GOLF PGA CHAMPIONSHIP : Australians Are Coming, but Will They Be Back?

They come from the land Down Under and they’re on the way up, threatening to replace European stars as the major foreign factor in the 73rd PGA Championship.

The last of the year’s Big Four events begins Thursday with a tough, seasoned cadre of Australians high among the favorites.

“We’ve been there for a while. It’s just that not many people noticed,” said Ian Baker-Finch.

Baker-Finch made them notice -- and underscored the Australian rise -- by winning the British Open last month.

That triumph came over another Australian, Mike Harwood, and marked the first time that Aussies held two of the game’s four major titles at once.

Wayne Grady, a Brisbane native who, like Baker-Finch, plays regularly on the U.S. tour, won the PGA a year ago with a grind-it-out victory that was all but overlooked in the furor surrounding the then whites-only membership policy of the host course, Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala.

The situation led to major golf organizations requiring open-membership practices for all clubs hosting their events, and Shoal Creek itself admitted at least one black member.

Race is not an issue this year. But -- in a different way -- the PGA remains on trial.

A number of leading Europeans players who have dominated the game in recent years were very critical of the extremely difficult set-up of Shoal Creek, with narrow fairways, penalizing rough and hard, fast greens.

Ian Woosnam, for example, said he wouldn’t be back.

The little Welshman changed his mind after winning the Masters earlier this year but warned that if the PGA course isn’t set up in a more forgiving fashion next weekend, “it will be the last time I’ll play.”

The test will occur at Crooked Stick, a 7,289-yard, par-72 Pete Dye-designed course in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis, where watering of the course during a 20-day drought raised the ire of some local residents.

The rough, PGA spokesman Andy O’Brien said, is about 3 1/2 inches, a little less than last year “and not nearly so severe.”

Americans comprise the bulk of the 150-man field and Payne Stewart, the 1989 PGA champ, appears to be the leading U.S. contender. Any let-down he encountered following his U.S. Open victory in June was put aside last week in a run-away victory in the Dutch Open.

Fred Couples and Mark O’Meara have yet to win in major-tournament play but are frequent contenders.

Despite a playoff loss a week ago, Corey Pavin appears to be moving back to the top of his game. He has won twice this year and leads the PGA Tour in money-winnings.

Paul Azinger, recovering from shoulder surgery, will be making his first start in more than a month.

In addition to Woosnam, the large European contingent includes Nick Faldo and Stephen Richardson of England, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Marie Olazabal of Spain, Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance of Scotland and Bernhard Langer of Germany.

Baker-Finch and Grady are joined by fellow Australians Harwood; Steve Elkington, a winner on the American Tour this year; Craig Parry, a winner on the European Tour; Peter Senior, a winner in Australia; David Graham, a former PGA and U.S. Open winner; and, of course, Greg Norman.

Norman, once considered the outstanding player in the world, is attempting a comeback from burnout. He blew a chance to win the Western Open but had a top-10 finish in the British, his only two starts since withdrawing from the U.S. Open.

Tom Watson, another who once held the world No. 1 spot, has a couple of extra incentives in this tournament.

For one thing, he needs only this title to become the fifth player to score career sweeps of the Masters, U.S. and British Opens and the PGA. He has called it his top career priority.

And, despite the lack of a victory since 1987, the 41-year-old Watson has reason to believe he can do it. He chased Woosnam to the Masters title this year and was in title contention through three rounds of the British Open.

Which leads to Jack Nicklaus.

Nicklaus won the U.S. Senior Open in his last start, beating Chi Chi Rodriguez with a 65 in a playoff at Oakland Hills.

His masterpiece at one of America’s more difficult courses prompted Nicklaus to look to the PGA with more confidence.

“If I can play anywhere near as good as I did ... “ he said.

The sentence trailed off unfinished. But the implication was obvious.

Watson and Nicklaus could be bit players in the major subplot for the Americans -- filling the U.S. Ryder Cup team for next month’s matches against Europe at Kiawah Island, S.C.

The points list, based on top-10 placings in PGA Tour events since the start of the 1990 season, closes here.

Couples, Stewart, Lanny Wadkins, Hale Irwin, Azinger, Pavin and O’Meara are virtually assured of places on the team that will play Europe’s best at Kiawah Island, S.C. late next month.

Mark Calcavecchia, Wayne Levi and Tim Simpson hold the last three places on the list at the moment.