Different Strokes

Other than top-25 finishes at Hazeltine, Corey Pavin and Alvaro Quiros had little in common. That's the short and long of it

instant folk hero: Quiros (left) turned heads at Hazeltine with his astounding power, especially when he reached the uphill 606-yard 11th hole in two. USING HIS SMARTS: The 1995 U.S. Open champion, Pavin (right) utilized his well-rounded game to finish T-19 on the longest course ever used in a major.

By Tim Rosaforte

Photos by Stephen Szurlej

August 24, 2009

On the longest course in major championship history, darn near the shortest hitter beat the longest hitter by one stroke. If there was a win for Corey Pavin at the 91st PGA Championship, it was not finishing T-19 at age 49 as much as it was the moral victory of clipping the breakout star of the tournament, the dashing young Spaniard with the pencil thin sideburns, Alvaro Quiros.

Despite being outdriven by 54 yards on average by Quiros, the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup captain shot a two-over 290, capped by a brilliant par-save at the 72nd hole that reflected the tenacity that made him an easy choice to lead next year's team to Wales. While the Champions Tour can't come soon enough, Pavin realizes he has a better chance on monsters such as Hazeltine than venues where it takes 20 under to win. "But it's a grind to play courses this long," he said. "It's hard and taxing on my brain."

Quiros became an instant folk hero Thursday by hitting into the wind and into Tiger Woods' group at the uphill, supposedly unreachable 606-yard, par-5 11th (see page 48). Woods described the effort as "stupid long," but ultimately what was stupid was the way Quiros closed Sunday—with a triple bogey at the par-3 17th and a

bogey from the middle of the 18th fairway with a three-quarter 6-iron.

"The way I finished, it was a disaster," Quiros said. "But [overall] it's a positive experience, for sure."

Finishing par-par despite hitting at times seven clubs more than Quiros, Pavin was more analytical. "Distance isn't everything in golf," Pavin said. "There are so many ways to get the ball in the hole, and that's why golf is so fascinating to fans. You have so many different types of players out there, different swings, different ball flights, guys hit it far, guys hit it short, guys miss greens, guys hit tons of greens, people don't putt well, some people putt great, and it's such a mix. When you put it all in the pot, there's such an equality out here in scoring, it's amazing."

What's amazing is the way Quiros consistently flies the ball more than 300 yards with a three-quarter swing. "He makes the ball get small in a hurry," said Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee. Listed at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, Quiros has six inches and 30 pounds on Pavin, who, 23 years older, was winning tournaments in the mid-1980s when Quiros was in diapers.

"I know who Corey Pavin is, for sure," Quiros said. But since he didn't take up the game until he was 15, the 26-year-old has no memory of Pavin's 4-wood into the final hole at Shinnecock Hills at the 1995 U.S. Open or the intensity with which Pavin played the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill later that year. Even Woods' early successes are a mystery. "If I had to be honest, I didn't grow up with Tiger," said Quiros.

But there is no doubt that Quiros has grown up in a hurry, winning each of the last three years on the European Tour, including the Qatar Masters this past January against the strongest field in a regular tour event in that circuit's history. After missing the cut in the first three majors this year, Quiros rounded into form with a T-15 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and thrived on the bomber's paradise in Chaska. The Minnesota fans quickly fell in love, and Quiros showed he was more than just a long-baller, by opening with a 69 and bouncing back from Friday's 76 with another 69 to start Sunday T-8.

As his Q ratings grew, so did his smile and his apparent comfort with the attention. "The people, it looks like they start to know me, and this is good," he said Sunday night. Earlier in the week, he told reporters gathered around him by the clubhouse, "Americans love the action, the spectacular, and I think it is a little bit of myself, the action."