Cool temperatures and high winds during the British Open last month have convinced Davis Love he will not experience back problems when defending the USPGA Championship, starting at Sahalee CC, Seattle, on Thursday. He was greatly encouraged by having no reaction from his suspect lower back when claiming seventh place behind compatriot Mark O'Meara at Royal Birkdale.
"Things have been OK and I'm pacing myself," said the holder, who has been maintaining a strict regime of rest and exercise in recent weeks. "I'll always enjoy being called the PGA champion and for that reason, I don't want this year to end.
"I'm really looking forward to defending the championship. Before arriving in Seattle, I talked to Rick Fehr (a native of Washington state) several times about the course. He filled me in on what a great challenge it is and its overall difficulty."
What about his back? "Well, I've got some sort of disc problem in my lower back," he replied. "The pain came when I followed through at the finish of my swing and it pinched something. Freddie Couples, Tom Kite, a lot of the guys have had bad backs but they worked their way through it and continued with their careers."
Since winning at Winged Foot 12 months ago, Love has had only moderate success in the major championships. He was tied 33rd in the US Masters after a wretched final round of 78 and went on to miss the cut in the US Open at the Olympic Club.
In between, however, he gained a superb victory in the MCI Classic at Harbour Town, completing an aggregate of 18-under-par with rounds of 67, 68, 66 and 65. He was then tied fifth in the Memorial before his back began to give him serious problems.
A total of 13 past champions will be in action this week - Al Geiberger (1966), John Mahaffey (1978), Hal Sutton (1983), Bob Tway (1986), Larry Nelson (1987), Jeff Sluman (1988), Payne Stewart (1989), Wayne Grady (1990), John Daly (1991), Nick Price (1992, 1994), Paul Azinger (1993), Steve Elkington (1995) and Mark Brooks (1996). No player has successfully defended the title since Denny Shute in 1937.
In contrast to last year when Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington competed, albeit unsuccessfully, at Winged Foot, there is no Irish representative in this year's line-up. It will be recalled that 12 months ago, Clarke played disappointingly for a half-way total of 153 to miss the cut by seven strokes while his compatriot got considerably closer on 148.
Bernhard Langer, who complained of stomach problems at last week's German Open, has pulled out this week due to a strained neck. "I felt the pain immediately upon getting up," said the German, who finished 13th in Berlin. This leaves 13 Europeans competing - Thomas Bjorn, Andrew Coltart, Nick Faldo, Ignacio Garrido, Gabriel Hjerstedt, PerUrik Johansson, Robert Karlsson, Colin Montgomerie, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Costantino Rocca, Patrik Sjoland, Lee Westwood and Ian Woosnam.
From the time that Scottish-born Tommy Armour captured the trophy at Fresh Meadow CC, New York in 1930, the closest any European has come to emulating that achievement was in 1995 at Riviera CC, where Montgomerie lost a play-off to Elkington.
Montgomerie was again the highest-placed European 12 months ago when he was tied 13th behind Love. This week's European challenge includes 10 of the victorious Ryder Cup side at Valderrama last September, the absentees being Langer and Clarke, who is remaining at home to be with his wife Heather and their new baby boy, Tyrone Benjamin.
From an American standpoint, there is considerable interest in the challenge of O'Meara, who has already won the US Masters and the British Open this year. He will be attempting to emulate the great Ben Hogan's achievement of 1953 (Masters, US Open and British Open), by winning three "majors" in the same year. But O'Meara's USPGA record is not particularly good. Out of his last 10 appearances in the event he has missed five cuts. His highest-placed finish was tied sixth behind Elkington at Riviera. He was tied 13th last year.
Meanwhile, after more than a month's absence from his home tour, Billy Mayfair considered it prudent to sharpen up in preparation for this week's challenge at Sahalee. So he competed in the Buick Open at Warwick Hills last weekend - and won the top prize of $324,000.
Then, in a warm gesture to a grief-stricken friend, he dedicated this, his fifth US Tour victory to Australia's Stuart Appleby, whose wife Renay was killed in a car accident in London two weeks ago.
It was Mayfair's second win of the season, coming after a highly significant success in the Nissan Open at Valencia in March.
The Buick was also notable for the continued good form of Steve Stricker, who had his seventh, topeight finish of the year, despite a dispiriting bogey on the 18th.
