Faldo Going After 3rd Major Golf Title of Year

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —  With the issue of racism having receded, golf--and Nick Faldo--took center stage at the Shoal Creek Country Club today, the eve of the 1990 PGA Championship.

Faldo, winner of this year’s Masters and British Open, was trying to become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three of the sport’s four major championships in one year.

The 33-year-old Briton, who just missed getting into the U.S. Open playoff when his putt lipped out on the 72nd hole, was just about everyone’s favorite as 150 professionals prepared to start play Thursday morning.

Had Faldo made that putt at the Medinah Country Club in June, he might have come here this week shooting for an unprecedented Grand Slam.

That has not been accomplished in the half century or so that the Masters and PGA Championship have been linked with the U.S. and British Opens as the game’s most important titles.

Still, Faldo has the best record in the majors in recent years, and he was expected to continue his strong play at Shoal Creek.

“The course would favor Faldo because he has a fairly conservative approach to the game. He likes to make pars,” said Greg Norman.

“He’ll play well here. He’s a straight driver,” Jack Nicklaus, who designed the Shoal Creek course, said of Faldo, who in April joined Nicklaus as the only other winner of back-to-back Masters.

Most of the contestants agreed that the 7,145-yard, par-72 course would be very difficult this week because of its long, thick Bermuda grass rough.

“If you hit it in the rough, you can’t hit it on the green,” said Norman, who is one of the strongest players in the game. “You can actually lose your ball (in the rough) if you are not careful.”

Defending champion Payne Stewart, who tied for second in the British Open last month, agreed.

“If you don’t play from the fairways this week, you might as well pack your bags,” said Stewart, who was seeking to become the first golfer in 53 years to win two straight PGA Championships.

“It’s like a golf course in which you have hazards all along both sides of the fairways. If you miss the fairway, you get penalized.”

U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin was one of the few players who looked forward to challenging Shoal Creek’s deep rough and hard greens.

“I like it. It eliminates those of us who are not playing well,” said Irwin, whose three U.S. Open titles have helped him earn a reputation for playing well on very difficult courses.

“You feel like par here is a relatively good score. A birdie is going to be a pretty good feat,” said Irwin, who won the 1990 U.S. Open with a birdie on the 19th hole of a playoff with Mike Donald.

Most players were unwilling to talk about the racial issue that has made the private club a household name. News media were filled with stories about Shoal Creek after its founder said the club would not be pressured into accepting blacks as members.

But Norman said, “People (in golf) have opened their eyes to it (the discrimination issue). They’re taking a step in the right direction.”