The Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - By all accounts but one, Tiger Woods has every reason to call this year a success.

Despite surgery on his left knee that caused him to miss five weeks and limited his PGA Tour events to a career-low 12 going into the PGA Championship, Woods has won four times, has four other top-fives, leads the money list and has the lowest scoring average.

"A heck of a year, all things considered," Woods said.

Still, he won't consider it a great year without a major championship.

Not since he left the forest-lined fairways of Sahalee five years ago has Woods gone into an offseason without a major to his name. That's what he is up against at Oak Hill Country Club in the 85th PGA Championship, the fourth and final major known as "Glory's Last Shot."

It's his last shot at joining Walter Hagen as the only men to win a major in five straight seasons.

It's his last shot to stop all the talk about a majors slump.

It's his last shot to avoid spending the next seven months mulling over chances that got away from him at Augusta National and Royal St. George's.

"If you win a major championship, it's a great year, simple as that," Woods said. "Majors are so much better than anything else. It's like tennis - you don't hear about any other events (but the Grand Slam). There are so many other events around the world that are big, but there are only four majors."

Three of them already are taken.

Mike Weir of Canada won the Masters. Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields. Ben Curtis, a 500-1 long shot who was No. 396 in the world ranking, pulled off a shocker at Royal St. George's to win the British Open.

Not since 1969 have all four majors gone to players who had never won a Grand Slam event - George Archer (Masters), Orville Moody (U.S. Open), Tony Jacklin (British Open) and Raymond Floyd (PGA).

There's a good chance of that happening at the PGA. Twelve of its last 15 winners had never won a major.

Last year it was Rich Beem, the former car stereo salesman who played like he had nothing to lose, withstood four straight birdies by Woods down the stretch, and won the Wanamaker Trophy at Hazeltine.

Oak Hill is not entirely unknown. Eleven players from the 1995 Ryder Cup return, although not all of them have pleasant memories.

Brad Faxon, Peter Jacobsen and Jay Haas all came to the 18th hole that day with a chance to earn valuable points, and all came up empty in a European victory.

Phil Mickelson went 3-0 at Oak Hill in the 1995 matches, and he usually plays his best in the PGA Championship. No one is sure what to expect this year. The best player to have never won a major has not been in contention at any tournament since his forgotten third-place finish at the Masters.

Mickelson, out of the top 10 in the world ranking for the first time in six years, has not won in more than a year.

"I don't feel like there's pressure to get a win right away," he said last month. "I want to just start playing better, as opposed to worrying about the result."

PGA at a glance

When: Thursday-Sunday.

Site: Oak Hill Country Club (par 70).

Format: 72 holes, stroke play.

Playoff: Three holes, stroke play.

Purse: TBA ($5.5 million in 2002). Winner's share: TBA ($990,000 in 2002).

Field: 156 professionals (25 club pros).

Defending champion: Rich Beem.

Notable: The last time the four majors were swept by players who had never won a Grand Slam event was in 1969.

Last PGA at Oak Hill: Forty-year-old Jack Nicklaus ended a two-year winless stretch with a seven-stroke romp in the 1980 PGA.

Former champions in field: Larry Nelson (1981, '87), Hal Sutton (1983), Bob Tway (1986), Jeff Sluman (1988), John Daly (1991), Paul Azinger (1993), Mark Brooks (1996), Davis Love III (1997), Vijay Singh (1998), Tiger Woods (1999, 2000), David Toms (2001), Rich Beem (2002).

TV schedule

•  Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m., TNT.

•  Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., TNT; 2-7 p.m.,

Ch. 12, 7.