Suited for Success

Sergio Garcia believes his game is perfectly suited for the course this week. Plus, Baltusrol is earning rave reviews from the players, LPGA star Laura Diaz is carrying a bag this week, Luke Donald has been here before, and more.

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) -- Sergio Garcia believes his game is best suited for U.S. Open courses. If that's true, the Spaniard should excel at this PGA Championship.

Baltusrol Golf Club has the look and feel of an Open layout, sporting plenty of length and thick rough that favors the long hitters. And that has Garcia liking his chances.

"I've always said that my favorite ones are the British Open and the Masters,'' Garcia said. "But I've also said that probably the U.S. Open is the one that suits my game the best because it challenges you to hit a lot of drivers off the tee and you have to hit it fairly straight, and I'm usually pretty good at that.''

This season, Garcia ranks 14th in driving distance, but just 145th in accuracy, hitting the short grass 59.5 percent of the time.

Accuracy will be key at this championship, and not just on the monster 17th, playing as a true three-shot par 5 at 650 yards. There'll be no break on the par 3s, which measure from 194 yards at No. 4, to as long as 230 yards at No. 16.

"There are some real good holes out there,'' Garcia said of the layout that hosted the 1993 U.S. Open. "It's going to be challenging.''

He enters the event with seven top-10 finishes this season and, after missing the cut at the Masters, has played well at the U.S. Open (tied for third) and Open Championship (tied for fifth).

"You've got to realize that a lot of these majors, I'm contending without really putting well,'' he said.

The stats back up Garcia's claim. He ranks 199th in putting.

He burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old player in his rookie season in 1999, claiming the first-round lead at the PGA Championship at Medinah and eventually finishing second to Tiger Woods.

That's just one of the reasons Garcia favors the season's final major -- even if he hasn't had the greatest success.

After a second-place finish in '99, Garcia tied for 34th in 2000, missed the cut in '01, tied for 10th in '02, and has missed the cut the last two years.

Regardless, he's looking forward to the 87th PGA Championship.

"I've had the pleasure of playing fairly well on it,'' Garcia said. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to win it yet, but it's one of those tournaments that, of course, I would love to win by when my career ends.''

ON THE BAG: Laura Diaz started her week at a U.S. team practice for the Solheim Cup. She switched jobs Tuesday, coming to the PGA Championship to work as a caddie for her brother.

Ron Philo Jr. was among the top 25 at the PGA Club Professional Championship earlier this summer, earning a spot in the field.

It will be the first time Diaz has caddied at a major, and her first time on the bag since she carried it for big brother at the 1997 Club Professional Championship at Pinehurst No. 8.

"I'm never off,'' Diaz said. "I was there last year at Whistling Straits, but he felt obligated to take the guy who had gotten him there. This time when he made it, I told him I was off this week.''

Diaz will be carrying more than just a bag.

She is pregnant with her first child, due Jan. 18. Philo was concerned about his sister walking 18 holes a day on a 7,392-yard course, although Diaz assured him she would be fine. Her only complaint was that Philo turned in his tour-size bag for a smaller version that would be lighter.

"Dad is in the gallery,'' Diaz said of their father, prominent PGA Professional Ron Philo. "He'll be carrying the rain gear.''

FAVORABLE REVIEWS: The early reviews are in, and Baltusrol and the PGA are getting high marks for the season's final major.

"Fair ... honest,'' said Padraig Harrington. "A terrific test of golf,'' said Phil Mickelson.

Those opinions might change once the scores start to count on Thursday, but even the intermittent rain that softened the course and seemingly lengthened the 7,400-yard layout hasn't put a damper on the enthusiasm of some players.

"It's one of the best, fairest, toughest setups that I think we've had in years,'' Mickelson said. "I understand why this golf course gets so many major championships.''

While Baltusrol has all the characteristics of a U.S. Open with plenty of length and high rough, fairness seems to be the issue among players, and that's got to be a hit with the PGA of America.

"The great thing in my opinion about the PGA and why it is quickly becoming one of my favorite events in majors ... is that they know how to set it up, set the course up fairly,'' Mickelson said. "It's just a good, straightforward, hard test, fair test of golf.

"There's no tricked-up greens, no tricked-up pin placements,'' he continued. "They didn't move the fairways 8 to 10 yards like we saw a couple of months ago,'' the 2004 Masters champion said in a not-so-veiled swipe at the USGA and the way it prepared Pinehurst for the U.S. Open.

Harrington likened the PGA's preparation of Baltusrol to that of a regular PGA Tour stop.

"It's like the best of the regular tour setups sort of thing,'' he said. "It's probably what the players would choose to play on week-in, week-out.''

ADVANTAGE DONALD: Luke Donald has a slight advantage over the rest of the PGA Championship field at Baltusrol. He played the A.W. Tillinghast-designed course during the 2000 U.S. Amateur.

Donald had mixed feelings about that trip to New Jersey.

"I had some good memories and some sad memories the last time I was here,'' said Donald, who has a pair of second-place finishes this year. "I played well enough to get to the semifinals, but I couldn't quite advance to the final.''

Donald was the 1999 NCAA individual champion and had high expectations heading into the 2000 Amateur.

"I felt like when I came here, I was probably one of the best amateurs in the world at the time and had a great chance to win the biggest amateur event there is in the world; this and the British Amateur are probably the biggest two tournaments.''

But Donald was stopped in the semifinals by James Driscoll.

OUT AND ABOUT: Greg Norman was the most high-profile player to withdraw on Tuesday, but he was not alone. The other withdrawals from the original field were England's Paul Broadhurst, Australian Andre Stolz, Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Champions Tour player Larry Nelson, while a spot had been reserved for the winner of the International and Retief Goosen was already exempt.

There were reports that Cabrera had been forced out by a heart problem, but they were dismissed by his close friend Eduardo Romero.

"It was his stomach, not his heart, and I think he will be back playing next week," said Romero.

"Angel rang me and said he was very sick last Friday and stayed in hospital for one day," he added. "The doctors did tests and said he was okay, but recommended he didn't go to America this week and rested instead."

Cabrera, winner of the European Tour's flagship BMW Championship in May, is in the field for the WGC-NEC Championship next week.

EASY DOES IT: Colin Montgomerie took the precaution of not hitting any shots out of heavy rough when he practiced on Tuesday at Baltusrol. And the Scot, who pulled out of the Johnnie Walker Championship last week after hurting three fingers on his right hand, maintained he will not venture onto the course at all on Wednesday.

Montgomerie, runner-up to Tiger Woods in the Open Championship last month, saw two specialists last Friday -- and had a real scare when the first one started talking of surgery and possibly being out of action until February.

"The second didn't think the ligament damage was as bad, so I rested it over the weekend and didn't want to take any chances with it today," said Montgomerie. "I hit one or two out of the light rough, but that was enough. I was able to play 18 and not just nine that way, but I won't play tomorrow now.

"I'm icing it and taking painkillers and anti-inflammatories, but I don't really know how it's going to be on Thursday yet."

Compatriot Stephen Gallacher and England's David Howell were also out practicing Tuesday morning after also withdrawing from the Johnnie Walker last week. Gallacher has been seeing a chiropractor for back trouble and Howell has not played since tearing an abdominal muscle at the U.S. Open in June.

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