Norman PGA Competitors’ Choice, but Watson Even Hungrier for Win

TOLEDO, Ohio —  Greg Norman, the outstanding player in golf for the last few months, and Tom Watson, hungry for a piece of history, are the principal figures going into the start of the 68th PGA Championship today.

“He could have won all three (of the year’s previous) majors,” Watson said of the white-haired Norman.

Added Ray Floyd, the current U.S. Open champion and twice a winner of this tournament: “Since April, he’s put himself above everyone else.”

And said Calvin Peete, a two-time winner on the pro tour this season: “At the moment, there’s no question he’s the best in the world.”

In his last nine starts, Norman has won three times, including the British Open, and finished second in three others, including the Masters. He led through three rounds of the U.S. Open and last week missed a position in a playoff by a single stroke.

In that nine-tournament stretch, the Australian has won $637,000 and established a single-season money-winning record for the tour.

And the man who is an overwhelming favorite in the last of the season’s major tests fully expects to expand that record in the three American tournaments remaining on his schedule this year.

“Nothing’s changed,” he said before a final practice round over the Inverness Club course. “My game is the same.

“My target is $750,000. To get there, I’m going to have to play awfully well the next three weeks.”

Watson, however, could have something to say about Norman’s quest for the winner’s share of $140,000 from the total purse of $800,000.

“This is the most important tournament in the world to me,” said Watson, once the dominant player in the game but now trying to fight his way out of a two-year nonwinning string.

The five-time British Open champion, the 1982 U.S. Open winner and twice a Masters champion, Watson needs this title to join Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only men to sweep pro golf’s major events.

“To get this one would round things out and put me on a level I haven’t reached,” Watson said. “It’s something I want to accomplish.”

The course, with generous fairways but severe rough, and tiny, fast, undulating greens, may be his greatest challenge.

“It’s a hard golf course . . . very playable but very severe,” defending champion Hubert Green said.

With its small greens, he said, the course will favor a finesse player. “It will not allow the tournament to be won by a slap shot.”

And that, Green suggested, eliminates the chances of many in the 150-man field.

“Greg Norman can play good golf everywhere, but this course will not favor his game,” Green said, then added: “And then there’s Jack. . . . “

Nicklaus, who won his 18th major professional title earlier this year in the Masters, will be seeking a record sixth PGA crown.

“I changed my swing a little--went back to the flying right elbow and I’m hitting the ball better than I have all year,” Nicklaus said. “We’ll see.”