Kilda - in 2009 and 2010, the latter replayed following a draw.

But Goddard says the anxiety will be higher caddying in a major championship.

"Definitely on the first tee at Pebble Beach, even as caddy," Goddard said.

"I'm a little out of my comfort zone; being on the footy field in front of 100,000 fans felt more natural to me.

"But it's great to feel those butterflies and anxiety again."

Goddard is an accomplished single-figure handicap player who says golf has been a passion since his childhood in country Victoria.

"My dad was a superintendent at a little public course in Toongabbie," he said. "Dad used to water tee boxes and greens by hand because that's all the club could afford.

"My brother and I used to ride in the back of his Holden HQ ute that he'd take out to water putting greens and we'd hit balls or go swimming in the dam at the par-3 ninth hole.

"Mum has photos of me swinging a golf club aged 2 but I never had to choose between my two passions; it was always my dream to play footy."

After almost a week of US Open practice at Pebble Beach, Adam Scott says his smooth swing has only improved since a ball-striking masterclass led to a runner-up finish in his most recent PGA Tour event.

A resurgent Scott jetted to California's iconic Pebble Beach just two days after finishing second at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament in Ohio recently.

It was Scott's fifth top-10 result, and second runner-up finish, from 12 US PGA Tour events this season.

In Ohio, Scott led the field for iron play and his 17-under-par total would have been good enough to win the previous eight editions of the Memorial.

The former world No.1 arrived at Pebble Beach on Wednesday and has been practising for the past five days.

On Sunday, Scott was smashing long, accurate drives and rifling laser-like irons into the iconic California course's greens in a clear display his form has remained sharp.

"I think my swing has gotten better since Memorial; I'm hitting the ball very nicely," Scott told AAP.

The 38-year-old has had a chance to win the past four major championships going back to last year's British Open, and shared the 36-hole lead at April's Masters.

He also tied for eighth at golf's most recent major, the US PGA Championship at New York's difficult Bethpage course.

Scott said the close calls on golf's biggest stage have only ignited a fire to add a second major title to his breakthrough 2013 victory at Augusta.

"Absolutely I'm still hungry; I've always based success in my career around winning and I've won a lot, except for the last few years," he said.

Scott has not fared well in the past two US Opens, missing the cut in both.

But Pebble Beach rewards supreme ball-strikers, such as Scott, given it has some of the smallest greens on the US PGA Tour

"It's clear my game is there, but I just have to let it unfold," Scott said.

"The US Open is one of golf's toughest tests and it's major you can't force a result at; you have to stick to your game plan and execute all week and I'm playing at a level where I can do that."

Tiger Woods's former caddie Steve Williams says he is excited about the potential Jason Day possesses now that the pair have teamed up for the US Open at Pebble Beach.

Nineteen years after Williams carried the clubs for Woods during his record 15-shot victory at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach, the New Zealand native will work for the Australian former world No.1 Day.

It is not yet known how permanent the partnership is but there is no doubt Day will want to retain the service of Williams long term, given he is considered golf's greatest caddie.

The 55-year-old Williams was on the bag for 13 of Woods's 15 major championship victories, while he also caddied for Adam Scott and was instrumental in the Australian's breakthrough 2013 Masters win at Augusta.

Now Williams is charged with helping Day on his quest to secure a second major title, after his 2015 US PGA Championship success.

Williams looks at 31-year-old Day as a golfer tailor-made for the big stage.

"There are a lot of very good players in the game and I consider Jason one of those capable of winning big tournaments," Williams told AAP at Pebble Beach on Sunday.

"It's early days but to have the opportunity to caddie for one of the top Australian players is really exciting."

Williams has been credited for helping sublimely talented players with reaching their potential.

He shot to prominence during a seven-year stint in the 1980s with legendary Australian golfer Greg Norman, whose stellar career included two British Open titles among 88 professional victories.

Williams' caddie career began in the 1970s under the late Australian icon Peter Thomson, who won five British Open titles between 1954-1965, before he worked with Ian Baker-Finch.

"Australians and New Zealanders have a great relationships, because of the sports we follow there is always some common ground," Williams said of his affinity for Australian golfers.

Scott, who is also competing at this week's US Open, expected the partnership of countryman Day and Williams to be fruitful.

"If Steve is not the greatest caddie ever, I don't know who is ... he certainly has an incredible amount of knowledge of how to manage someone's game and we've seen that with Tiger and him over the years," Scott told AAP.

Ten months after shooting 59, Brandt Snedeker almost matched the feat when he carded a 10-under-par 60 in the second round at the Canadian Open in Ontario.

Alhough he ended the day one stroke behind American leaders Matt Kuchar and Scott Brown, Snedeker was the star of the show, driving the ball with laser-like accuracy and wielding a hot putter at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

"When I get hot, the hole (looks like) a beach ball to me. Today I felt like that," the American told Golf Channel after posting an 11-under 129 halfway total, tied for third with Canadian Nick Taylor (65).

Kuchar and Brown shot matching 63s to set a cracking pace, while Rory McIlroy - in his first appearance at the event - carded a 66 to trail the leaders by five strokes.

First-round leader Keegan Bradley (71) slipped six behind, while world number one Brooks Koepka (66) and defending champion Dustin Johnson (65) trailed by eight.

Australia's Rod Pampling shot a second successive 69 to lie two-under, just surviving the cut. His compatriot Curtis Luck was not as fortunate, with his 68 coupled with his first round 71 leaving him at one-under and cut, along with fellow Australian Cameron Davis (four-over).

Snedeker shot his 59 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro last August and on Friday came within a whisker of becoming the second man to twice break 60 on the PGA Tour.

Jim Furyk is the only one to accomplish the feat, managing an all-time record 58, as well as a 59.

Snedeker, a nine-times PGA Tour winner, was at home on a course that demands precision more than power, notching eight birdies and an eagle.

"I drove the ball fantastic, missed two fairways, and do that around here and you set yourself up for success," he said.

"I made a couple of putts early to get the momentum going and just gave myself a lot of opportunities, did a good job of staying patient, putting the ball in play, played to my strengths.

"When you make a lot of putts and get hot like this it's a lot of fun."

Snedeker got a little lucky at his final hole, the par-four ninth, where his approach shot narrowly cleared a greenside bunker, his ball taking a fortuitous kick down to within five feet of the cup.

He converted the putt with his unmistakeable pop putting stroke, in which he accelerates the putter-head through the ball, reminiscent of Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer in their prime.

Snedeker has also registered three scores of 61 during his career, and has a theory of why he has gone so low, so often.

"I'm not scared about going low. I realise these days don't happen too often. More often than not you're getting beat up so when they happen you've got to take advantage of it."

His performance certainly impressed playing companion Justin Thomas, whose 65 took him to five-under-par. "Man, that guy can putt," he said.

Co-leader Kuchar said he had made some key par saves to complement his healthy quota of birdies.

"I've done a good job of managing and giving myself some chances, saved pars and thrown in some awfully good play as well with a handful of birdies," he said.

Brown made five successive birdies from the second hole, his 11th, to match Kuchar's halfway score.

"That stretch is where you've got to take advantage of it out here. You have some shorter holes, some shorter clubs in," Brown said.

Tiger Woods has been paired with Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose for the first two rounds of the US Open next week.

Masters champion Woods will tee off next Thursday after the United States Golf Association announced times for the first 36 holes.

Australia's Marc Leishman will play with Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Spain's Jon Rahm while countryman Jason Day is out with Si Woo Kim, South Korea and Rickie Fowler.

Other Australian players teeing off at Pebble Beach will be Cameron Smith, Matt Jones and world No.17 Adam Scott - fresh from his second-place finish at the PGA Memorial Tournament - who has been paired with Webb Simpson and Matt Kuchar.

A field of 156 players are registered for the season's third major of the year at the par-71 Pebble Beach course in California.

Curtis Luck says he is not intimidated by a star-studded Canadian Open field headlined by world No.1 Brooks Koepka despite entering the business end of his fight to stay on the US PGA Tour.

Luck is among a small Australian contingent teeing up at the Canadian Open, brought forward six weeks as a US Open precursor.

The change has convinced stars to flock to the Hamilton event to sharpen their games ahead of next week's US Open at Pebble Beach in California.

Big names teeing up at Hamilton Golf Club in Ontario include four-time major winners Koepka and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, as well as Justin Thomas and Canadian Open regular Dustin Johnson.

Contending at a 156-player field featuring four of the six top-ranked golfers in the world could prove a significant challenge for the 22-year-old Luck.

But the Perth native said it'd be no different to any other PGA Tour event.

"I could not care less how many big names are in the field," Luck told AAP.

"It's good for the event that a lot of the top players are here. The Canadian Open has always had a decent field, but not a great field. Being right before the US Open now is a different story.

"But the goal doesn't change for me - you still have to beat the same amount of players if you want to win."

Luck requires at least one hot result given he has a likely five events left on his PGA Tour season.

He currently sits 149th on the FedEx Cup points race and must jump inside the top 125 to advance to the playoffs and keep his PGA Tour card for next season.

Doing so will avoid another relegation to the secondary Web.com Tour finals, from which Luck won promotion last year.

"I'm starting to run low on time," Luck admitted.

"But the five events I've got coming up have courses that I feel really suit me."

This week's Canadian Open returns to Hamilton Golf Club, outside Toronto, for the first time in seven years.

"It's an unusual course and unlike anything we see on the PGA Tour," Luck said.

"It's short and dinky, but with thick rough and severely undulating greens. It's an old school course and I like it."

Joining Luck in the field are fellow Australians Cameron Davis and Rod Pampling.

Tiger Woods says a final-round charge has polished his game in time for the US Open at Pebble Beach, where he recorded the most dominant victory in major championship history.

Woods made a valiant run on Sunday at the US PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament in Ohio - where he has won five times.

It was Woods' final hit-out before the US Open, which starts June 13.

Woods finished the Memorial at nine-under 279 and a tie for ninth secured his fourth top-10 result from eight PGA Tour starts this season, including his Masters victory in April.

Woods ignited the galleries at Ohio's Muirfield Village Golf Club with seven birdies in 11 holes only for two late bogeys to sour his finish.

"I played really well today," Woods said.

"I hit the ball so crisp and so solid and made some nice putts there on the front nine and had things rolling for a little bit."

Woods will now spend a week at his Jupiter, Florida home refining his game before heading to California's famed Pebble Beach - the seaside course where he won the 2000 US Open by a record 15 strokes.

It remains the largest margin of victory in major championship history.

Woods won the Masters in April, his 15th major title and fifth green jacket.

The 43-year-old says his goal at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial was to ready himself for the US Open and bounce back from a missed cut at the US PGA Championship in New York two weeks ago.

"I wanted to have something positive going into the Open and kind of sneak up there with a nice little top 10 possibly," Woods said of his goal on Sunday.

"I was never going to win the tournament with where I was at. I wanted to get to double digits today and I did. I just didn't stay there."

Adam Scott admits being outclassed by record-setting golfers on the US PGA Tour is crushing but believes his defeat to Memorial Tournament winner Patrick Cantlay has ignited a fire ahead of the US Open.

For the second time on the PGA Tour this season, the Australian finished solo second to a competitor beating records and forcing Scott's winless drought to continue.

On Sunday at Muirfield Village in Ohio, it was Cantlay and the 27-year-old American came from the clouds with an eight-under-par 64 to defeat Scott by two strokes at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial.

Cantlay started Sunday four strokes from the lead and his 64 was the lowest ever final round by a Memorial winner - beating the record which Tiger Woods last equalled when he triumphed in 2009.

"It's tough on the PGA Tour. Shoot twenty under or don't think about winning," Scott joked after posting a creditable 68 to finish at 17 under.

Scott also finished second at the PGA Tour event at California's famed Torrey Pines in January, when England's Justin Rose posted a 21-under (267) to earn the lowest 72-hole score there in 20 years.

"It's disappointing not to win, for sure," Scott said.

"I really played good golf this week and it just wasn't good enough. I've got to be a little bit better."

The 18-time major winner Nicklaus praised Scott's patience on Sunday given his worldwide winless drought is more than three years.

"When you haven't won for a while, you have a tendency to want to press but Adam was very patient," Nicklaus said.

"Adam played a good round of golf. On the 18th green, I said, 'You played well today but he ran into a 64'."

However, Scott has plenty of reasons to be optimistic as he heads to California this week to practice for the US Open at the iconic Pebble Beach.

His ball-striking was prolific, leading the elite Memorial field in iron play while finding a whopping 71 per cent of fairways.

Using the longer, broomstick putter, he is also ranked in the top 20 putters on the PGA Tour.

Scott is desperate to add an elusive second major title to his 2013 Masters victory and feels his five top-10 results from 12 PGA Tour starts this season are building towards his goal.

"I've got a sense of how good my game needs to be to hold up down the stretch at a major, especially (at Pebble Beach)," Scott said.

"I'm very happy with where things are at. It's just going to make me hungrier for two weeks' time now, and it's a good time to be playing well."

Marc Leishman was next best of the Australians, carding a 69 to finish outright fifth at 12 under.

Aaron Baddeley (73, five under) and Matt Jones (76, one under) rounded out the Australian contingent.

American Patrick Cantlay has credited some brutally honest advice from golf great Jack Nicklaus for his record-setting victory at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

Cantlay defeated Australia's Adam Scott by two strokes at the Nicklaus-hosted event on Sunday - continuing his rise after his promising career was stalled by a crippling back injury and a friend's death in a hit-and-run accident.

The 27-year-old Cantlay started Sunday four strokes from the lead but fired an eight-under-par 64 for the lowest ever final round by a Memorial winner - beating the record Tiger Woods last equalled when he triumphed in 2009.

Cantlay finished at 19 under, while Scott's creditable 68 left him solo second at 17 under and 54-hole leader Martin Kaymer was third two strokes further behind.

Cantlay's US$1.64 million (A$2.36m) Memorial win capped an already superb US PGA Tour season featuring a runner-up and a third placing among seven top-10s.

He arrived at the Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village buoyed by a third placing at the recent US PGA Championship.

But 18-time major winner Nicklaus gave him a dressing down.

"I've been playing well all year but haven't been able to close out any tournaments," Cantlay said.

"Then I see Mr Nicklaus in the men's grill and he says, 'You've got to figure out how to play those last 30 minutes."

Added Nicklaus: "It was understanding how to finish a tournament and what kind of an attitude you need; I was trying to help him with that."

The Memorial win is Cantlay's second PGA Tour title and many have predicted the former amateur world No.1 to have a stellar career.

The Californian has taken longer than expected to reach his potential having gone through several traumatic years earlier in his career.

His amateur resume included low-amateur honours at the US Open and Masters, as well as the 2011 Jack Nicklaus Award - given to America's most best collegiate golfer.

But Cantlay suffered a back injury in 2013 and played just nine tournaments while trying to recover from a stress fracture in his L5 vertebrae.

In 2016, his best friend, high school teammate and caddie, Chris Roth, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while the two were crossing a street in Newport Beach, California.

"After the difficulties with my friend Chris dying and being out so long with my back, I'm definitely a different person than I was before I went through any of those troubles," Cantlay said.

"But I don't necessarily connect the struggles to golf. That stuff changed me as a person. It was so much bigger than golf."

Marc Leishman was next best of the Australians, carding a 69 to finish outright fifth at 12 under, while five-time Memorial champion Tiger Woods (67) tied ninth at nine under.

Adam Scott is within striking distance of a drought-breaking US PGA Tour victory following a ball-striking masterclass on day three at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

Scott leads the elite field for iron play while recording his lowest ever 54-hole total at Ohio's Muirfield Village to sit just two strokes behind leader Martin Kaymer.

Scott found 12 of 14 fairways and hit a hugely impressive 16 of 18 greens in regulation during a six-under-par 66 that catapulted him to 13 under.

Two-time major winner Kaymer matched Scott's 66 to earn a 15-under total.

The two, who are close friends, will comprise Sunday's final group at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted $US9.1 million ($A13.1 million) event.

But both former world No.1s are in the middle of significant win droughts.

Scott has not won a tournament since 2016, while Kaymer's worldwide drought stretches back to 2015.

The 34-year-old Kaymer has not won on US soil since triumphing at the 2014 US Open.

Scott is hungry to secure victory at Muirfield Village and shake 18-time major winner Nicklaus' hand, which has become custom for the Memorial champion.

"It's been a while since (Kaymer and I) have won out here, so I'm sure we're both really going to want to play well and come away with a win," Scott said.

"There's a little something extra being the Memorial; it's one of those events that you'd really love to have on your resume before your career is over and I'm excited for the chance."

Kaymer, who also won the 2010 US PGA Championship, acknowledged fellow former world No.1 Scott would offer a fierce challenge.

"He doesn't have any weaknesses," the German said.

"People talk about him not putting well; I don't see that. I think he's a good putter and overall just a solid player."

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (64) shares third with three-time major winner Jordan Spieth (69) and fellow American Patrick Cantlay (68).

Scott's countryman Marc Leishman (69) is tied sixth and an outside chance at nine under.

Rounding out the Australians are Aaron Baddeley (68) at six under and Matt Jones (69) a stroke further behind.

Five-time Memorial winner Tiger Woods posted a 70 to sit at four under but well out of contention.