Now, Sahalee Tries To Return To Normal

The special tee markers and tournament pin flags were the first items to go. On most holes yesterday, they were gathered up as soon as the final twosome of Vijay Singh and Steve Stricker completed each hole.

The TV cameras will be gone by today, as will most of the vast CBS compound - trailers, tents, satellite dishes, parked cars and portable toilets - which for the past week turned the second fairway of Sahalee Country Club's east nine into a high-tech campground.

The east nine's third fairway, meanwhile, lies under a 6-inch layer of gravel. It was converted into a staging area for trailers and assorted heavy equipment.

Spectator-viewing areas along the championship 18 have been reduced to trampled mats of brown grass and muddy clumps after yesterday's rain.

Sections of fairway have brown spots. The 5-inch rough needs a serious trim.

Bleachers, TV towers, concession stands, 150 rented golf carts, banners, flags, barricades and 6 miles of chain-link fence all have to go.

"CBS will be the first ones out," said tournament director Andy Odenbach. "No one gets out faster than CBS. Overall, the take-down process takes about half as long as the construction effort."

That process began June 22 when, Odenbach calculates, 15 national vendors and 35 local suppliers and contractors began overhauling Sahalee for the 80th PGA Championship. Preparing the course itself took even longer.

"All of our maintenance activity for the year has been geared toward this weekend," course superintendent Tom Wolff said. "The condition of the golf course has exceeded any of our expectations. I couldn't be more pleased."

Wolff is giving his grounds crew today off. He says Sahalee's championship 18 will be ready for member play Aug. 22.

"We've had a couple of broken irrigation lines, but that's relatively minor when you consider how much activity has happened here," Wolff said as he and several crew members watched the final round on television.

Wolff says the course is "stressed" after being tailored to suit the professional game.

"We'll start Tuesday by taking the rough back down to an inch-and-a-half," he said. "Right now, it's 5 inches. We'll cut it a half-inch at a time, so it doesn't turn brown.

"We've been cutting the fairways to three-eighths of an inch, when we usually keep them at a half-inch for normal play. We'll fertilize them soon. They're hungry. But the greens are in great shape. Balls have never rolled better on these greens.

"I have heard no complaints about the course," Wolff said. "These professionals are not bashful about telling you what they think about your course.

"We could have tricked this course up to where no one could break par. Proper water maintenance was the key. We didn't want greens getting too hard or too soft."

Wolff shrugged off Tiger Woods' suggestion after round two that the course would benefit from a good watering.

"None of these players has any influence on a maintenance decision," Wolff said. "You can always put water on, but you can't take it off. We'd go nuts if we listened to these guys."

"This tournament came at the absolute best time of year for us," he added. "Trying to have a U.S. Open here in June could be tough. I remember two fairways last year, No. 2 and No. 3, that we couldn't mow until July because of water. The PGA comes at just the right time for this course."