Argentina's Angel Cabrera returns to the US Open hoping to rediscover the magic that enabled him to claim his first major championship last year at Oakmont Country Club.

"It is an honour to be here and be defending my title," Cabrera said. "It is as great experience to be here as defending champion."

The 38-year-old Cabrera has consistently been one of the longest hitters on the tour. But if he is going to repeat as champion, he is going to need some cooperation from his putter.

"I am having a rough time with my putting right now. I am trying different putters," said Cabrera.

To remedy the problem, Cabrera had a new putter flown in from Arizona Tuesday so he could try it out on Wednesday.

"I have two putters, the one I used last year at Oakmont and the new one," said Cabrera. "I am going to use the one that feels the best on Thursday."

Cabrera is also trying to live a healthier lifestyle, recently giving up smoking.

"I am feeling much better now that I don't smoke. But life goes on whether I smoke or not, so I don't really care much about it," he said.

Cabrera won last year's Open, shooting rounds of 69-71-76-69 to win by one shot over runners-up Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.

The win marked his first victory on the USPGA Tour and came in his 31st career major start. Of his 18 career wins, 17 have come on the European or Asian tours.

Cabrera has struggled on the USPGA Tour in the first half of 2008. He has played 10 US events this year, missing the cut in two of his last four events.

In his most recent PGA tournament he shot a second round 81 and missed the cut at The Players Championship last month.

The week before he made the cut at the Wachovia Championship but suffered a final round collapse shooting an 82 to finish 72nd at 12 above par.

Cabrera finished at four-over par 292 to tie for 25th at the Masters in April.

After a couple of practice rounds this week, he now has a feel for the Torrey Pines course and says it favours big hitters like himself.

"It helps long hitters," he said. "But it is a US Open golf course, so you also have to be straight off the tee."

Last year, Cabrera finished eighth on the PGA Tour in driving distance with a 303.2 yard average.

AFP