On Tuesday evening, Padraig Harrington took a position short of the 18th green here at Southern Hills and plopped a couple of balls into the rough. He was, as ever, covering all the angles. The green on the finishing hole is some 20 feet above the fairway and he couldn't see the flag at the back. But that didn't matter. He was more concerned with pitching the ball to an area on the putting surface where the hole would be positioned for today's first round of the 89th US PGA Championship, the final major of a year in which the old order has been well and truly altered.
Harrington is not alone in preparing so meticulously. Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk are among those with a similar work ethic, contriving to prepare for the unexpected and leaving no stone unturned in the pre-championship countdown.
This week, though, has been different from others in that the work has been conducted under a blazing sun and, with temperatures breaking 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the presence of mist machines, giant fans and sprinkler tents around the course only served to remind those with their eyes on what is called "Glory's Last Chance" that the conditions will present as much of a challenge as the course.
Woods is the favourite. What's new? And while his win in the Bridgestone in Akron last week, a place he calls a home from home so often has he won there, has had him installed as low as 15 to 8 favourite this week as he seeks to ensure 2007 is not a barren year in his on-going quest for a 13th major in pursuit of Jack Nicklaus's record 18, it is far from a foregone conclusion.
After all, Woods has only won one (US Open at Bethpage in 2002) of his 12 majors to date on a course with a par of 70. Also, the greens here are not as slick as he'd like. And, like everyone else, the world's number one will have to contend with the heat. The weather forecasters say Tulsa is in the middle of "a ring of fire", meteorological speak for a belt of storms whose heart is a sinkhole of heat.
Not that Woods seemed overly concerned. "I just change gloves more often, that's about it. As far as your concentration waning, I don't see how that can be a problem," he said.
This major represents Woods's last chance of the season to add to his majors haul in what has been a year so far of first-time winners. So it is that Harrington, the British Open champion, will be grouped with US Masters champion Zach Johnson and US Open champion Angel Cabrera and it will only be the third time in the past eight years that Woods has not found a place in that elite company of major champions at the PGA.
The last year the first three majors were won by first-time champions was in 2003, when Mike Weir won the Masters, Jim Furyk the US Open and Ben Curtis the British Open. The full hand was completed when Shaun Micheel won the US PGA. It's not something that is a regular occurrence. It was the first time since 1969 that all four major winners were claiming prized silverware for a first time.
Can the sequence of first-time winners in 2007 continue? Paul McGinley, for one, believes it can.
"This golf course brings a lot of guys into the equation in terms of winning. It is not your typical big golf course that we seem to play more and more in America. I envisage using irons off five or six tees . . . and that's not including the par threes," said McGinley.
All of which would indicate that this major will be a test of brain as much as brawn. There are a large number of doglegs, which means that the course can't be overpowered by the big-hitters. Retief Goosen, who won the US Open here in 2001, observed, "You have to be patient with the heat and the course. It's a course that will make you use every club in your bag".
The course has been tweaked since Goosen's win. The ninth and 18th greens have been moved and the complexes rebuilt, while the yardage has been lengthened from 6,973 to 7,131. By modern standards, however, it is not a long course and, for the most part, the driver will be kept in the bag as players use irons, hybrids and three-woods off the majority of tees.
"It tests course management, tests overall skill, tests (your) short game. The whole element of a player's game is tested," said Mickelson, who claimed he was "very close to 100 per cent" fit with the thumb injury that has hindered him since the US Open in June.
A year ago, at Medinah, Woods captured the title in pretty much runaway fashion. He finished five strokes clear of Micheel. This time, he comes in without a major win all year. He wants to change that.
"The whole idea is to win. I'm not here to work on my farmer's tan or to shed a couple of pounds. You go out to win. Period. That's why I'm here and I will give everything I have to do that," said Woods.
Certainly, his is the name most players will look for. But as Harrington, the newest major winner of them all, said: "You've got to focus on what you are doing as an individual. Yes, Tiger Woods is probably one of the few names when you play a tournament that you'll always look to see what score he's on . . . but I think we've got to be realistic and just look after our own games and let Tiger look after himself and see what happens.
"I'd say it all depends on the week."
And he has recent history to back him up on that assertion.
