One more day needed to write legacy, history

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - Today is not a referendum on the evils of television and the greed of men too obstinate (or ignorant) to pay attention to every unfavorable forecast or make any effort whatsoever to finish the PGA Championship on Sunday.

That CBS and the PGA of America conspired to rely on luck and deprive New York-New Jersey metropolitan area fans desperate to witness first-hand their adopted hero Phil Mickelson win a major championship is a topic for another day. That it would have taken such little effort to start the final round earlier - as Mickelson himself requested, and the Masters Tournament has done twice in the past four years - is a gripe upon which unreasonable men will have to agree to disagree.

Today, instead, is a referendum on champions and legacies and taking advantage of the rarest of opportunities.

In a little more than an hour this morning - a potential three-hole playoff notwithstanding - someone will leave Baltusrol Country Club with the Wanamaker Trophy in the trunk of their courtesy vehicle. What it means depends on which one of the eight players still in the running claims it.

"The one person who wins this event goes down in history," said Steve Elkington, the 1995 PGA champ poised a shot between clubhouse leader Tiger Woods and on-course leader Mickelson. "Everyone else is history for the week, basically."

Today is one of those rare coronation days in golf. The opportunity for everyone presents itself only four times per year. The opportunities for individuals are even rarer.

Only 190 golfers in history have ever won a professional major championship. Of those 190, only 73 have won more than one.

"One major puts you in the club, but it's just the club," said Davis Love III, still seeking a partner for his 1997 PGA title under the rainbow at Winged Foot. "Four or five of them puts you in superstar status."

Mickelson, Elkington and Love all went to sleep Sunday night hoping to wake up and join 32 others in the more validating double-major club. Two others - Thomas Bjorn and Pat Perez - just want a foot in the door.

Woods, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen are just trying to pad their multiple-major resumes.

Major championships unveil the strengths and weaknesses of the men vying to be considered among the greats of their generations.

Some luck into wins.

Some choke their way into defining defeats.

There are three types of players among the 117 single major winners that litter the history of the game.

- There are the one-hitters who everybody wonders how they ever did that (i.e. Rich Beem, Todd Hamilton, Larry Mize).

- There are the ones who fulfilled the accepted level of their own excellence (i.e. Hal Sutton, Paul Azinger, Corey Pavin).

- Then there are the ones whose destinies seem largely incomplete with only one (i.e. Tom Weiskopf, Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins).

Mickelson and Love might be the two most prominent members of that faction of the one-major fraternity. They took the first tee Sunday with 44 career victories between them and only one major apiece.

Both should have accomplished more already.

"You obviously arrogantly think if you win one that the rest of them are easy," Love said Saturday. "The second one is just as hard. That's when you see a guy who has three or four of them, he's looked upon a little differently than the rest of the players."

Mickelson and Love want desperately to be looked upon the little bit differently after a victory today. They want to so desperately that, at times Sunday, they looked incapable of making that happen.

In conditions more difficult than any all week, the third-round co-leaders were coughing up strokes as if they were hairballs. By the 11th tee, they were both two strokes behind Elkington, who started the day two behind them.

That Woods was sitting comfortably in the clubhouse before the conditions worsened and play was suspended had to make the leaders on the course uneasy.

But the inexcusable decision by tournament powers to push their luck and let the season's final coronation wait until Monday might prove to be a blessing for Mickelson's multiple cause.

"This is a tremendous advantage, I think," Mickelson said. "Because we get a few extra holes to play and hopefully calm weather."

That the delay could have and should have been avoided is moot.

All that matters today is whose name is inscribed on the Wanamaker Trophy and whose legacy is justifiably enhanced.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.