AROUND THE GREENS
A Woods win this week would be grand for PGA
By Bill Kwon
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| The PGA Grand Slam of Golf on Kaua'i is hoping Tiger Woods, shown accepting a lei from Kayla Tokuda after winning his fifth consecutive title, will return in December. He'll have to win this week in order to do so.
AP library photo • Nov. 27, 2002 |
Specifically, what if they held the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Kaua'i's Po'ipu Bay Resort in December, and Tiger Woods couldn't make it?
Not that Masters champion Mike Weir, U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk and British Open champion Ben Curtis are nobodies.
But it won't be the same without Tiger. Especially at the PGA Grand Slam, where he is the five-time defending champion.
So the PGA Championship, which starts today at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., has become more of a Tiger watch than usual. It is his last chance this year to win a major.
Everybody's squeezing, including Kaua'i hoteliers. Imagine the room cancellations if Tiger's a no-show.
A victory by Woods on Sunday would be a double slam for the PGA of America, which sponsors both the PGA Championship and the showcase PGA Grand Slam.
However, there is a lot more riding in this week's PGA Championship than the final spot in the PGA Grand Slam.
Regarded as the minor of golf's four majors, the PGA Championship has taken on greater significance this year for Woods. It would put an end to all that talk he finds annoying about his "slump" in the major championships. More important, it would virtually assure him of winning the Player of the Year title for the fifth straight year.
Unlike previous years, it seems like there are more guys in the running for that title than in the California governor's race.
That honor likely would go to Weir or Furyk if one of them doubles up in the majors or perhaps Davis Love III — like Tiger, a four-time winner this year — if he goes on to win the PGA Championship again.
The same goes for Kenny Perry, a three-time winner this year and shooting for victory No. 4.
Despite his four victories so far, Woods knows that the one thing lacking from making it a great year for him is winning a major. Nothing short of a major will do.
It's said that golfers play for money every week. But when they play in the majors, they're playing for history. And Woods wants to make history every time he tees it up.
"If you win a major championship, it's a great year, simple as that," he has said. "Majors are so much better than anything else."
A 'quirky' major
Whatever happens, golf history is waiting to happen this week in the 85th PGA Championship.
It has been a real quirky major over the years with a lot of whodaguy winners.
Defending champion Rich Beem for one. John Daly burst on the golf scene and into our consciousness with his improbable victory as an alternate replacing Nick Price in 1991.
Mark Brooks, Wayne Grady, Steve Elkington and Jeff Sluman are other former PGA champions who won't make you forget Arnold Palmer or Tom Watson. But at least they got the one major trophy that Arnie and Tom didn't get.
Come to think of it, this is the major that golf's new "Big Ben" should have won, not the British Open. Twelve of the past 15 winners made the PGA Championship their first major victory. Boy, if Curtis ever wins this weekend, what a golf story of 2003 it would be.
A victory by Curtis, Weir or Fuyrk could possibly open the way for Tiger to get into this year's PGA Grand Slam — as an alternate. Woods, though, is third on the alternate list behind Vijay Singh and Ernie Els going into the final major of the year.
Holy Toledo
The PGA Championship isn't the only tournament of interest to local golf fans this week.
The Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, this week's LPGA Tour stop in Toledo, Ohio, should draw as much attention if Michelle Wie, the heralded 13-year-old Punahou School phenom, can make the 36-hole cut and survive to play the weekend.
Despite her first-round loss in the U.S. Women's Amateur last week, Wie continues to be upbeat about her long summer tour. Wie said after the loss she wasn't "that heart-broken" because she shot a 67 the day before in finishing second in the 36-hole qualifying.
She's finding out that anything can happen in match-play competition.
Her forte is still stroke play, and look for her to make the cut in her fourth straight LPGA event this year.
No Vijay on this tour
There's no negative reaction from the seniors about Jan Stephenson becoming the first woman to play in the Champions Tour event at the Turtle Bay Championship in October.
And nobody is as outspoken as Vijay Singh was about Annika Sorenstam's appearance in the Bank of America Colonial in May.
"My opinion is the same as it was with Annika," Turtle Bay defending champion Hale Irwin said in a previous interview. "It's great for golf, and I don't see anything terribly wrong with it."
Said Tom Kite: "I'm all for anything that creates interest in the game. Hopefully, Jan's playing will add some kind of enthusiasm and excitement, bring some added interest to the Champions Tour."
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
