ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000 - Galleries swell as Woods, Nicklaus shine

By Peter Lawrence-Riddell
ESPN Golf Online
Saturday, August 19

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Right from the start Friday, it was obvious that fans came to see Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. And they came in waves.


	Tiger Woods hopes to stretch his lead on Saturday.

The crowd was big on the first and second holes. And it only got bigger after Nicklaus birdied both to move to 3-over par. There was a buzz in the air, and it was traveling all over the front nine at Valhalla.

On the fifth hole after the group teed off, one fan asked another, "Should we follow them?"

The response: "Hell, yeah, I feel it. Let's go."

On the par-3 eighth, there were hundreds of fans on a hill that ran down the right side of the hole. One day earlier there couldn't have been more that a few dozen people in the same location.

Most of the people probably couldn't even see the players putting on the green, but it didn't matter. They just wanted to be there.

By the time they reached the ninth hole, the gallery had swelled to almost maximum capacity. Lots of those fans had been camped there all day, but some of them certainly gave up their seats and followed Woods and Nicklaus when they moved on to No. 10.

It seemed like each time Woods and Nicklaus came through a hole, the gallery grew larger.

On Thursday, the fairway to the left of the 10th hole had fans lined up one or two deep near the tee when Woods, Nicklaus and Vijay Singh came through. On Friday, they were almost 10 deep in the same place.

There was noise when the three were playing on Thursday, but it wasn't that noticeable. On Friday, it was constant. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was just a quiet hum, but it was always there.

Despite the size of the crowd and the noise that comes with such a mass of people, none of the three players seemed bothered by it. There were no angry stares as a player backed away from a shot and no rogue photographer to take the fire after an errant click of the camera during a backswing, just a lot of fans and some really good golf.

Two emotions were prevalent throughout the second round: adoration and amazement.

The adoration was for Nicklaus.

Playing in perhaps his final major -- or at least his final PGA Championship -- Nicklaus received standing ovations everywhere he went Friday. The fans stood on every hole when he walked by. Screams of "We love you Jack" and "You're still the greatest," were heard all day.

The amazement was for Woods when he ripped a drive 300 yards or stuck an approach shot within two feet.