Garcia leads by two after course record

Sergio Garcia sure knows how to make people stop talking about his disastrous play in the Open. All he did today was tie the course record at Medinah Country Club and become the youngest player to lead the PGA Championship.

That just might be enough to make the Ryder Cup bickering go away, too.

On a day when grownups squabbled like children, a Spanish teen-ager dripping with confidence helped shift the focus back to the final major of the 20th century. He birdied the last hole for a 6-under-par 66 on rain-soaked Medinah, giving him a two-stroke lead in the first round.

"I think I proved myself today," said Garcia, at 19 the youngest player in the PGA Championship since Gene Sarazen in 1921.

Garcia was still smarting from his Carnoustie collapse. He walked away in the arms of his mother after opening with an 89, then followed that with an 83 for the worse score in the Open.

"I think the Open is done," he said. "I don't want to hear ay more questions about the British Open."

What Open?

Garcia chipped in from the deep rough behind the second green, rifled a 9-iron into 2 feet on No. 11, drained a 30-footer for birdie on the treacherous 16th, then capped off his remarkable round with a 4-foot birdie putt on 18.

"I'm a very happy man," Garcia said. Then, he remembered his age and added: "Or a very happy kid."

Jay Haas, J.P. Hayes and Mike Weir of Canada, none of whom have any chance of making the Ryder Cup team, had no complaints. They each had a 68 on a wet, gloomy day in which the "Monster of the Midwest" played even longer than its 7,401 yards because of the rain.

Because of a 47-minute storm delay, 15 players failed to finish the first round. Among them was Corey Pavin, who was at 3-under with two holes to play. They will resume at 8:45 a.m. Friday.

Jerry Kelly was still an alternate when he left his cell phone number at the first tee. He got the call and rang up a 69, tied with Brian Watts, Stewart Cink and Brandt Jobe.

Lurking three strokes behind was David Duval, Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman and Senior PGA Tour star Hale Irwin, who rekindled memories of his third U.S. Open title at Medinah in 1990.

And always present was the controversy over Ryder Cup revenue.

U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw opened fresh wounds on the eve of the PGA by saying he was disappointed by the viewpoints of a couple of players -- later identified as Duval, Woods, Mark O'Meara and Phil Mickelson.

Duval didn't realise he was one of them until he called Crenshaw. O'Meara said Crenshaw left him a message on his phone Wednesday night.

"I thought it was a dead issue," O'Meara said. "I'm disappointed."

And Crenshaw, who had a 77, apologised for losing his cool.

"For months, I have heard nothing but what's wrong, and it bubbled over yesterday," Crenshaw said. "For that, I'm sorry. You can better believe I want them front and centre in Boston. My God, I've got to have them."

The only Ryder Cup issue for Garcia is making the European team. He already has won the Irish Open, finished second at Loch Lomond and tied for third at the GTE Bryon Nelson Classic in Dallas.

Garcia showed he has game for the majors, too.

The 66 tied the competitive record at Medinah first set in the '90 U.S. Open by Tim Simpson, Scott Simpson, Jeff Sluman and Mike Hulbert.

Can Garcia become the youngest major championship winner since Young Tom Morris won the British Open at age 17 in 1868?

"I know it will be difficult, and I have to show it," he said. "But I think I'm good enough to stay where I am."

Medinah is the longest course for a major championship played at sea level, 7,401 yards that stretched even longer with hardly any roll on the soggy, umbrella-lined fairways.

While that turned the brown-splotched greens of Medinah into a plush dart board, it also required the shorter hitters to reach for longer irons through the day.

"The course played extremely long for me -- unlike one of the guys I played with today," said Watts, the British Open runner-up last year.

Of course, Watts played with Woods -- small wonder it looked like he was playing a different game. Woods made birdie on two of the par-5s by hitting into greenside bunkers and getting up and down for birdie.

The best part about his round?

"I didn't have to answer any Ryder Cup questions," Woods said. He saved that for later, when he explained why he kept referring to the matches as an exhibition.

"Is there a winner's check?" he said.

Duval, at the centre of the Ryder Cup storm, also tried to let his golf do most of the talking. He is well in contention at the site of his first major -- he played the U.S. Open as an 18-year-old in 1990 -- although it was an uncharacteristic round in that he hit only five fairways.

After teeing off on No. 15, Duval walked past Crenshaw, who was heading to the adjacent 12th tee. They smiled at each other and were on their way.

Still, differences remain.

"I wouldn't ask him to change his opinion, and I'd hope he wouldn't ask me to change mine," Duval said.

If anyone has a tangible concern about the Ryder Cup, it's Tom Lehman. He is 11th in the US standings and could use a good week to avoid having to become a captain's pick.

But even Lehman isn't thinking along those lines. He is simply trying to win in America for the first time in three years.

"I think most everybody who's playing is thinking about the PGA Championship and not the Ryder Cup," Lehman said. "If they're thinking about the Ryder Cup, they're thinking about the wrong thing."

AP