But with the 80th PGA Championship coming to Sahalee Country Club in this east Seattle suburb, big-time golf is back with a vengeance.

The last time a major tournament was played in the Northwest was in 1946, when the PGA Championship was held at the Portland Golf Club. The last big event in Washington state was the 1944 PGA Championship at Spokane's Manito Golf & Country Club.

And with the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, this year also marks the first time two of the four majors have been held on the West Coast.

That's no accident -- it's part of the PGA's strategy to increase interest in the sport across the country.

Event coordinators at Sahalee expect 30,000 spectators for all six days -- two days of practice rounds and four days of regular play -- as well as 2,500 volunteers and 1,000 media members.

"The world is going to see what this community is all about," said Andrew Ordenbach, on-site tournament director for the PGA.

Sahalee, site of the Senior Tour's 1986 GTE Northwest Classic, has been trying for the PGA Championship since 1973 and clinched this year's tourney in 1993.

Considered the state's top course by Golf Digest, Sahalee is ranked 95th among the nation's courses.

"The beauty surrounding the course is unheard of on the tour," said Jim Pike, the club's head pro since 1994. "The players are just going to fall in love with the scenery and the course."

Sahalee, par-70, covers 400 acres and is 6,906 yards. Among its features: 27 holes, 21 acres of fairway, ponds and water that come into play on five holes, 4- to 6-inch rough, 1,200 rhododendrons, and trees so dense in places the rain doesn't penetrate.

More than $3.5 million has been spent improving the course. Sand traps and the irrigation system have been redesigned, two par 5s have been converted to par 4s, and the club has been surrounded by a chain-link fence.

"The improvements were needed," said Tom Wolff, Sahalee greens superintendent. "Members will be particularly impressed when they come back after the tournament and picture themselves where the pros were."

Pike dismisses complaints about narrow fairways and dense woodlands on what he calls the "tightest course that the tour will play." There will be a premium on shot-making over distance off the tee, he says, and the course offers exceptionally fast greens.

"Major championships should be a difficult test of golf to the professionals," Ordenbach says.

Pike figures the edge will go to players such as Justin Leonard, David Duval, and Ernie Els, while those such as John Daly and Tiger Woods will be at a disadvantage, he says.

Measured by money spent on merchandise, Seattle has long been a Top 10 golf market, but playing host to a major tournament comes with a price: inconvenience.

While the West course remains open, the East course was closed for the summer to make room for a tent-city complex that includes a 20,000-square-foot PGA golf merchandise shop, post office, corporate hospitality area, media kitchen, commissary and offices.

And planners spent a lot of time trying to work out tournament traffic flow in this bedroom community of about 14,000 people that serves as home to Microsoft. Officials hope to get spectators to park a few miles from the course and use shuttle buses.

"It was a challenge to figure out how to get everyone there," said Greg Kipp, who helped out as deputy director of the King County Department of Development and Environmental Services.

"I think the community, even if they are not golf-oriented, realizes the long-term benefits will be outstanding, economically in particular," said 20-year Sahalee member George Wieman.

In addition to international exposure, revenue from clubhouse operations should exceed $ million. Sahalee also gets 50 percent of the event's gross revenues, with the balance going to the PGA to cover tournament costs.

The 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., brought in an estimated $80 million for Westchester County and $10 million to $15 million for the surrounding counties, according to Albany, N.Y.,-based Communications Services. These figures include club revenues and hotel, retail and restaurant spending.