Glover has succeeded at Hazeltine in past

This week is not U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover's first appearance at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska.

As a sophomore at Clemson University in 1999, he finished eighth in the NCAA men's golf championships at Hazeltine. That was his best finish in his Clemson career in an NCAA tournament, even though Glover was a first-team All-America his junior and senior years.

He shot 7-over-par 295 in 1999, with rounds of 72, 73, 74 and 76 on a Hazeltine National that played at 7,196 yards, compared to 7,674 for this weekend's PGA Championship. The Tigers, NCAA runners-up in Glover's freshman and senior years, finished eighth at Hazeltine in '99.

Glover shot 1-under 71 in Thursday's first round, one of 26 golfers to shoot under par. Incidentally, Luke Donald also shot 71 on Thursday; Donald, golfing for Northwestern, was the NCAA individual champion by three strokes in 1999 at 4-under 284. Georgia was the team champion that year.

In June, Glover survived at Bethpage Black in New York to win the U.S. Open by two strokes. It was only his second career victory, and his previous best finish at a major was a tie for 20th.

In comparing Bethpage Black to Hazeltine, Glover said the courses shared some similarities. "Narrow fairways and very long, you've got to drive your ball good," he said. "It is hard to say [how similar they are] because I don't know how the pins are going to be for the [PGA]. But, in terms of the courses, they are both long and you are going to have to drive it good to give yourself better opportunities."

What was his key to winning the Open? "I drove it well," he said. "I gave myself a lot of opportunities. I made some key putts. But driving it well was important, giving myself a lot of opportunities coming into the greens was the most important thing."

Asked what he thought it would take to win the PGA, Glover said, "I'll say 5 under."

Must beat Royals The Twins lost Thursday at home to Kansas City 5-4, putting the Royals ahead 5-4 in the season series, including 4-2 at the Metrodome.

The Royals have a record of 45-69, 15 games out of first place, but the Twins continue to struggle with them.

Thursday, they could never get the big hit when they needed one from anybody besides Joe Mauer. The Twins left eight men on base; on the season they lave left 830, an average of 7.3 per game.

But despite their inconsistency and lack of any kind of big winning streak, they remain only five games behind first-place Detroit. They gained a half-game on the Tigers over the past four games because Detroit lost three of four at Boston.

Thursday, Carl Pavano gave up five runs, but he settled down after a rough beginning to pitch seven innings, giving up only five hits in his second start with the Twins, after he pitched seven shutout innings in his first Twins start at Detroit on Saturday. With Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey on the disabled list, the hope is Pavano can continue to pitch deep into his starts the rest of the season.

It will also help if Francisco Liriano can pitch like he did Wednesday, when he gave up one run in seven innings against the Royals and looked a little bit like the Liriano of years ago. If Liriano can get his act together, the chances for the Twins to put together a winning streak will be much, much better.

Offense gets test The Vikings offense hasn't been impressive all training camp, although that might be because with linebacker E.J. Henderson, safety Madieu Williams and tackles Pat and Kevin Williams all healthy, and with Jared Allen in his second season here, the Vikings defense is the best in the NFL.

We should find out more about the Vikings offense based on how it does at Indianapolis in tonight's preseason opener. Asked about the offense on Wednesday, Vikings coach Brad Childress said: "I don't feel too bad about it. I think you learn some things when you play against different personnel. I think it is always interesting to see where they are footballwise when you have to block unscouted looks.

"Our defense, with that said, has given us about every look there is to give in these 13-14 days. To watch these guns put it into play, that's what it is all about. I believe we are going to be a good defense."

With Thursday's crowd of 32,373, the Twins have drawn at least 30,000 fans in 11 consecutive home games and 25 times in 57 dates at the Metrodome this season. ... Slowey, who is out for the season, said the operation on his wrist was a success, but it will take three months before he can pick up and throw a baseball. ... On Aug. 24, the M.A. Mortenson Company construction crew will start putting in the infield and grass in the outfield at the Twins' new Target Field, which is about 75 percent complete.

The Wild named Minneapolis native Chris Pietrzak-Wegner the team's new strength and conditioning coach and also announced PJ DeLuca will be its new video coordinator. ... New Wild forward Martin Havlat is ranked seventh on NHL.com's list of best players from the Czech Republic. New Jersey's Patrik Elias was rated the NHL's top Czech player. ... Wild forwards Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen and goaltender Niklas Backstrom are three of the 48 players invited to Finland's pre-Olympic camp. There will not be any ice time at the camp, only lectures and off-ice training.