Is PGA really the poor man's Major ?

Perception is reality in this business, and sometimes vice-versa.

For instance, the perception is that the PGA Championship is the least creditable of the Grand Slam events, the Pete Best of golf's Fab Four, the Tito of golf's Jackson family of major championships. And reality is that the 82nd PGA will be held at unheralded Valhalla Country Club in 2000, the same year the Masters was at Augusta National, the U.S. Open was at Pebble Beach and the British Open was at St. Andrews. Which of those venues doesn't really go with the others? You make the call.

Perception is reality, reality is perception, one in the same.

More often, however, the two are in conflict, creating pictures without a canvass, providing canvass without a paint palette. In truth, this 82-year old championship need not genuflect to any of its peers, but in awareness, it always will. The quest for the Wanamaker Trophy continues to be a "wannabe" event on golf's major landscape.

The Rodney Dangerfield persona is not entirely the PGA's fault and not entirely accurate. For instance, the PGA is at Valhalla this year, a golf club that certainly lacks the historic hinges of the other 2000 major sites. But the PGA was played at Medinah Country Club last year and Winged Foot in 1997, tracks that match resumes with any of the game's revered playing fields. The very thing that endears the PGA Championship to many -- its willingness to take golf to places the USGA might never go -- is the thing that feeds its second-class citizenship. For the record, you will hear lots of praise and compliments from the players at Valhalla, but in imagery, sites such as Valhalla (1996, 2000), Sahalee (1998) in Redmond, Wash., Bellerive (1992) in St. Louis, Mo and Kemper Lakes (1989) in Chicago are considered suspect.

The snob factor in golf is strong, always has been, always will be, and the snob mob will never accept such venues as "big-time" sites. It's a Catch-22 the PGA can't escape. Perception, not necessarily reality.

The championship has produced some of golf's most memorable moments in recent years. Bob Tway's "Shot Heard Round The World" that defeated Greg Norman in 1986 is one of the game's most recognized replays. John Daly's improbable victory at Crooked Stick, where he got into the tournament as the ninth alternate, is one for the books. Davis Love's emotional victory at Winged Foot, with his brother alongside caddying and his father looking down from above, was one of the feel-good events of recent years. Afterwards Love said no other win could have been more meaningful. "To win this championship, to win it as the son of a PGA member, to win at Winged Foot is the greatest thrill," he said.

Last year's PGA presented the affirmation of Tiger Woods, his first major splash since the 1997 Masters, and the first in a series of major wins that resulted in a Grand Slam consummation at St. Andrews last month. The 1999 PGA also introduced us to Sergio Garcia and the wondrous possibilities of unbridled youth.

At the same time, the championship has had an inordinate number of first-time major winners, players who had not distinguished themselves on such a stage previously, nor necessarily afterwards, players like Jeff Sluman (Oak Tree) and Wayne Grady (Shoal Creek). The defending champion at Valhalla is Mark Brooks. Enough said.

Politics have hurt the PGA over recent years, as well. The racial issues that encroached Shoal Creek in 1984, the gender issues that forced an 11th hour switch from Aronimink to Inverness in 1993 were dubious. The business persuasions that played parts in selecting sites like PGA National in 1987 and Valhalla in 1996 also cast the PGA in an unflattering light. The USGA would have you believe it would never choose a championship site for reasons other than its integrity as a test of golf -- at least not so openly.

History, among the strongest fibers of the game, also favors the other three majors. The Masters was created by the immortal Bobby Jones and is conducted at beloved Augusta National every year, "a tradition unlike any other." The U.S. Open is 104 years old and carries the aura of being the country's "national championship." With its rotation of courses like Pebble Beach, and Shinnecock Hills, with its reputation for envelope-pushing conditions, the Open occupies a niche as the toughest tournament on the planet.

Mark Brooks shows the PGA Championship trophy in 1996. Allsport.

The British Open, or the Open Championship, embodies golf's heritage. The tournament is the birthstone of the game, played under the unique and natural conditions of British links. The PGA isn't nearly as consistent in character. Originally a match-play tournament, the championship didn't go to stroke play until 1958. Some have suggested the PGA might do well to return to match-play, allowing it to embrace its own personality. And the ever-rising attention paid to the Ryder Cup lends credence. But television was the reason for the switch in the first place and the Boob Tube would never go for the unstable properties of match-play. Imagine the ratings for a Brooks-Kenny Perry final, which was the featured pairing in Valhalla's 1996 playoff. What happens if Woods goes out in the first round? Can you say, "pre-empted?"

Inherent qualities govern the PGA's acceptance level. If it were the first major of the season instead of the last, its place at the prestige table might change accordingly. If its field did not include a large contingent of club professionals, few, if any, of whom will be competitive, it might be taken more seriously.

But the PGA also will have some 92-95 of the top 100 players in the world rankings at Valhalla, the most glamorous field of all the majors. The PGA will feature more hours of prime-time television coverage than the other majors, including coverage of the entire 18 holes on Sunday. The golf course, if not classical, will project well and offer wonderful pageantry. All the torture-chamber elements required of a legitimate "major" -- deep rough, seared greens and narrow fairways -- will be in effect.

The perception of the PGA will never change, its place among the majors is destined to be subservient. But in reality, the PGA Championship at Valhalla will be the genuine article, a major in every way, shape and form.

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