By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent

On the course where Tony Jacklin ran away with the 1970 United States Open, 23 Europeans chase their own major dream on Thursday.

But when the US PGA Championship starts at Hazeltine National in Minnesota 12 of them will also be beginning to think more and more about an event just over a month away.

In normal times the final major of the 2002 season would also be the last really big tournament of the year. But these are not normal times.

The terrorist attacks on America last September led to a 12-month postponement of the Ryder Cup and the match at The Belfry now looms large again in the minds of the 24 players involved.

On the eve of a Ryder Cup the US PGA usually brings to a head the race for places in the United States and European teams.

But this season is different in that respect too. The sides are as they would have been last year and how they will play in the match rather than whether they will play in it is the focus of attention.

Can Lee Westwood, for example, suddenly rediscover the spark that made him the world number four only 15 months ago? You cannot even find him in the top 100 any more.

Or can Padraig Harrington, Europe's best performer in the first three majors this year, take the obvious next step and win one?

Jacklin's performance 32 years ago ought to provide inspiration to them all.

Having lifted the Open title at Lytham the previously July, Jacklin increased his lead at Hazeltine round by round, eventually triumphing by a seven-stroke margin that was the biggest win in the event for 49 years.

No European has won that title since - and no European-born player has won the US PGA crown since 1930. And Tommy Armour was an American citizen by then.

Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia and the rest will not care to be reminded of that when they tee off. Nor of what happened in the championship last August.

The only non-American in the first 12 at the Atlanta Athletic Club was Japan's Shingo Katayama in joint fourth.

Clarke and Garcia missed the halfway cut and Montgomerie was disqualified on the last day when he failed to spot that playing partner and fellow Scot Andrew Oldcorn had made a mistake on his scorecard.

David Toms was the one celebrating, beating Phil Mickelson by one with the lowest total in major championship history.

Toms finds himself in the feature match of the opening day, but knows that most eyes will be on the other two players in the group.

Masters and US Open champion Tiger Woods is one, of course, and the other is Ernie Els, who returned to the big time with his play-off victory in the Open at Muirfield last month and is now determined to stay there.