NICK FALDO has arrived in Muhammad Ali's home town to try to lift some of the gloom surrounding British sport following the Olympics.
Faldo is looking for his second major of the year - and the seventh of his career - at the United States PGA championship, which begins tomorrow at the Valhalla course in Louisville, Kentucky.
The weather is likely to be even hotter and more humid than it was in Atlanta, from where only two of Britain's 312 competitors - rowers Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent - returned home with gold medals.
But Faldo, disappointed to slip to fourth on the final day of the Open less than three weeks ago, said after his first nine holes of practice: "I'm happy with everything and mentally I'm ready."
Told about the low state of the British sporting public's morale in the wake of the Games the 39-year-old smiled and said: "I'll see what I can do for them."
It was Faldo's putting that cost him the chance of catching American Tom Lehman at Lytham and on that he commented: "I'm trying to change a few things. I know my faults and I'm still working on bits."
He has an instant chance to have another crack at Lehman, for in the tradition of the PGA championship the winners of the first three majors of the year are grouped together in the first two rounds.
Faldo, this year's US Masters winner, Lehman and US Open champion Steve Jones tee off at 8.41 a.m. tomorrow (1.41 p.m. Irish time) and in the heat of the early afternoon sun at 12.53 p.m. (5.53 p.m. Irish time) on Friday.
Ireland's only representative, Philip Walton, has gained a good draw, going out at 3.20 p.m. (Irish time) in a three-ball with Americans Jim Furyk and Peter Jacobsen. He will be familiar with Jacobsen from the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill last September when they were on opposing sides.
After a holiday with his girlfriend Brenna Cepelak Faldo went back to his Florida base last week to prepare with coach David Leadbetter.
"We worked for three mornings. It was hotter there than it is here and I didn't want to burn myself out. By midday I was soaked," said Faldo.
"I guess the weather is going to be the key this week, but the rough is very severe and the greens could be very quick. They are going to have to water them to keep them alive.
"From what I've seen so far, though, it's a good scoring course. Like a lot of Jack Nicklaus-designed courses it favours somebody who fades the ball and that's the way I hit it.
"He makes you think and you've got to position the ball. You can't just whack it on the green anywhere - they have scooped-out bits and the ball can roll off into nasty little areas.
"I want to win all four majors. That's a goal of mine and I think I have a good opportunity here.
"I've got to take them when I can. Every major is a different challenge and it's a tough thing to try to prepare for four tournaments. You've got to set yourself up for them mentally and physically.
"I don't have a problem getting mentally in the mode, but physically you can feel sometimes that the clock is running down and it would be a great step forward if I could get this one under my belt."
That would leave only the US Open for Faldo to join Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Nicklaus and Gary Player as the only men to have lifted all four during their careers.
Faldo finished second in the PGA in 1992, third the following year and fourth in both 1988 and 1994.
Although a European is still waiting to break through in the event the American monopoly has been shattered in recent years by victories for Wayne Grady (1990), Nick Price (1992 and 1994) and Steve Elkington, who last August beat Colin Montgomerie in a play-off.
The Scot tied 12 months ago just after missing the halfway cut in the Open and he must now raise himself in the same way after failing again at Lytham.
Montgomerie still leads the European Order of Merit after finishing joint 12th in the Scandinavian Masters on Sunday.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain Seve Ballesteros and Scotland's Sandy Lyle have pulled out. They join Barry Lane and Jose Maria Olazabal, who withdrew last week, and reduce the European contingent at Valhalla to 13.
Ballesteros's manager Roddy Carr explained yesterday: "Seve did not feel his game was in good enough shape. He wasn't going to go unless he felt he could win."
The former world number one has plunged to 51st in the rankings this season, is outside the top 120 on the European Order of Merit and suffered a bad blow to his pride three weeks ago when he missed the half-way cut in the Open at Royal Lytham, scene of his victories in 1979 and 1988.
"He was obviously very disappointed with how badly he played there," added Carr. "His form had been picking up quite nicely until then.
"But he's working hard on his game and grinding it out on the practice range.
"He's playing four weeks in a row, starting with the German Open in a fortnight; then, after two weeks off, he has another six tournaments in a row."
Ballesteros missed the cut in the last two US PGA championships, did not play in 1993 and pulled out four years ago with a back injury.
Lyle's absence is for family reasons. His mother died of a heart attack only two weeks ago, just five months after his father passed away suddenly in the same hospital, having suffered blood poisoning.
Lane announced at last week's Scandinavian Masters that he did not consider himself to be in good enough form to make the trip, while Olazabal has now missed all four majors this year because of rheumatoid arthritis in his feet. He has not played a single tournament for 11 months now.
