GOING TO GREAT LENGTHS

It’s four days of mayhem at Medinah Country Club, where the 88th PGA Championship begins today, with Tiger Woods once again in his role as prohibitive favorite. That would be the long and short of it ... if there actually was anything short about this place, which there isn’t.

At 7,561 yards, the No. 3 course at Medinah is the longest major championship venue in golf history. . Woods, his chief protagonist Phil Mickelson and 154 others in the field, are going to tackle a revamped and buff Medinah layout with eight holes that are 453 yards or longer.

One of them is the par-five 14th hole at a whopping 605 yards, where the challenges are many. The landing area for the tee shot is into a hill on the fairway that slopes slightly to the right. Players must clear another hill with their second shot to leave a short iron to the green, which is fronted by a series of bunkers and tilts from back to front.

Golf course designer Rees Jones removed about 300 trees from the course, but there is still a small forest guarding the fairways, arching the doglegs and circling most of the greens. Jones was the architect who oversaw the work at Medinah, which is 160 yards longer than it was for the 1999 PGA Championship, when Woods won his second major title.

Jones also renovated seven greens, most notably the 197-yard, par-three 17th hole. This hole is actually a bit shorter, but it has a new green and the putting surface has been shifted from its perch on a hill down to the edge of Lake Kadijah. The tee is elevated and the green is wider than it is deep, with a pot bunker protecting the back, left side.

At the 1999 PGA Championship, Woods saved a par at the 17th with a dramatic downhill eight-footer on the last day.

“That green is no longer there. I keep thinking about it in the brain since it’s no longer physically there. I can’t go back and hit putts there and reminisce anymore,” Woods said.

With four par-five holes and a par 72, Medinah might be susceptible to surrendering some low scores. In the 1999 PGA Championship, the average score for the tournament was 73.52, but Woods won at 11 under 277, one shot better than Sergio Garcia.

Mickelson, who tied for 57th in 1999, and finds himself in a superstar grouping with Woods and Geoff Ogilvy the first two rounds, has mapped a plan.

“I think the par fives work best because they are marginally reachable,” Mickelson said. “They’re reachable if you hit some really big tee shots. I like being able to go after the par fives and try to attack them and get on or near the putting surface and go after those birdies on those holes. [They are] the best example of playing aggressive here at Medinah.”

The grouping of British Open champion Woods, Masters champion Mickelson and U.S. Open winner Ogilvy may well prove great theater, regardless of how their games stand up. Michael Campbell is convinced all three will excel when the first two rounds are completed.

“I think Phil and Tiger will be very close together. They will pull each other along, drag each other along in their slipstreams. And Geoff, he’s obviously done great this year. He’ll be up there too. He’s a great ball striker and he has every chance to do as well as the other two.”

It was Campbell who withstood a challenge by Woods on the last day of the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst to win his first major title. But because Woods has won his last two tournaments -- the British Open and the Buick Open -- Campbell said the favorite this week is an obvious choice.

“His form is second to none. I think Earl [Woods’] passing away

This final major championship of the year, with its distinctive pairing of the top two players in the world for the first two rounds, may set up as intriguing golf, compelling drama or somewhere in between. Woods and Mickelson have gone out of their way to insist there is no deep rift between them, only a natural rivalry and mutual respect.

Chris DiMarco said he was as interested as anyone in the Woods dynamic and how it related to Mickelson.

“Tiger has become like my Florida Gators,” DiMarco said. “I think people either love them or they don’t want them to win.... It’s just because he’s so good that I think people are tired of seeing him win. But the thing about it is, I know that they all respect him for as good as he’s playing, they just want to see somebody else.

“And Phil has been the one lately who’s stepped up and won against him. So I think you’ll see it’s going to be loud. I feel sorry for Geoff Ogilvy, because you’re going to have people that just love Tiger and people that just love Phil and they’re going to be screaming at each other.

“You’ve got two of probably the best players at the top of their games right now playing together. I think it’s awesome.”

With its trees, water and length, Medinah has its own big three ready, beginning today.

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The longest yards

Seven longest courses in major championship history:

*--* COURSE WHERE YARDS MAJOR Medinah Medinah, Ill. 7,561 2006 PGA Championship Whistling Straits Sheboygan, Wis. 7,514 2004 PGA Championship Augusta National Augusta, Ga. 7,445 2006 U.S. Masters Columbine Littleton, Colo. 7,436 1967 PGA Championship Carnoustie Carnoustie, Scotland 7,361 1999 British Open Hazeltine Chaska, Minn. 7,360 2002 PGA Championship Crooked Stick Carmel, Ind. 7,295 1991 PGA Championship

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Source: Reuters