The U.S. Open at venerable Bethpage Black is more than five weeks away, but it’s already weighing heavily on Tiger Woods’ mind.

Woods, still smarting from his failure to seize the moment on the back nine Sunday at the Masters last month, is pining for another crack at the Black, where he won the U.S. Open in 2002.

Yesterday, during a conference call, Woods recalled the electric atmosphere that engulfed the players at Bethpage in 2002 and said he can’t want to feel that energy again.

“The crowds were amazing,” Woods said. “That atmosphere I don’t think we have ever seen. Obviously the state of our country — 9/11 happened — and everyone . . . came out and supported and wanted some type of relief. The fans were truly into it. If you made a putt, people went crazy. It was ton of fun to play in front of that.

“It was exciting not just for the fans but for the players, just an incredible atmosphere and on top of that, the golf course was extremely difficult. If (Bethpage Black) was set up the way we played the Open every day, I don’t think anybody would play golf anymore,” Woods joked.

Bethpage will provide Woods with a unique double defense of sorts since he’s the defending U.S. Open champion, having won last June at Torrey Pines, and he won the Open the last time it was at Bethpage. In all, Woods, who also won at Pebble Beach, has three U.S. Open titles.

Woods, who tees it up Thursday at The Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass, said he plans to visit Bethpage sometime in the coming weeks to scout out how the Black Course has changed since 2002.

“I will go up there prior to the Open, or the Open week,” he said. “I need to check it out, because they have obviously made some changes since 2002.”