Usual Suspects Hope to Wing Their Way to Top

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — It’s not that unusual for each PGA Championship golf course to be one of major story lines, but because the year’s fourth and final major is being staged at historic Winged Foot, the story this time is about a great venue instead of a questionable one.

For the PGA, it has been a long and uphill struggle to gain respectability in a field of majors that already has the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.

In the past, the PGA has been played at some classic underachievers, such as in 1988 at Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Okla., where the place was squeezed between housing developments. Who can forget the no-African American member policy at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala., in 1990? The PGA would like to.

Last year there was Valhalla, out in the cornfields just outside Louisville, Ky. It was primarily notable because the PGA owned the place and didn’t have to pay anything to play there. It reminded everybody of the 1987 PGA Championship, which was played at PGA National, the organization’s home base in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Naturally, there have been exceptions, when great courses were added to the mix. There was Inverness in Toledo, Ohio, in 1986 and 1993, Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., in 1994 and Riviera in 1995.

Now there is Winged Foot, where 150 of the world’s best golfers have their work cut out for them beginning today.

As usual, the favorites include Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo, Jim Furyk and probably anyone else who manages to have one certain aspect of his game under control.

That would be accuracy off the tee. It’s not the 1974 U.S. Open, where the rough was like baled hay, but it’s still thick and flopped over and probably capable of swallowing golf balls whole.

Norman, who lost to Fuzzy Zoeller in a playoff in the 1984 U.S. Open, the last major staged at Winged Foot, said it’s not going to be easy for him or for anyone else.

“I guess my chances are as good as anybody in the field,” he said. “The course is great and it’s playing well. It reminds me of the last time we played here 13 years ago. It pretty much sets up the same way.

“It’s a tough golf course. You have to drive the ball in play. It’s kind of like Congressional was [for the U.S. Open]--a very, very tough golf course. If you miss the fairway, you are chipping it out.”

Yes, for anyone who misses the fairway, chances are good that he will be forced to try to hack the ball back onto the fairway close by because there’s very little chance of getting the ball to the green.

Norman said the fairways are more generous than he expected, but the greens are still small and undulating, although there was rain Wednesday and that might soften them a bit.

Curtis Strange, who missed the cut at Winged Foot in 1984, maintains the utmost respect for the place.

“Winged Foot tests all of your game,” he said. “It is, in my opinion, the best championship course you can put a major championship on. It has everything: long and short holes, narrowness, firm and small greens, deep bunkers. It has everything.”

What it doesn’t have is a clear-cut favorite. Not that it matters, though. Woods, Els and Leonard, the winners of the first three majors, were not prohibitive favorites when they won, although Woods may have come the closest.

No one should discount the redemption factor that’s working overtime here. The PGA represents the last chance for a handful of big-name golfers to make the most of a major-less year.

* Faldo: Missed the cut at the Masters, tied for 48th at the U.S. Open and tied for 51st at the British Open. It’s his worst year in the majors since 1985.

Faldo has studied videotapes of his swing and found he was hitting the ball wrong trying to hit a fade. To help his putting, Faldo is trying to return to a simpler shoulder motion.

“It’s a new game plan, so I feel good,” he said. “It’s sort of refreshing.”

* Mickelson: The 27-year-old left-hander has won twice this year and 11 times in his six-year career, but he still is looking for his first major title.

This may be the one. Mickelson’s deft touch around the greens will be invaluable, as long as he drives the ball straight. Then there is the PGA factor. Mickelson has three top-eight finishes in four PGAs, including a tie for sixth last year at Valhalla.

* Montgomerie: He failed miserably at the British Open, where he tied for 24th at his home course of Royal Troon. He also tied for 30th at the Masters, but finished second to Els at the U.S. Open and was runner-up to Steve Elkington in the 1995 PGA at Riviera, so he is capable.

In the meantime, the 34-year-old Scot is sitting in golf’s back seat while the younger Woods and Els and Leonard drive on, celebrating their major victories while his own still number zero.

* Norman: Is time running out for this 42-year-old superstar? For the seventh consecutive year, he has won at least one tournament, but it has been four years since his last major victory--the 1993 British Open.

In the meantime, questions about Norman abound. Does he still have it in big events? Did the loss of Butch Harmon’s teaching mean that much? Is he too old? How will you be able tell if someone with hair his color turns gray?

Norman had top-five PGA finishes in 1993 and 1994, so this one should tell us something about his future success competing in majors.

The other players have their own questions to answer.

Can they keep the ball on the fairway? If they don’t, can they find it? Starting today, we’re going to find out.