ANTIQUES SHOPS

Long regarded as one of the best putters in the game with a stroke that flows like fine honey, the 45-year-old American has been struggling on the greens in recent weeks.

"The last month has been a little unlike what I've been doing the last five or six years," Stricker, a 12-times winner on the PGA Tour, told reporters on Tuesday while preparing for Thursday's opening round.

"I just haven't been able to get the ball in the hole really as well as I have been over the last few years. But otherwise I'm hitting the ball fine, so I'm looking forward to this week.

"I put a lot of time in chipping and putting (practice) at home and I'm trying to get that a little bit straighter in my mind. Hopefully I'll put it all together this week. I enjoy the course. I love being here."

Stricker has fond memories of Olympic, having tied for fifth place when the U.S. Open was last staged here in 1998. He played in the final round of that year's edition with the eventual champion Lee Janzen.

However, he accepts that his own window of opportunity is beginning to close as he bids to win the first major title of an otherwise glittering career.

"I'm 45, my chances are probably dwindling a little bit, but I still feel like my game is pretty good," former world number two Stricker said. "I do a lot of good things still, I think. I keep the ball in play.

"Besides the last month or so, I've been playing fairly smart, but the last month has been a little different. I've thrown some shots away and really not taken care of my game the way I normally do.

"So hopefully with what's on the line this week I'll be a little bit sharper mentally and get things going."

Stricker won his most recent PGA Tour title at the season-opening Tournament of Champions in Hawaii but, despite his respected status among his peers, he does not include himself among the favorites for this week.

"I'm an underdog for sure, that's what I'm telling myself anyways," he grinned. "The way I played the last few tournaments, I'm not carrying a ton of confidence in here, but I've been playing well in spurts.

"There are so many good players and we've got to be looking at Tiger (Woods) or Phil (Mickelson) or Rory (McIlroy) or Lee Westwood, who won last week, younger guys that hit it further.

"But I'm not discrediting myself at all. I feel like I can hold my own and I've played well in prior U.S. Opens. If I play my game and I'm capable at what I'm doing, I can get myself in there."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in San Francisco; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Sanders released information provided by the Government Accountability Office showing representatives of 18 banks that got emergency Fed funds during the 2007-2009 financial crisis while their top executives served on the boards of regional Fed banks.

"This report reveals the inherent conflicts of interest at the Fed," Sanders said in a statement.

Dimon, a member of the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, had taken on a leading role as spokesman for the banking industry's objections to financial reforms aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2007-2009 crisis. He is due to testify before Congress on Wednesday about embarrassing trading losses at his firm that have raised questions about oversight.

Sanders has proposed legislation barring bankers from having a role on the board of the 12 regional Fed banks, saying it is wrong for executives to govern an institution that regulates their firms.

The Federal Reserve - the U.S. central bank and lender of last resort - is composed of a seven-member board of directors in Washington and 12 regional Fed banks around the country, each of which has its own board of directors.

The president appoints the members of the Fed board, subject to Senate confirmation, and each board member votes at monetary policy meetings.

The regional Fed bank presidents, who have rotating rights to vote at policy gatherings, are selected by their own boards of directors. The boards are composed of bankers, business people, and community representatives selected by regional banks and by the Fed board.

Members of regional Fed bank boards are prohibited by Fed policy from involvement in regulatory actions, and are limited to providing information about the evolution of the regional economy.

Defenders of the existing system say regional directors have no influence over supervision and play an important role in interpreting economic trends that helps in policymaking.

However, critics charge that because the board members help select the regional institution's president, there is in fact a conflict.

A GAO report on possible conflicts of interest in the Fed governance system concluded that there were none, but there was the risk of an appearance of conflict.

The report said that while directors of regional banks were consulted during the creation of emergency programs, only those firms that satisfied eligibility requirements were allowed to use them. GAO said directors were not involved in making decisions about approving or setting terms for any loans.

The Fed board and regional Fed banks declined to comment on Wednesday.

While the names of institutions receiving emergency Fed loans during the crisis is public, the GAO identified the bankers who were serving on regional Fed boards, and how much their firms received, a Sanders spokesman said.

GAO named bankers and business people with possible conflicts sitting on the board of nine of the regional Feds, Sanders said. Besides Dimon, the GAO identified former New York Fed board members Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, and Sanford Weill, former chief executive of Citigroup. (Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Leslie Adler)