Valhalla will prove a bluegrass test for everyone

Thoroughbred horses love Kentucky bluegrass. The question this week is: How will a certain Tiger take to this state's famous flora?

The PGA Championship, the last major of the year, is back at Valhalla Golf Club and the lush golf course just outside Louisville may be the only obstacle between Woods and his third major title of the year, and second consecutive PGA trophy.

There are 149 other professionals in the field, but they are the same hapless competitors that Woods left in the dust when he ran away with this year's U.S. and British Opens.

While the 82nd PGA Championship will boast one of the strongest fields ever assembled, Woods is still the prohibitive favorite to successfully defend the title he won last year -- and match Ben Hogan's record three majors in a year.

All the 1997 Masters champion has to do is avoid the treacherous bluegrass rough that lines the fairways and surrounds the greens of Valhalla's 7,167-yard, par-72 course, which is located in Kentucky's famous horse country near Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

While the 14-year-old course cannot match the history and prestige of the other major venues in this millennium year -- Augusta National, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews -- it is still expected to offer a stern test of golf.

"The rough is very thick. You have to have a good lie to try to knock it on the green," said Lee Janzen, who, as a two-time U.S. Open winner, knows something about rough.

"Guys are going to be hesitant being aggressive off the tee to make sure they hit the fairway," added Janzen, who won the 1993 and 1998 Opens, where driving accuracy is always a must.

"It's just brutal," said Notah Begay, who has won twice on the PGA Tour this year. "It is just as tall and just as tough as the rough at Pebble Beach."

Begay, a teammate of Woods at Stanford University, was referring to the conditions at the U.S. Open in June, when Woods was the only player to break par for the championship, as he lapped the field by 15 strokes.

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who tied for second at Pebble Beach, agreed with Begay.

"If you miss the fairway in some places, you've made a mistake because you probably won't have a shot," Jimenez said.

"This is bluegrass country," noted Ernie Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion who was joint second with Jimenez at Pebble -- as well as second at the Masters and British Open.

"I'm sure it is going to be difficult to get out of there," Els said of the rough, which officially measures 4-3/4 inches (12 cm) but appears to be much longer in many places.

The thick bluegrass is actually one of the strategic defenses that Jack Nicklaus used in designing the course, which also hosted the 1996 PGA Championship, which Mark Brooks won in a playoff with local favorite Kenny Perry.

There are relatively few sand bunkers, but there is plenty of bluegrass, especially around the greens, many of which are elevated with rough-covered banks that will grab any errant shot.

Els, winner of the '94 and '97 U.S. Opens, found that out at the '96 PGA, when he went nine over par in five holes, which included a quadruple bogey.

"We feel that this golf course proved that it can take on the strongest field that's ever been in a major championship," PGA of America Executive Director Jim Awtrey said in defending the decision to hold the 2000 PGA here.

Many of the participants in the '96 tournament agreed.

"The golf course is hard. It takes a lot out of you," said Greg Norman, the world's top-ranked player at the time.

"The course played tough all week -- it beat me," Nick Faldo, a three-time British Open and Masters champion, said after failing to break par in the last three rounds.

"The course is a great course," said Tom Lehman, who won the British Open that year after tying for second in the U.S. Open.

The major feature of the course that the players disliked were the severe undulations and deep swales in the greens, which sometimes funneled approach shots off the putting surface.

Nicklaus admitted that he was in his "Humpty-Dumpty mode" when he designed them and would probably not incorporate those hills and valleys if he were to do it all over again.

No matter what the features, Woods has shown the ability to dominate any and all comers on any type of course.

"At the end of the day, it's not the golf course that decides the tournament," Norman said on Tuesday. "It's the players."

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