Toms Down on His Game

David Toms is not only defending his title in the PGA Championship, he is also the No. 6-ranked golfer in the world. That’s why what Toms said Thursday after his five-over-par 77 sounded so unusual.

Toms played in a group with Tiger Woods and Ernie Els and said, basically, that he didn’t belong there.

“To be honest with you, the two guys I played with today, I’m just not in their league,” he said. “These guys are hitting six-irons and seven-irons [into a par three] and I’m trying to finagle a four-iron in there somehow. You just can’t compete with that, week in and week out.

“Other guys think they can contend with them, but they’re just kidding themselves. We’re just second fiddles.”

Woods says Toms simply had a bad day.

“It looked like he was kind of struggling off the tee,” Woods said. “He made some good putts, but he missed a few too, which is not like him. He’ll fix it on the range. He’s a great champion.”

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Rees Jones oversaw the redesign of Hazeltine National, which is the design of his late father, Robert Trent Jones. According to Jones, the 16th hole may be the one that decides the championship.

There is a lot of trouble on the 402-yard par four. The tee shot has to carry 220 yards of Hazeltine Lake in order to reach the fairway, which has water on both sides.

Jones said the green is one of the original greens and is double-tiered with undulations.

“I like it; I think it’s going to be very interesting,” he said.

John Daly might have used a different word to describe No. 16.

The 1991 PGA champion made an 11 there, but unlike other times, he didn’t phone in the rest of his round. He earned comeback-of-the-day honors when he recovered to shoot a 33 on his back nine for a 77.

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Ever wonder what golfers do during weather delays?

Jim Furyk said that during Thursday’s three-hour delay he read some fiction in the clubhouse.

“I pretty much read all the stuff you guys wrote last week,” Furyk joked to the assembled media.

When he got bored of ink-stained wretches, Furyk turned his attention to the Golf Channel, which was replaying past PGA Championships.

“When I left, ‘Zinger [Paul Azinger] was winning the ’93 PGA. We were making fun of everyone and the clothes we wore back then.”

Said Woods: “We ate a lot. We ate breakfast three times. Lunch wasn’t out yet.”

Tom Lehman said, “I fell asleep.”

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Ninety-eight of the world’s top 100 golfers were in the field of 156, which made it tough going for club pros such as Kent Stauffer, who shot 15-over 87.

The top 25 club professionals received invitations for the PGA, but Stauffer wishes he could have made a stronger showing.

“This is the worst that I have played in the five majors that I have played in,” said Stauffer, director of instruction at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.. “I don’t know if you want to call it not being prepared or letting the elements get to you.”

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Had Fred Funk won last week’s Buick Open--he tied for second--he said he would have dedicated his sixth PGA Tour victory to his 57-year-old brother Bernie, who checked himself into a Florida hospital to start rehabilitation after suffering from alcoholism and depression for years.

Should Funk go from sharing the opening-round lead to winning, the former University of Maryland golf coach probably will credit his big brother for giving him the courage to overcome the self-doubts that have plagued Funk from time to time.

“It has helped me, no question about it,” Funk said. “To see a guy who has been suffering admit that he needs help, that meant a lot to me. It just makes you proud. Last week, I kept telling myself that my brother has shown a lot of strength and that I could do the same when it came to playing golf.”

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Prize money for the 84th PGA Championship is a record $5.5 million, with $990,000 going to the winner. Last year, the purse was $5.2 million and Toms made $936,000.

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Times wire services contributed to this report.