FanHouse Rich Beem

Tiger Woods led the first three days of the PGA Championship and halfway through the fourth. And then Y.E. Yang happened. But Yang's victory was so unexpected, so sudden, so ... not according to script, that by the time the reality of what happened washed over jaw-agaped onlookers it was too late.

In terms of ratings, anyway.

CHASKA, Minn. -- It's amazing how fast you can become a cult figure. On Wednesday, Alvaro Quiros was nobody. On Thursday, Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington and Rich Beem were on the 11th green at the PGA Championship, a 606-yard hole, uphill, that happened to be into the wind.

And while they stood there, a ball rolled up onto the green.

Quiros' ball. He had reached the green in 2, not thinking he could get there even though he took a driver to his ball in the fairway.

Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington and Rich Beem have seven Wanamaker Trophy among them. They're playing together the first two days of the 91st PGA Championship, and midway through the first round, Tiger is alone in first place after a 5-under, 67, Paddy trails by one, and Beemer is tied for 13th at 1-under.

Apart from Woods, who is the story whenever he tees it up, Harrington arrived at Hazeltine after a demoralizing loss at last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. But any doubts about his mental state were quickly erased on the front nine Thursday.

Paddy went out in 34 strokes, matching Tiger shot for shot (as did Beem, who won the PGA Championship the last time it was at Hazeltine in 2002, but hasn't done much in the seven years since). On the back, Woods separated himself, needing only 33 strokes to get to the clubhouse. Harrington was steady and efficient, shooting a 34 on the way in, and Beem, save a double-bogey on No. 3 (his 12th hole), looked like he belonged, carding a 36.

Just like we did with Augusta, Bethpage Black, and Turnberry, we present your Sleepers for the PGA Championship. Hazeltine National is hosting its first major since the 2002 PGA Championship, and has been extended to a ghastly 7,678 yards of pure major championship nastiness. What players do we like to jump out of the bottom of the pack and contend over the weekend? Read on to see your Sleepers for Glory's Last Shot.

At Turnberry, the weekend was missing the world's two best golfers. Tiger Woods wasn't around on Saturday and Sunday because of poor golf. Phil Mickelson was missing out for another reason -- his family. Now, with wife Amy apparently doing well after breast cancer surgery, Lefty has committed to the PGA Championship, his second tournament in a row after word spread he committed to the WGC-Bridgestone next week in Akron, Ohio.

According to the Associated Press, officials have confirmed that Phil will be in the field, only his second tournament in two months, and was out at Hazeltine National on Wednesday playing a practice round to get ready for the event.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Johnson Delivers Another Playoff Victory -- Before April of 2007, Zach Johnson was a relative nobody in the golf world. He'd won the BellSouth Classic back in 2004, but he hadn't been making noise before he headed to Augusta National last year.

Yet twelve strategic lay-ups and a bunch of well played golf had Johnson wearing his first green jacket. Johnson's 2007 Masters win made us believe that golf isn't just about booming tee shots and big names.

Before 2002, Rich Beem was best known for his role in the incredible golf book, "Bud, Sweat, & Tees" by Alan Shipnuck. Beem had won the Kemper Open in 1999, but nothing really of notoriety until '02, when he reeled off an International victory, which was followed by an improbable PGA Championship win that memorably included a little shimmy when his final putt dropped.

You remember that PGA. He beat a guy named Tiger Woods, who famously told his caddy Steve Williams something to the degree of, "If we can birdie these last four holes we'll win." Woods then Tiger-ishly pulled it off, only to lose by a shot to Beem.

Those were Beem's good days. Since then, mostly bad.

Golf season starts tomorrow, which means it is time to actually start thinking of the best game with dimples. While the giants take a nap, others will play at the Mercedes Championship, and golf will be around the rest of the year. FanHouse spent a couple of minutes thinking what is to come in 2009. Here is what transpired.

Which golfer will be the first to break through in the Majors?
A lot of the time this is overlooked, but look back a few years ago to Tiger's first full year on tour. The guy won his first-ever start in a major as a professional. With Tiger, the monkey never even had a chance to find a nice place to rest on his back. How long did it take for Tiger to win number two? Eleven major championships. Yeah, it isn't nearly as easy as he makes it seem now.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is that winning a major championship is really, really, really tough and as Sergio Garcia (and Phil Mickelson a few years back) can tell you, if you don't get one early, then the questions about "When will it happen?" start to stir around.

Garcia has gone 38 majors as a professional without a victory. That might seem like a tremendously long time until you think of some of the talented guys that took a while to win their first big one. Vijay Singh didn't get his until his 27th major. Fred Couples went 34 until he took the 1992 Masters. Tom Kite played in 67 majors before taking his 1992 U.S. Open crown.

Garcia is in panic mode but he's still young (in golf terms) and has enough talent to open the floodgates in the major championship sense.

Along with him, Anthony Kim is due to take one of these as a youngster, as well as Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas.

Interesting stat to close all this up and make it apparent how hard it is to win a major: Out of the top 10 in the Official World Rankings, five have won majors, five have not.

"Glory's Last Shot" is upon us, and with He Who Should Not Be Named out for the second consecutive major, we in the golf world have to type and make up things as we pick "favorites" when we really have just as good an idea of who will win as you.

If that doesn't entice you, this might -- only one golfer not named Tiger Woods in the top 10 of the Official World Ranking has won a major championship since the Masters in 2006. Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker and Adam Scott have all gone a very long time without winning a major (if ever) and it seems these top-10 golfers might be due.

Here are my favorites, their best finish in a PGA Championship, and why they made the list.

• Phil Mickelson -- WON -- My least favorite person ever to pick in majors, but he did play good for three rounds (or four if you ask him) last week and had himself in a extremely good position even with a balky putter and his obviously struggle with weight choking. If he can somehow find a way to hit the fairway this week, he'll be near the top come Sunday (and on cue probably find a way to drop the ball in dramatic fashion).