David Toms fades to round of 77

Playing against Tiger Woods and Ernie Els is tough enough. For David Toms, playing with them in the opening round of the PGA Championship was simply too much.

An elite pairing of major championship winners did more than just draw huge crowds on a stormy day at Hazeltine National Golf Club. It also helped knock Toms out of contention before half the field had begun play.

Looking at times more like a club member than the defending champion, Toms shanked a shot on one hole Thursday and didn't come close to clearing the water with a 5-iron on another. He finished with a fat 5-over-par 77 that left him needing a decent second round just to make the cut.

``People thought I probably looked like a hack,'' he said.

Watching Toms play pepper with Hazeltine's trees, they might have. Worse yet, he seemed intimidated by playing partners who not only hit it a lot longer but also had the enthusiastic gallery on their side.

``You're the defending champion and you kind of feel like an underdog,'' Toms said. ``I heard it 1,000 times a hole, `Go Tiger' or `Go Ernie.' Maybe once in awhile someone would say `Go David.' ''

The slight Toms, who is 77th on the PGA Tour in driving distance and had to lay up on the 18th hole last year against Phil Mickelson to win the PGA in Atlanta, began the day knowing he would not be able to keep up with two of the game's biggest hitters.

He ended it wondering how players like himself are ever going to compete against the likes of Woods and Els in the future.

``You just can't compete with that week in and week out,'' Toms said. ``Other guys think they can, but they're kidding themselves. For the most part we're second fiddle to these guys.''

If Toms wasn't convinced of that before, he found it out early in the round on the 13th hole, the fourth of the day for the featured group.

The par-3 was playing 204 yards and the pin was tucked behind the left greenside bunker, with the green sloping away behind it. Toms tried to run a 4-iron up and have it trickle on, while Els and Woods flew high shots directly at the pin.

Ironically, Toms got it close and made birdie while Els and Woods parred. But he knew that over the long run it would be a losing proposition.

``You look at Ernie and he's a foot taller than me and outweighs me by 80 pounds,'' said Toms, who is listed at 5-foot-10, 160 pounds. ``And Tiger is strong as an ox. Tell me this: If we're all on our games and they're hitting three less clubs than me (to the green) who's got the better chance?''

A day that went bad had actually begun on a positive note for Toms, who stood on the 10th tee with Woods and Els to receive his introduction as the defending champion.

It proved to be a false start, though, as lightning moved in and play was promptly suspended for nearly three hours after the threesome had all hit their tee shots.

Most of the 45,000 or so fans who had to go back to their cars to wait out the weather delay were back in place when play resumed. And they were eager to cheer on Woods, trying for his third major title of the year, and Els, the British Open champion.

Toms was largely overlooked, until things went so bad that he drew sympathetic groans from the masses crowded 10-deep around the fairways and greens.

They came early, on the group's third hole of the day when Toms' tee shot on the 465-yard par-4 hit the fairway but rolled to the edge of the deep rough. He had a terrible lie and 186 yards to the green and tried to get there with a 5-iron. Instead, he shanked the shot and it squirted left, hitting a tree.

Toms was short in the rough off the green on this third shot and his fourth ended up on the fringe over the green. By the time he two-putted, Toms had a double-bogey six that even his birdie on the next hole couldn't erase.

``He was frustrated with the fact that he could not hit the ball where he wanted to hit it,'' Woods said. ``He made some good putts but missed a few, too, which is not like him.''

As the round progressed, Toms just tried to hang on. But on the 17th hole of the day, he tried to hit a 5-iron farther than he could hit it and ended up in the water well short of the green.

Trying to hit it with the big boys had cost Toms again.

Even words of encouragement from fans who were now on his side couldn't help by then.

``People were trying to lift me up as much as possible,'' Toms said. ``I wasn't going to be lifted up today.''

Woods said he thought Toms would regain his form with some work on the driving range. But Toms sounded like he needed far more than that after a pairing that was an eye opener even to a player who has won $2.2 million this year.

``When you know your limitations like I do you accept it,'' he said. ``But when you're paired with them and a couple of them hit it like that it's deflating at times.''

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