It’s the last chance for a first impression

TULSA, Okla. -- The last three winners of the PGA Championship are Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, who are probably as close to golf’s most major players as you’re going to find these days. They’ve combined for 18 major titles -- 12 by Woods -- so they have strength in numbers.

And that brings us to steamy Southern Hills Country Club, where players are exchanging golf gloves for oven mitts. The most sought-after players to be paired with are probably John Daly and Tim Herron, who give off the most shade.

The forecast the rest of the week for the 98th PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the year, looks familiar -- lingering heat and a first-time winner.

One possible exception: Woods.

No one is hotter. A three-time PGA Championship winner, Woods won last year at Medinah, so he has a good memory of this event, and also last week at Firestone, where he won by eight shots. That’s also a pleasant memory that many feel will serve him well this week.

So too will the way Woods is hitting the ball. He hit his five-iron at the 10th hole 230 yards in one of his practice rounds.

“I think he’s still the guy to beat every day of the week,” Retief Goosen said.

In the last major played at Southern Hills, the 2001 U.S. Open, Goosen won in an 18-hole playoff with Mark Brooks, who won his only major in the 1996 PGA at Valhalla.

Ten players in the last 17 years have won their first major title at the PGA Championship -- Wayne Grady, Daly, Paul Azinger, Steve Elkington, Brooks, Davis Love III, Singh, David Toms, Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel.

Could it happen again? It has been the theme in the first three majors, with Zach Johnson winning the Masters, Angel Cabrera the U.S. Open and Padraig Harrington the British Open.

Johnson said the first-time-major-winner trend should be rejected.

“I think too much is made of it,” he said. “Bottom line is everybody’s good. Doesn’t matter if it’s a tour event or a major. Doesn’t surprise me. It surprises obviously sometimes the media and certainly the fans, some of the names they haven’t heard of or aren’t household names, like myself at the Masters.

“You’re going to hear more stories about those type, and it might surprise you for the most part, it might be a little shocking to us, but when it comes down to it, anybody who has a good week can win.”

Woods has had more good weeks than anyone in 2007.

He has won four times, tied for second at the Masters and the U.S. Open and tied for 12th at the British Open. The $1.35-million paycheck he picked up Sunday at Firestone brought him to $6.5 million so far on the PGA Tour ($2.1 million ahead of second-place Singh).

Woods also leads with a 68.29 scoring average, nearly a full stroke ahead of Singh in second with 69.13.

But without a major this year, Woods is stuck on 12, and Southern Hills is his last chance.

“Golf-wise, its been pretty good, but not great,” Woods said. “I just think the major championships are valued that highly and I’ve come close. Just haven’t gotten it done yet.”

Southern Hills isn’t considered an ideal layout for Woods, with its many doglegs and narrow fairways that probably will take the driver out of his hands. With only two par fives, Southern Hills would seem to negate Woods’ power, but Woods says he has adjusted.

“You just do what the course allows you to do,” he said. “I’m hitting the ball in the same spots I did in 2001 [for the U.S. Open, when Woods tied for 12th]. And probably a little bit less club because it’s warmer. Those two factors. I’m playing the same spots that I did in ‘01, but it’s just with different clubs.”

The two players directly behind Woods in the rankings, Jim Furyk and Mickelson, are both getting over injuries. Furyk has a bad back that forced him out of last week’s tournament and Mickelson is still recuperating from his left wrist injury that has bothered him since the U.S. Open.

That would seem to leave the door open for anybody who’s playing well, and because this is the PGA Championship, that really means anybody. In years past, the PGA couldn’t get out of its way, playing on second-rate courses with too many club pros in the field, but neither is the case now. The event has the top-rated field of any event all year.

At one time, the PGA Championship seemed to be a warmup for the Ryder Cup, but that’s not until next year.

This week, it could be seen as a prelude to the upcoming FedEx Cup race for the PGA Tour, but no one knows how that will shake out.

On Wednesday, the PGA of America had 2008 Ryder Cup captain Azinger announce Dick Stockton, Raymond Floyd and Olin Browne as co-captains, which was either nice (if early) timing or yet another example of stealing the spotlight away from its headline tournament.

So what’s the headline for this week? First-Time Winner or Woods Gets His Major? The way it goes at the PGA Championship, it could be either.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com