Caddie's Role: Tuesday - I was here in 1999, the year of the famous battle for the PGA title between Tiger and Sergio. Despite Medinah being a wonderful course, probably the most memorable part is the clubhouse itself. In its architecture it looks like a shrine to almost all known religions.

There is the Mosque-style minaret on one wing, the church influence on another and the temple-dome look when viewed from a different angle. Either way it gets your attention. It is rumoured that after 9/11 the clubhouse plaque paying respect to Allah was quietly removed from general view.

It was an interesting exercise for me in how my memory works. I had caddied for Greg Turner here seven years ago. I have been to many courses since, so I struggled to recall the holes.

The one's with perilous water carries seemed familiar, but generally the memories were hazy. Then, on the 12th hole, it all came flooding back. It didn't suit Turner's left-to-right shape and we made a mess of it every day. It all became clear when I revisited the scene of the crime.

The 16th, though it had been altered, was also vivid. We were doing well on Sunday and wanted a club that would get up the elevated green. Greg did not get height on his long irons so we opted for the five-wood, which would go long, but long was better than short. There were two TV stands behind the green and a tiny gap between them and the grandstand. We figured it would be highly unlikely to find the gap if the ball went long - and the drop area was okay. The unlikely happened: Greg aimed for the gap and found it, and ended up closer to the 17th green than the 16th. It was the end of our PGA top-10 campaign and scarred my memory of Medinah.

Wednesday

We played a practice round with Sergio. Unlike me, the young Spaniard had vivid memories. He could recall all the holes as if he were in the 1999 PGA once again.

When we got to the infamous 16th, scene of his celebrated shot from the roots of the great oak to the right of the fairway in the final round of the PGA that year, he had to have a closer look at the trunk of the tree.

He took out his six-iron, threw a ball into the base of the tree and re-enacted the spectacular shot he made seven years ago to mark the arrival of El Niño.

The greenkeepers are sick of having to resod the base of 'El Niño's Tree', as all who visit Medinah take a hack to see how they would have done under similar circumstances.

Thursday

A sombre, but serene and tasteful start to the tournament. Tom Lehman, the American Ryder Cup captain, held a 6.30am short ceremony in honour of Heather Clarke. Tom was due to play that afternoon, so his sacrifice of sleep was quite a gesture. He spoke of her courage in a long battle with cancer and noted the relative unimportance of bogey and double bogey when life is at stake. It was an impressive act by Lehman that to me put him on something of a pedestal in what is often a self-absorbed sport.

The show got underway and the much hyped heavyweight bout, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, teed off at 8.30. The US Open champion, Geoff Ogilvy, hardly got a mention but it would have been rude to send the boys out in a two-ball.

David Feherty's comment about Phil and Tiger was the wittiest. He said the two are like magnets: they attract pretty much everything around them but repel each other.

Friday

It's not too often the circus that comes to town considers how it impacts on the locals. I got a taste of the non-golfing opinion in a coffee shop during the 88th PGA Championship.

"You can't believe the amount of traffic out there. Where are all the people going to?" an elderly lady enquired of a man nearby.

"Did you see that guy who was leading yesterday until the last hole when he got really nervous, I guess, and made a big mistake and then he wasn't leading anymore?" the man asked.

"Oh yeah, there must be an awful lot of money involved for them to get this agitated," she replied.

"You bet, lady, big bucks."

"Are you going down there?"

"Don't be silly. I couldn't possibly get a ticket."

For locals the most obvious facet of such a global event is the disruption to their daily lives.

Saturday and Sunday

Did you see that par that Tiger made on the first hole of the third round? It was outrageous. Three chops across the fairway toward the green and a dead-weight putt down the green for par. It would make the most trusting wonder if the undisputed best golfer of all time is human at all. He is back to the form he had six years ago that made every golfer wonder if he should even consider trying to win any event in which Woods is entered.

It seems we all should fear the Tiger like never before. He is playing for his recently deceased father and nobody is going to get in the way of that.

The trophy Tiger hoisted for the third time in his spectacular career is named after Rodman Wanamaker. He was a man of many interests and I am sure would have found the current holder of his 15-kilo cup fascinating.

Rodman backed early expeditions to the North Pole and built the first multi-engine plane to fly across the Atlantic. In 1916 the businessman from Philadelphia agreed to fund the inaugural PGA Championship and the trophy that bears his name.

It is traditional for someone to assist the champion to hold the trophy as he poses for the cameras; otherwise he might get tired. I doubt there is any need to check these guys for drug use - as is being suggested in several quarters here in the States. Perhaps though we could perform the Wanamaker test. If the winner doesn't need a helping hand in hoisting it, send a sample to the lab immediately.