Friday, June 8, 2001
Woods, Duval, Webb, Sorenstam
to face off on ABC
NEW YORK (AP) — Annika Sorenstam couldn't
ask for a better golfing partner.
She'll pair with Tiger Woods against David
Duval and Karrie Webb in a $1.7 million match-play exhibition
live on ABC Sports at 8 p.m. EDT on July 30.
“Tiger and prime-time television have
already proven to be a very entertaining combination,” ABC
Sports president Howard Katz said Thursday. “Now we have
taken the concept one step further.”
“The Battle at Bighorn” is the
third such program involving Woods. He lost to Sergio Garcia last
August and beat Duval in 1999 in the first live network telecast
of a golf event in prime time.
The 2000 edition drew a 7.6 national TV
rating, and the 1999 show drew a 6.9 (each ratings point represents
about 1 million TV households).
Ever since he won the 1997 Masters, Woods
has been changing the way TV shows golf. His dominance, including
four straight major championships, has lifted his sport's ratings
the way Michael Jordan lifted basketball's.
In next month's alternate-shot contest,
Woods and Duval will tee off on odd-numbered holes and Sorenstam
and Webb will do so on even holes at the Bighorn Golf Club in
Palm Desert, Calif.
Asked last month what such a made-for-TV
exhibition could do for women's golf, Sorenstam said, “For
a day, it would be great for people to see that Karrie and I can
play good golf.”
The winners will split $1.2 million, with
the losers dividing $500,000. A total of $300,000 will go to charities
picked by the players.
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