Jim Furyk is determined to acquaint himself with Mid Ocean's gigantic undulating greens well before the start of the Grand Slam, having played last season's tournament without a dry run.

Last year saw a bleary-eyed Furyk tee off from hole one after arriving in Bermuda in the early hours of the morning from Korea where he had finished third in the Shinhan Donghae Open.

He later confessed he still had not properly woken up by the end of the first round with the tricky greens hitting him like a "slam in the face".

But the 2003 US Open winner told The Royal Gazette yesterday he would be getting in at least two practice rounds before Tuesday as he looks to make up for his disappointing third place finish in 2007.

"Hopefully I'll have a lot more fun at the Grand Slam this year," said Furyk, who once again qualified for the event without winning a major.

"Last year I arrived at midnight on the Monday, so I missed the Pro-Am and had no practice run at all.

"It certainly wasn't ideal preparation for the tournament and there were more blind shots than I remembered.

"I'll be having a practice round on Sunday to get a feel for the course as I really want to make up for last time."

Furyk's family will be again be accompanying him to Bermuda and while the 38-year-old admits his visit resembles a working holiday he stressed he would still be pulling out the stops to slip on the 'pink jacket'.

"The Grand Slam is certainly a more relaxed event," said Furyk, who was scheduled to arrive in Bermuda today. "My family had a great time last year and will be returning for a vacation. I don't get the chance to visit Bermuda very often and I'm looking forward to enjoying myself.

"However, as soon as the tournament starts it's business as usual for me and I'm looking to win.

"I won my first appearance at the Grand Slam, then came second and finished third last year ¿ I've started a trend I really need to buck."

Furyk expects the picturesque ocean-side course to be equally as challenging as last year, especially the pin placements that prevented the elite foursome from attacking the holes with any real confidence.

"I certainly found Mid Ocean tricky," said Furyk, whose distinctive looping swing was described by one pundit as "like an octopus falling out of a tree".

"It wasn't so much the course that was tricky but the actual set-up ¿ the pin placement was extremely difficult.

"It's only a small course and we had a lot of wedges and short irons in our hands and I think the PGA wanted to make sure the scores weren't too low."