ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000 - Relaxed Woods repeating history

By Karl Ravech
Special to ESPN Golf Online
Thursday, August 17

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Stop me if you've heard this before.


	Tiger Woods found the bunker on No. 5, leading to his only bogey on Thursday.

You have, I have, and so have all the players at Valhalla: Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods.

The Great One played with the greatest of all time, and Jack Nicklaus was left with his head shaking like everyone else and giving Woods the greatest compliment he could give.

"He reminds me of me," Nicklaus said.

Like Nicklaus, Woods has the ability to shake off a bad shot and focus on the next one. And within hours, Woods was back out on the practice range. He wasn't hitting any particular type of shot. In fact, he spent more time talking with other guys than swinging at a ball.

The one thing he did spend some quality time on was his chipping, not that he needed to do much of during the round. Woods hit 16 of 18 greens, but he knows that if there is a key aspect to this course it is one's ability to get up and down.

Heard on the range

How about the impact Woods has on other players? It seems that they have to be affected by seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard.

Nearly all of them deny it. Paul Azinger and Notah Begay III both say that they can't control his game -- only theirs. Yet if you step on the tee knowing you have to make a birdie, it forces your mind to change the way you play.

And while players say that isn't the case, the numbers say otherwise. Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange was open about the Woods effect: "You can't afford any slip ups at any time during the four days."

The flavor of the day was Fryatt. Edward Fryatt got into the PGA Championship as an alternate. His first-round 69 leaves him near the top of the leaderboard.

Should we be surprised? Five top-10s this year say no, though his record in the majors says maybe. He did not play in The Masters or British Open and missed the cut at the U.S. Open.

But nobody has played more rounds at Valhalla this week than Fryatt. He began practicing on Saturday and played every day until he found out he was in the field. The heat, he says, doesn't bother him.

"When you play the Asian Tour for three straight years, this weather is nothing," he said.

Fryatt believes he belongs, and his good fortune didn't stop when he get into the tournament. His tee times are terrific: 8:01 a.m. on Thursday, 12:13 p.m. on Friday. His playing partners, Hal Sutton and Bob Tway, have both won PGA Championships. And Fryatt beat both of them rather handily on Thursday.

Billy Andrade insists that golf tournaments are not won on Thursday. I agree, but I find it hard to imagine anyone on the leaderboard right now mounting a huge threat. Davis Love III and Darren Clarke are both capable, but are they able? And if Woods puts another 66 or 67 up on Friday, can we all agree that his fifth major is a foregone conclusion?

ESPN's Karl Ravech will share his thoughts daily throughout the PGA Championship.