PGA Grand Slam of Golf: David Toms

PGA GRAND SLAM OF GOLF APPEARANCES: 2001
MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP WINS: 2001 PGA Championship
WORLDWIDE VICTORIES: 15
BIRTHDATE: Jan 4, 1967
BIRTHPLACE: Monroe, La.
RESIDENCE: Shreveport, La.
FAMILY: Wife: Sonya; Children; Carter (1997) and Anna (2005)
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Duck Hunting, LSU sports, Skiing (water and snow)
TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 1989

He played baseball with former All-Stars Albert Belle and Ben McDonald, two players known for blazing a meteoric trail through their sport before fading.

But David Toms took a different path to golf stardom. No shooting-star course through the courses for him. Instead, Toms carved out a trail of metronomic consistency that brought the Louisiana native 12 PGA TOUR titles, a major title -- the 2001 PGA Championship -- and the respect of his peers as one of the classiest players in the game.

Toms has 493 career PGA TOUR starts. He has finished in the top 25 in more than 40 percent of those starts (199) and played on the weekend nearly 70 percent of the time (336). He spent 175 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings -- signifying a climb to the summit of the sport's Everest -- between 2001 and 2006.

"He can play golf as well as anyone in the world when he's on. It's just that his quiet, low-key demeanor leaves him oft-overlooked when media types and analysts are picking favorite to win tournaments," wrote a contributor to Golf Channel.com, reviewing Toms' first course design -- the highly rated Carter Plantation in his native Louisiana.

Yet win Toms had done. His 12 victories span from 1997 (Quad Cities Classic) to 2006 (Sony Open). At the same time, they span every time zone, from Hawaii to the Eastern, include a WGC event (2005 Accenture Match-Play Championship) and of course, that elusive major championship -- the 2001 PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

That came in dramatic fashion. Toms dissected the Atlanta Athletic Club, shooting 66-65-65 to take the 54-hole lead. Toms even threw out a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th hole Saturday for added dramatic effect. Then, battling playing partner Phil Mickelson during the final round, Toms nursed a one-shot lead to the final hole. On that 18th hole, Toms faced a 213-yard carry from a poor lie and a decision that changed his career for the better.

Toms chose to lay up short of a water hazard with his third shot on the par-4 hole, trusting himself to get up over the water close enough to get down for par. He wedged to 12 feet, then sank the par putt after Mickelson's long birdie putt stopped just short of the cup.

''I'm somewhat shocked that it's actually happened to me but very proud of myself, the way I played, and the way I finished it off,'' said Toms after the fact and after recording the lowest absolute score (265) in major championship history. ''I said all week I would not be afraid to lay up. I figured my best chance to make par was to lay up. I hated to do it. The crowd was over there moaning like, 'You wimp.' I just had to put it out of my mind, hit two good shots and make a putt.''

''He made a great play,'' Mickelson said. ''That was a very intelligent play. He's a very good sand-wedge player. It was still not an easy sand wedge, because short is water, and long is the bunker. He hit a great shot, spun it back and made the putt.''

At an early age, Toms showed this kind of pragmatic thinking during a junior and collegiate career in which he won the 1984 Junior World and Junior PGA championships. He parlayed that into earning All-American honors at LSU in 1988-89, grabbing Southeastern Conference Player of the Year honors along the way.

To this day, Toms remains devoted to the Tigers. He attends most LSU football games and often plays with purple and gold tees.

Toms' play on the 18th at the AAC was also indicative of his big-picture thinking. In 2003, he founded the David Toms Foundation, which helps underprivileged, abused and abandoned children through funding programs that are designed to enhance a child's character, self-esteem and career possibilities.

The Foundation earned national attention when it raised more than $1.5 million to assist those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Since its inception, the Toms Foundation has made more than $3 million in grants. The Wall Street Journal in 2006 cited the Toms Foundation as having the lowest percentage of expenses of any athletic foundation that gave a minimum of $600,000 to charity.

On top of that, Toms shared the 2006 Charlie Bartlett Award -- given by the Golf Writers Association of America for "unselfish contributions by a player for the betterment of society" -- with fellow Louisianans Kelly Gibson and Hal Sutton for their combined $2 million plus in aid to Katrina and Rita victims.

Toms kept the Foundation going strong through a health scare that sent shivers through the game, the state of Louisiana and his fans and family. At the 2005 84 Lumber Classic, Toms collapsed on the ninth hole and was rushed to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a rapid heartbeat, a non-life threatening condition called supraventricular tachycardia. It's a condition his father, Buster, has, but unlike his father, Toms elected surgery that November, rather than medication.

It didn't derail Toms from making his third consecutive Ryder Cup team in 2006, a measure of his consistency equaled by his three Presidents Cup teams (2003, 2005, 2007). Toms is generally viewed as a future Ryder Cup captain by many observers.

That, in itself, tells you all you need to know about Toms and the path he's blazed through the game: memorable, yet lasting. Just the way he wants it.