Down to a Twosome

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. —  If you hold the opinion that Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh can’t win every golf tournament they enter, then the 87th PGA Championship is officially up for grabs.

This year’s fourth major, which starts today on the humid hallows of the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club, will prove interesting if someone slips Kryptonite into Woods’ water bottle and Singh gets bad directions from a cab driver on the 650-yard, par-five 17th, the Louisiana Purchase of golf real estate holdings.

Betting against Woods and Singh, on this course, at this time in golf history, is like betting against Frank Sinatra in Hoboken.

Woods and Singh are Nos. 1-2 in the world, if not sing-along chums.

“We don’t go to dinner together,” Singh said. “You know, I don’t go to dinner together with 95% of the guys on Tour, or maybe 99% of the guys on Tour. So why single Tiger out? I never have had a drink with Phil Mickelson. Why doesn’t anyone talk about that?”

Woods and Singh are the only golfers in the 156-player field who boast top-10 finishes in the three majors played this year.

Woods won the Masters and British Open, and Singh has done his best to hang on to Woods’ spikes as the so-called “Big Five” in golf breaks into pieces.

Golf, in fact, might have raised a collective white flag had Singh not held off to defeat Woods two weeks ago at the Buick Open.

Singh is the PGA Championship’s defending champion, the winner last year at Whistling Straits and the host of this week’s champions’ dinner (he served Thai food and presented the guests fishing rods as gifts).

The encouraging news for anyone not named Woods or Singh is the PGA’s quirky history of producing first-time major champions: Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, David Toms, and, uh-hum, Singh.

So, in one sense, the breakdown of the Fab Five has left career opportunities at the top of golf’s food chain.

What became of the five-fingered conglomerate that was supposed to dominate majors for years to come?

Foremost, Woods had a flashback to the halcyon days of 2000 and again has separated himself from the field. Singh is hanging tough, but he’s also 42, normally the start of the back nine in a golf career.

It seemed as if Mickelson had turned Amen Corner with his breakthrough 2004 Masters win, but of late has beaten a high-fade retreat as evidenced by his finishes of 10th, 33rd and 60th in this year’s first three majors.

“I think that things are turning around and I’m looking forward to finishing off the year right,” he said this week.

Mickelson might think that, in part, because of his 10th-place finish last week at the International.

Ernie Els is on the disabled list, sitting out this major because of knee surgery.

Retief Goosen earned Big Five stripes with his stoic win at last year’s U.S. Open, but he has faltered in the two most recent majors, shooting himself out of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst with a final-round 81 and out of the British Open with a final-round 74.

Goosen did rebound to win the International last week in Denver.

With wiggle room now at the top, this might be the week for golf’s new wave to emerge.

If-not-now-then-when orders at Baltusrol have been issued for:

* Sergio Garcia. He landed in our living rooms six years ago as a precocious 19-year-old from Spain, nearly running (literally) down Woods on the back nine of the PGA Championship at Medinah.

Garcia is still seeking his first major win.

“I’ve been very, very close, many times,” Garcia said. “But unfortunately, things haven’t worked. They haven’t gone my way.”

* Chris DiMarco. He’s not a long hitter -- not a good thing here -- but has managed in the last year to take the Big Two to the bitter end, losing to Singh in a three-way playoff last year at Whistling Straits and to Woods on the first playoff hole of this year’s Masters.

* Adam Scott. The Australian from Adelaide has fashioned his swing after Woods -- and has the length to compete -- but still trails Woods in majors by 10. Scott ranks seventh in the world rankings and has the upside of a skyscraper.

* Padraig Harrington. He has been knocking on the Big Five’s door for years but has never busted through. He says his chances this week are weakened by the emotional fallout over his father’s recent death, but sadness fueled by adrenaline has often produced surprising results.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Harrington said.

The downside of Baltusrol is that its brutish length of 7,392 yards and relatively soft conditions this week may eliminate most of the field before the tournament starts.

There are some who contend that only the game’s longest hitters (sorry, Fred Funk) will have what it takes to muscle a four-day run at this title.

“Well, it does eliminate a lot of the guys who can’t hit the ball long and high,” Woods conceded.

There are two guys it does not eliminate.

Woods, for one.

And did we mention Singh?