After five years on the PGA Tour, Sluman's first win was a major success. A 30-year-old Sluman coasted to a three-shot victory over Paul Azinger at Oak Tree Golf Club in the 1988 PGA Championship, and his future was filled with promise.

	Jeff Sluman went nine years between wins after making the 1988 PGA Championship his first tour victory.

Hal Sutton has a similar tale. His second year on the PGA Tour in 1983 included a victory in the PGA Championship by one shot over Jack Nicklaus at Riviera Country Club, a win in The Players Championship, a money title and player of the year honors.

Sutton would win four more times over the next three years before his game slowly began to vanish. He hit rock bottom in 1992, earning less than $40,000 and finishing 185th on the money list. The following year wasn't much better.

Then his game slowly came back, including a win in the 1995 B.C. Open. But the complete return was last year, when Sutton won the Texas Open and Tour Championship among his nine top-10 finishes and more than $1.8 million in earnings, fifth on the tour.

Sluman and Sutton return to the tournament that put them on the golf map this week. And the two men who seemed to vanish from the game earlier this decade find themselves among the favorites at Medinah Country Club.

"Anytime you return to a tournament where you're the former champion, it's a special feeling," Sluman said.

Sluman loves to look at the Wanamaker Trophy each time he begins a PGA Championship. Looking at names like Hogan, Nelson, Snead and Nicklaus, Sluman keeps reading until he finds his own.

"It's quite a thrill," he said.

This year's event might be a little more emotional for Sluman, who already has one win and a pair of seconds this year. As a Chicago resident, Sluman will be playing in his neighborhood.

"It's a little different playing close to home," Sluman said. "I'll have a lot more friends following me, and it's always nice to get something going and have people cheering for you. Sometimes that can get you going even a little more."

But the familiar grounds won't make things any easier for Sluman.

"The bottom line is Thursday, you have to have your A-plus game ready," he said.

An A-plus game is something Sutton has shown plenty of times lately. He shares the PGA Tour lead with 11 top-10 finishes this year and already has sewn up a spot on the Ryder Cup team. Not bad for a guy who had fallen so far just a few years ago.

"It would have been real easy to quit at one time," Sutton said. " But I revamped my swing and changed my mental outlook and try to make every week count."

Much of Sutton's success he credits to a stable family life. Having gone through several divorces through the years, he and current wife Ashley have three daughters, including twins born in January.

"My family life couldn't be better," he said.

The same could be said for his golf game, something many expected of him as a youngster in the mid-1980s when he was saddled with a label as "the next Jack Nicklaus." It didn't help that he beat Nicklaus to win the 1983 PGA Championship.

"Jack Nicklaus couldn't even be Jack Nicklaus now," he said of the tag. "Why can't we just let Tiger Woods be Tiger Woods. Putting labels on people is extremely frustrating."

Frustrating is not a word to describe Sutton's game of late, except when it comes to wins. Despite the 11 top-10 finishes this year, Sutton hasn't won anything. But that doesn't bother him.

"Winning is about putting yourself in position," he said. "Winning is luck. All you can do is take care of what you can take care of and not try to control the uncontrollable."

As he approaches the final major of the season, Sutton hopes to put himself in position for a second PGA Championship title.