Normally, Toms Prefers Privacy

What price glory?

In the aftermath of winning last year’s PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, the previously and perfectly-happy-being-anonymous David Toms found himself being stalked by a fan at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

“I could tell he was staring at me,” Toms said. “When somebody is doing that, I just kind of look the other way or reach down and grab my phone like I’m talking on the phone or something because it kind of makes me uncomfortable.”

Toms tried to lose the guy, but couldn’t. He walked eight gates and then stuck his nose in a paper, yet the man persisted.

Finally, Toms looked at the man and said, “Is there something you want to say?”

And the guy said, “You know, you’re my favorite player. I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you.”

Toms was taken aback.

“Stuff like that freaks me out because I’m just a normal person,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t see myself that way.”

As a star, that is.

Toms, 35, eventually signed the fan’s cap and provided an autographed picture, but fame is the last thing he wanted in his golf career.

For a long time, it was no problem because no one outside golf circles knew much about Toms. Last year’s PGA title was his first major, although he has seven victories since joining the tour in 1992.

It did not bother Toms one bit that once, while in a restaurant, he was asked by management not to seek an autograph from Craig Stadler, who was sitting at another table.

Toms may be the only guy on tour who doesn’t want to be Tiger Woods.

“Yeah, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “I still have a life. I can go and come as I please. There’s certain things he can’t do. I really don’t see how he can get in a car at home and go down to Tinsel Town and go see a movie.”

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Hazeltine National Golf Club is a long course at 7,360 yards, yet a lot of players say it is a fairer test than the U.S. Open at Bethpage. There, Woods was the only player who finished under par.

“Not too many guys had a chance at Bethpage,” Jesper Parnevik said. “This week, a lot of guys are going to have a chance to win.”

Davis Love III says of Hazeltine: “This is more like what we play week in and week out--a more reasonable setup.”

Love might have a different opinion should the winds, as expected, kick up over the weekend.

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Curtis Strange, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, says his wife, Sarah, helped in designing the clothes the team will wear.

Said Strange: “Would you want to try to dress 12 men for a week by yourself?”

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Strange did a quick sidestep when he was asked if he would pair Woods and Phil Mickelson, whose sometimes frosty relationship has been in the news recently.

Said Strange: “It’s none of your business. No, actually, it is your business. It’s for me to know and you to find out. That’s nicer, isn’t it? I don’t know.”

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So Tiger has no time to shop at the Mall of America or enjoy any of the sights and attractions of the Twin Cities area. That’s a shame, because there’s quite a lineup for tourists.

The four-level Mall of America is so big, it has a seven-acre amusement park in it, called Camp Snoopy, featuring a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster. Of course, that’s not all. There’s also the Cereal Adventure, where you can actually make your own cereal, which comes in handy when you’re hungry. And you can also get your picture on a box of Wheaties--just like Tiger!

There is plenty more stuff to do in the area.

* Underwater Adventures (Ads say: “Turtley Awesome”)

* Minnesota Historical Society (Burma Shave signs, canoes, grain elevator, windmill and plastic cows to milk).

* Spam Museum (“Get a Taste of Interactive Spam”)

* Award Winning City Tours (featuring Mall of America, of course)