Right-Hand Man

For the second straight time, 1988 PGA Champion Jeff Sluman will be by Jack Nicklaus' side. Plus, Vijay Singh served up grub and goodies at the champions dinner, Sean O'Hair has come a long way from last year, and more.

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) -- Jeff Sluman will again be an assistant to U.S. Captain Jack Nicklaus at the Presidents Cup.

Sluman was Nicklaus' assistant for the 2003 Presidents Cup, when the United States and Gary Player's International team tied 17-17.

"Jeff did a tremendous job for us in South Africa,'' Nicklaus said in a statement. "I told him not long after the matches that he not only did a good job, but I enjoyed working with him and having him involved with the team. Plus, we have some unfinished business to settle.''

Nicklaus said he made his decision after speaking with Sluman and realizing that he could not earn enough points to make the team. But the invitation to become an assistant did come with a footnote.

"I also said that if he won the PGA Championship I would make him my first alternate and still have him serve as my captain's assistant,'' Nicklaus said.

Sluman won the 1998 PGA Championship and is a six-time winner overall. He has three top-10 finishes this year and ranks 49th on the money list.

Sluman said he is excited to be working with Nicklaus.

"I am very pleased that the greatest player that has lived has chosen me to be his assistant again,'' Sluman said. "Obviously, Jack thought I was a good sounding board for the decision-making process throughout the competition. I would have loved to have made the team, but this is another honor that I wish more players could experience in their careers.''

The Presidents Cup will be held Sept. 20-25 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?: Cell phones will not be permitted at the PGA Championship this week, and spectators trying to carry a phone onto the Baltusrol Golf Clubs grounds will be turned away.

The PGA of America took the drastic step after thousands of spectators arrived at the entrance gates for practice rounds carrying portable phones.

"During the first two practice rounds, we had over 5,000 people enter the gates at Baltusrol with cell phones, despite our no cell phone policy,'' Tournament Director Andy Bush said. "As we head toward Thursday's first round action, spectators attending the Championship must understand that they will be turned away if they bring a cell phone.

"We've gone to great lengths to communicate our no cell phone policy, while accommodating spectators by checking their phones during the practice rounds. We simply cannot accommodate the mass crowds who have brought cell phones to Baltusrol. Thus, we will enforce a zero tolerance policy from this point.''

Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman understands the move by the PGA.

"If there's a way to control everyone to have their phone or Blackberry on just a vibrate mode and having a place where they could go to make a phone call, that would be the best of all worlds,'' Lehman said. "But we know someone is going to forget, and you're going to get a bunch of phones going off in your backswing."

CHAMPIONS' SPOILS: Defending champion Vijay Singh had the responsibility of selecting a menu and giving gifts at the PGA's champions dinner on Tuesday night.

Singh selected Thai food for the dinner, prepared by friends who have two restaurants in Atlanta.

And for the gifts, Singh chose Fenwick fishing rods.

"I thought I'd give something that everybody would be able to do, and fishing, a lot of players love fishing and I thought it was a great gift,'' the two-time PGA champion said.

The Fijian also handed out one-year subscriptions to Bass Master magazine.

STRAIGHT SHOOTING: Vijay Singh can work the ball left and right, but when it comes to how he's received by the public, the 28-time winner is a straight shooter.

Asked if he believed the public has been slow to embrace him, despite his success, Singh seemingly turned any blame on the media and took a backhanded shot at some of his fellow pros.

"I have not done anything to not win your confidence,'' he said. "I'm a player, I'm an athlete. I go out there to play golf tournaments and I speak my mind out and I'm very honest about it.

"I'm not fake like many guys out there.''

Asked if he felt underappreciated, Singh shrugged off the question.

"I'm not really concerned about how you guys feel about that, but in my mind, I feel like I've achieved,'' he said. "I've done what I need to do. ... And I feel great about my game, myself and what I have done.''

WHAT A DIFFERENCE: In the span of a year, Sean O'Hair has gone from traveling to stops on the Cleveland Tour in his motor home to having his own media conference at the PGA Championship.

Before this year, O'Hair, who turned pro at 17, had never played a PGA Tour event and had competed in just 18 Nationwide Tour events.

The developmental tour must seem like a lifetime ago. He secured his PGA Tour card for next season with a second-place finish at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and won for the first time at the John Deere Classic.

But don't suggest to the 23-year-old O'Hair that he should be a candidate for a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup.

"No, no. I think as far as captain's picks, I definitely shouldn't be a pick,'' he said. "Number one, I don't have the experience.

"Obviously, I would love to play on the Presidents Cup team. I would rather earn my way from my play to get on there, because I think there's a few more guys on that list that are a lot higher on the list than I am that definitely deserve it a lot more than I do.''

MAYBE NOT FOR MCDOWELL: Graeme McDowell describes himself as "50-50" for the PGA Championship after suffering injuries in a recent car crash. The 26-year-old from Portrush in Northern Ireland is receiving treatment for pain in his ribcage and a problem with his upper back.

McDowell emerged from his latest session of treatment to say he will delay a decision on whether he plays until as late as possible. He tees off at 1:20 p.m. ET on Thursday.

He was a back seat passenger in the collision nearly three weeks ago, and the injury has prevented him practicing on the course at all this week. However, he has been able to hit some balls on the driving range.

BIG CHANGE FOR BJORN: A total of 31 players tee off on Thursday to try to end Europe's six-year drought in the majors. Thomas Bjorn is among them, but merely getting out of the PGA Championship unscarred would be a step in the right direction for the 34-year-old Dane.

Bjorn has played just twice since the U.S. Open in June, and both times ended in disaster. At the Smurfit European Open he was leading before crashing to a closing 86. Then at the Open Championship he needed only a bogey on the last hole of his second round to make the cut, but drove out of bounds for a double-bogey.

Since then, Bjorn has been working on changes to his game that he hopes will enable him to achieve everything he feels he is capable of.

"It could take two days or two months, but it has to be done and I have committed myself to it," he said. "I have just got to accept that in this period there might be some golf that is not the best, but I saw a video of my swing and saw things that definitely needed to change."

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