Top players complaining again....

The world's top golfers are convening this week for the season's last major title, the PGA Championship starting on Thursday, and the elite did more than just hone their swings on Monday on the sprawling Medinah Country Club layout.

Some also partook of what seems to be the other favorite pastime of the pampered linksmen -- the art of whining.

From the wretched unfairness of courses being used for golf's majors, to the injustice of playing solely for patriotic glory while tons of money are mined in the Ryder Cup, down to the more mundane matter of Medinah's burned-out greens, their complaints added to the Chicago area's Windy City reputation.

"In 20 years will there still be a fairway to hit to? Or will it all be rough?" wondered twice U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen in an acid reference to last month's British Open conditions at Carnoustie.

"I think you're going to miss a lot of putts," Fred Couples said about dealing with Medinah's brown-tinged greens. "You're going to have to deal with a bump or two. You're going to see a lot of four-, five-, three-footers missed."

U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart ripped the PGA of America for holding the championship in the month of August.

"There is a big evidence of the drought," said Stewart, whose first major championship success came at nearby Kemper Lakes in the 1989 PGA. "The 16th green has no grass. The 17th not much grass. It's a shame. It happens too many times in the PGA in August."

Janzen said the tangly rough at ultra-long, 7,401-yard Medinah looked like no picnic either, but he avoided having to play out of it in Monday's practice and said he would prefer to remain blissfully unaware of its dangers as he mounts one last charge for a Ryder Cup berth.

"Bliss" and "Ryder Cup" are rarely heard in the same breath these days as a number of U.S. players have complained about being left out of the money-making loop in the hugely successful match play competition against Europe.

Published reports peg net proceeds from next month's matches at The Country Club outside Boston to $23 million. U.S. players receive a stipend of $5,000 each but have had no say about charities that benefit from Ryder play.

"I think we'll probably get some money (to give) for charity," said Couples, a veteran of the last five Ryder Cups. "I think we all deserve it."

Jockeying for Ryder Cup berths, on both the U.S. and European sides, is the grand sublot of the PGA Championship, which is the finish line for determining the U.S. team. The top 10 points earners get automatic berths, while U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw names two additional picks on Monday morning.

Nineteen players outside the current U.S. top 10 have a mathematical shot of winning a berth from the points list.

The Europeans have one extra week of Ryder points competition, closing their accounts after the end of the BMW International Open on Aug. 22.

Couples, who said he was "charged up" about going after another Ryder berth now that his back is feeling better, praised the Medinah layout but said the 150-man field -- which includes 94 of the top 100-ranked golfers in the world -- deserved better putting conditions.

"The greens aren't as good as they'd like," said Couples. "The greens are fast but not so smooth. They are the kind of greens you feel are going to get chewed up a little bit."

Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal agreed. "It's a great course but the greens are not so good now."

Phil Mickelson, the U.S. Open runner-up, said the greens were a worry. But the talented left-hander had some major reasons for hope, given the recent history of the PGA Championship.

For 10 of the last 11 winners of the PGA, including 1998 champion Vijay Singh, the victory represented their first major title. Mickelson, beaten by Stewart's 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole at Pinehurst, is seeking his own breakthrough in a major.

"I think it would certainly be a tournament I'd like to win to set off a winning string for me in majors," he said.

John Daly, who catapulted to fame by winning the 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick and also won the 1995 British Open, continued an unfortunate streak. The recovering alcoholic, who withdrew from this year's British Open, informed PGA organizers on Saturday that he would not be playing but gave no reason.