PGA Championship begins after fog delay

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. - Golfers finally got on the course after a three-hour delay at the PGA Championship, only to have fog bring play to a halt once again.

What a fittingly odd start to the final major in what's become the strangest of seasons.

Tee times were pushed back three hours 10 minutes because of fog so soupy it obscured Lake Michigan, and Tiger Woods and other players could do little but wait it out on the driving range and putting green. A handful of groups made it on the course before play was halted again because of poor visibility on No. 3, but players stayed on the course and the second delay lasted only six minutes.

The PGA is known for producing some unexpected winners, but it's even more wide open than usual this year. Woods' game is as big a mess as his personal life, Phil Mickelson has forsaken his beloved burgers for broccoli because of arthritis and Lee Westwood is at home with a calf injury. With five of the last six majors won by first-timers, including the U.S. Open (Graeme McDowell) and the British Open (Louis Oosthuizen), just about every guy in the locker-room is thinking this could be his week.

"This is probably as wide open a major as we've seen in a long time," Steve Stricker said. "I think we all have a sense that if you can play well and get it going, then you have that great opportunity to win here."

Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., and Calgary's Stephen Ames won't tee off until late in the afternoon.

Woods, who needs a good week to hang onto his No. 1 ranking and end the hubbub over his Ryder Cup status, went off in a group with Vijay Singh, the winner the last time the PGA was at Whistling Straits, and defending champion Y.E. Yang.

It was Yang's victory at last year's PGA that was the first sign of trouble for Woods, though no one could have imagined this dramatic of a downfall. Woods hasn't come close to winning a tournament since running over that fire hydrant during U.S. Thanksgiving, unleashing a firestorm of tawdry details about his rampant infidelities. While his personal life is beginning to "normalize," his game is doing the exact opposite. ( Nancy Armour, The Associated Press )