He Disdains the Straight and Narrow : U.S. Open: Medinah requires nearly perfect drives. Calcavecchia is better known for distance, not accuracy, off the tee.

Mark Calcavecchia, the defending British Open champion who celebrated his 30th birthday here Tuesday, is reasonably certain of winning more major championships.

But he still considers the U.S. Open a longshot for him.

“I haven’t changed my opinion,” Calcavecchia said. “I think Medinah (Country Club in suburban Chicago, site of the Open this weekend) will be the toughest of the four majors to win.

“I may win five majors, 10, or even one. If I do win a bunch more, I don’t think too many will be U.S. Opens. I’m not scared of U.S Opens, or this golf course. But the way the (United States Golf Assn.) sets them up, a lot of players are eliminated right out of the chute because they can’t play these courses.”

Calcavecchia, normally a confident, daring player who is long off the tee, stopped short of including himself among those without a chance.

Nonetheless, he isn’t as confident playing on U.S. Open-type courses.

“(The traditional Open course, with narrow fairways and demanding rough) favors a certain type of player,” Calcavecchia said. “People always say, ‘Was it fair, or wasn’t it?’ Look at Medinah and St. Andrews (site of this year’s British Open) and you’ve got the difference between this interview tent and the clubhouse. It’s like night and day. There are 100 million trees out here and only a couple of shrubs at St. Andrews.

“You can drive the ball anywhere out there. Here, you have to drive it straight. I’ll have a better chance as the years go by to win the Masters, or British Open.”

Asked to identify the players best suited for Open courses, Calcavecchia said: “I’m sticking with three players. Obviously, Curtis Strange. If you can win two, you can win three and there’s no reason he can’t win again. There’s pressure on him, but he handles pressure better than anyone in the game.

“Then, there’s Tom Kite. He’s steady and patient and hits it straight. And the other is Nick Faldo, who also hits it straight and is a great putter. I think one of those three has a great chance to win.”

Calcavecchia was reminded that Medinah’s No. 3 course measures 7,195 yards, making it the longest Open venue in the 90-year history of the tournament.

Wouldn’t that factor be an advantage for him, or Greg Norman, another long hitter?

“It’s a short-long course,” Calcavecchia said. “Yardage-wise it’s long, but it doesn’t play that long. Accuracy is a premium here.

“Obviously, long and straight is a great combination. If Norman or I hit every fairway, we can win by 10 shots. But neither one of us is going to come close to doing that, or anyone else.

“I’ll probably only hit seven or eight drivers, which is five or six more than than the other guys will hit, but that’s under calm conditions.”

Calcavecchia didn’t play a practice round Tuesday, when the wind was causing havoc. He played Monday under calmer conditions.

He said few players will break par if the wind persists when the tournament begins Thursday.

Calcavecchia said that he can play only so many practice rounds before he gets becomes bored.

“I hate ‘em,” Calcavecchia said of practice rounds. “I lose my concentration.”

He ranks third on this year’s money winning list with $648,244, without winning a tournament. He has finished second four times.

He is sometimes regarded as the next star on the tour, if he fulfills his potential.

Calcavecchia has been hobbled in recent weeks by an injured little toe on his left foot. He was walking barefoot when he tried to jump over some rocks and hit a pipe.

“The toe was jammed straight back and it went completely black,” he said. “In fact, the whole foot was black and blue and very painful.”

He suffered the injury nearly three weeks ago and has since cut out a portion of his golf shoe to give his sore toe some freedom.

“It’s not going to affect my game,” he said. “It bothers me more when I’m walking than when I’m hitting the ball.”

Calcavecchia is more concerned about the course than about his injured toe. Asked if playing in the Open is more of a duty than a pleasure, Calcavecchia said:

“It’s both. It’s a lot of work. It’s a tough tournament because of the tightness of the course and heavy rough. If you had to play this course every week of the year, you wouldn’t have anyone left. They’d all quit the game. So it’s not a whole bunch of fun.”

Golf Notes

Mark Calcavecchia was asked about Briton Nick Faldo’s chances of accomplishing a grand slam. He already has a victory in the Masters and would have to win here, at the British Open and the PGA championship to pull it off. “It’s about as possible as you winning the U.S. Open this week,” Calcavecchia told a reporter. “It’s a zillion to one, but Nick is the only one who can do it. He can win this tournament and (the British Open at) St. Andrews. If he does that, by the time he got to the PGA he would be in mental shambles.”