Looking Into Eyes of Tiger

For everyone who isn’t Tiger Woods, and you know who you are, there may be hope this week.

When the 82nd PGA Championship begins today at Valhalla Golf Club, the 149 players who are not Tiger need only to check back to 1996 and feel better about their chances.

Four years ago in the PGA at Valhalla, the tournament came down to a race on the last day between Mark Brooks, Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran. Yes, Mark, Kenny and Russ battling it out in a major. The last time there was so much excitement around here, it was at a quilting bee.

Clearly, it was a tournament that anybody could win and Brooks wound up doing just that. However, the 1996 PGA had little residual effect. Brooks, who beat Perry in a playoff, hasn’t won since. So much for momentum.

Now look at this year’s championship. Woods is far and away the favorite at this suddenly rejuvenated PGA, which is looking interesting if only for the circumstance that he is the defending champion and at the same time thumbing through the history books with a chance to join Ben Hogan as the only players to win three majors in one year.

But if we have learned anything from Valhalla, besides the fact that the bugs are so big they need license plates, it is that this place might actually be kind to the Marks, Kennys and Russes of golf.

“It is a funny game,” Brooks said.

Maybe, but Brooks hasn’t had much to laugh about lately. His best finish in the last three months was a tie for 33rd at the Memorial. He has had three top 10s this year, but only one since April.

Brooks, 39, has won $522,163 in 20 tournaments and he ranks ninth in putting. But it’s getting to the green that has been Brooks’ problem. His driving distance is only 168th on tour and he is 104th in greens in regulation.

Then there is the strange case of Ernie Els. No one has ever finished second in all four majors in one year, but Els has a chance to complete the runner-up Grand Slam if he is second this week.

So far, Els was second to Vijay Singh at the Masters and second to Woods at the U.S. Open and British Open.

“On paper, it is unbelievable,” Els said. “I don’t think I would ever have imagined to finish second in each one of the majors this year. So when I sit back and think about it, those were good finishes, they just weren’t good enough.”

Since Els is the No. 2 player in the world, he doesn’t fit what appears to be the Valhalla form chart, where the unheralded may have the best chance.

Els and everyone else are aware that the best way to play Valhalla is to keep the ball on the fairway because the 4 1/2-inch bluegrass rough is a poor destination for any tee shot. Brooks says the players who limit their mistakes have the best chance to upset Woods.

“If Tiger plays like he is capable of playing, he is tough to beat,” Brooks said. “He has proven that. Any time you have the confidence level he has with the controlled power he has, I mean, he is going to be tough. Controlled power in every sport has always proven to be an advantage.

“If the guy is stronger, faster, smarter, all the other things, he usually wins. Right now, I think he is right there. I hope he has peaked.”

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Jack Nicklaus said he will play in the PGA Championship despite the death of his mother, Helen Nicklaus, who passed away Wednesday morning in Columbus, Ohio. She would have been 91 on Monday.

Nicklaus’ mother had been seriously ill for two years and Nicklaus had visited her Monday. Nicklaus was playing the fourth hole of his practice round when he learned of her death.

Nicklaus told Jim Awtrey, the PGA’s chief executive officer, that his mother had often expressed a concern that she would pass away at a critical time in his career.

“He indicated that she was prepared for death, [and] he felt that [it] was a blessing,” Awtrey said of his conversation with Nicklaus.

Nicklaus, who is paired with Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh in the first two rounds, is playing in his 37th PGA Championship, a tournament he has won five times.

Funeral services for Helen Nicklaus are pending. Nicklaus’ father, Charles, died in 1970.

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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

TV SCHEDULE

Today

TNT, 10 a.m.--4 p.m.

Friday

TNT, 10 a.m.--4 p.m.

Saturday

TNT, 7:30 a.m.--10 a.m.

Ch. 2, 10:30 a.m.--3:30 p.m.

Sunday

TCN, 7:30 a.m.--10 a.m.

Ch. 2, 10:30 a.m.--3:30 p.m.

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SPECIAL SECTION

A 12-page Focus on Golf compares the golden years of Ben Hogan (1953) and Tiger Woods (2000). Plus, exclusive hole-by-hole analysis by course designer Jack Nicklaus. Section S