GOLF / PGA GRAND SLAM : Course May Have Taken Its Toll, but Norman Still Leads by Three

After playing 27 holes in a mere 8 1/2 hours, the PGA Grand Slam has revealed its true nature. It’s a get-rich-slowly scheme.

It seemed pretty clear that none of the winners of the year’s four majors was in much of a hurry to just take out a club and whack the $400,000 winner’s share out of the total purse of $1 million.

No, what Greg Norman, Paul Azinger, Bernhard Langer and Lee Janzen spent so much time doing Tuesday on the Nicklaus Resort Course at PGA West was hitting golf balls all over the place.

But why did they have to do it so slowly?

“The group in front of us held us up all day,” Janzen deadpanned.

Norman, at even-par 108 through 27 holes going into today’s last nine holes, leads by three shots over Azinger, four over Langer and five over Janzen.

It’s only fair. Not only did Norman set the pace on the leader board, but also in knocking balls into the water. He drenched four of them, one more than Azinger. Langer hit two into the water and Janzen one.

Add it up and that’s 10. Someone should have thrown those balls a float to make them more comfortable.

“We all mis-hit the shots today and we all mis-hit them in the wrong place,” Norman said.

The foursome also combined for five double bogeys, three triple bogeys as well as six penalty strokes by Langer, who failed along with his mates to fully appreciate the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout.

“They wouldn’t spend money on a course like that in Germany,” remarked Langer.

The course earned Langer’s disdain. Langer picked up two penalty strokes for hitting into the water twice, two for hitting out of bounds and two more for grounding his club in a bunker after hitting a shot 130 yards--into the same bunker.

Said Janzen: “When they made that rule, they weren’t thinking about a bunker the size of . . . “

“The Sahara Desert,” Norman interjected.

Langer’s explanation was simple: “I played awful.”

Norman, who called the course “disgusting,” also blamed it for having “too many angles,” although none seemed to come into play when he made his move on the back nine with three birdies in succession.

When he ran in a 20-foot chip shot from a grass bunker at the side of an elevated green on No. 2 the second time around, Norman put some distance between himself and the field.

Through No. 5, or 23 holes, his lead was six shots over Azinger, seven over Janzen and eight over Langer. He missed the green and two-putted for a bogey on No. 6, then had a double bogey on No. 8, when he knocked his drive into the water.

But for Norman, there’s nothing like a little eight-hour walk in the desert trying to drown golf balls for pay to brighten your day.

In addition to today’s winner’s check of $400,000, the runner-up gets $250,000, third-place is worth $200,000 and fourth place $150,000.

“I think we’re all thinking of the dollar value of nine holes,” Norman said. “If you play well, you get a nice little check.”

Said Azinger: “And if you play like crap, you still get a nice little check.”

Because of Norman’s commitment to play in the Pro-Am of the Franklin Funds Shark Shootout today, the PGA Grand Slam format was altered to suit his schedule, meaning 27 holes Tuesday and nine today.

The players changed clothes after 18 holes and will wear the same clothes today that they wore for the last nine holes Monday so tonight’s television audience won’t know that nine of the 18 holes they watch were played the day before.

So, there are nine holes left on a course the players would rather see lost in a sandstorm and there’s a cool $1 million on the line.

That last item probably is enough to make a believer out of anyone.

“I’ll go out there and play in the cactus for the kind of money we’re playing for,” Azinger said.