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Slip sliding away May struggling to recapture magic of Valhalla
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- Bob May waited a couple of months before he popped a tape in the VCR and got around to watching last year's PGA Championship. Was he hesitant to relive the agony of losing to Tiger Woods in a playoff? Not at all, May insisted. He just didn't have time. "I wasn't home all that much. Even when I was, I didn't have three or four hours to sit around and watch it," said May, married with two young children. "Finally, I was home one afternoon, so I put it in." He didn't need a video to remember every shot: the 6-foot miss at No. 15 that would have given him a two-shot lead, the clutch 15-footer for birdie at 18 that forced a playoff, the 25-foot birdie by Woods that became the winning margin. Both players finished 18-under for 72 holes, setting a PGA Championship scoring record. May had three straight 66s, matching Woods shot-for-shot in the most pressure-packed setting of his career. "I always felt I had it in me," May said Wednesday, coming off the 18th green after a practice round at Atlanta Athletic Club. "It's just a matter of getting it out at the right time." The timing is right again. May is back at the PGA Championship, which begins Thursday, and hoping to prove himself more than just a footnote in history. "If I had shot one great round to get up there, that's one thing," he said. "But I had three 66s in a row. That's not a fluke." Still, the record book is filled with guys -- Ed Sneed, Mike Donald, Kenny Perry, et al -- who came agonizingly close to winning a major, never to be heard from again. This year, May has slipped in that direction, showing few signs of being the player he was at Valhalla. Much of the blame rests with an aching back, which forced him to take six weeks off. "I could move around a little bit, but very slowly. It would take me a good long time to get from here to that sign," he said, motioning toward a post just a few feet away. Riddled with doubts, he hired Woods' exercise guru, Keith Kleven, and began a rigorous program focusing on the back and abdomen. While getting close to a full recovery, May still wears a brace under his shirt. He admits to slacking on the physical side of the game until his back went out. "Now I know it's a critical thing," May said. "This is very disappointing. I was looking forward to having a good year following up 2000. Now, I'm just glad to be playing." Contending is another matter. May hasn't been in the top 10 all year, plunging to 89th on the money list. "Everyone who plays golf knows how tough it is," Woods said. "Then you compound that with an injury and you're not able to swing the way you normally can. ... It's tough to get through." Before May's injury, no one came closer to beating Woods during that unprecedented run of four straight major titles. "Last year was great fun for me, win or lose, because we both played well," Woods recalled. "We were going toe-to-toe. When I was playing the back nine, I knew I had to make birdies to win the championship. It was not going to be handed to me." May, who had a victory on the European Tour in 1999 and finished 11th at the British Open last year, doesn't mind being remembered primarily as the guy who almost beat Woods. "I think my career is more than that," he said. "But as long as I'm mentioned close to him, that's great. Anytime you're in the same sentence, you're doing OK." May is only 32, so he's hardly willing to concede that Valhalla will be the pinnacle of his career. Somewhere down the road, he can envision another Sunday afternoon when his name is on the leaderboard at a major. "I'd like to believe so, sure," May said. "If you try to rest on the past, it's not going to happen. But as long as I work hard, I believe there will be an event when it happens again." If there is a next time, maybe the fates will be kinder to May. Perhaps Woods will be having an off-week. "Unfortunately, it was me against the best player in the world," May said. "I have nothing to be ashamed of."
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