Thursday, November
7, 2002
Tiger may skip Pebble
Beach
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
The PGA Tour thought
it finally found a permanent home for its annual awards presentation.
It was held the last two years during the Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am, a perfect place with so many corporate executives on site.
Now, the tour is
trying to arrange a new site for the fifth time in the last six
years.
While Pebble Beach
typically has strong media coverage and corporate presence from
all the CEOs playing in the pro-am, it doesn't make sense to present
the Player of the Year award when the player of the year isn't
around.
There are growing
indications that Tiger Woods will skip Pebble Beach for the first
time since he turned pro in 1996.
Woods has had mixed
success at Pebble.
While most people
recall his spectacular 63-64 weekend in 1997 to finish second,
and his stunning comeback in 2000 – seven strokes behind
with seven holes to play – those were his only two top-10
finishes in six tries at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
His cut streak dates
to Pebble in 1998, when he withdrew rather than return seven months
later to complete the tournament in August.
A year later, Woods
shot 78 in the third round, narrowly making the cut.
The poa annua greens
are bumpy at best in early February, too inconsistent for some
players to develop confidence with their putting.
Woods hasn't announced
his plans for Pebble, but the tour already is looking at alternative
sites. Officials are meeting this week, and Torrey Pines (Buick
Invitational) is the likely place for the 2002 awards presentation.
Since 1997, the awards
ceremony has been at La Costa Resort, the World Golf Village in
St. Augustine, Fla., Kapalua during the season-opening Mercedes
Championships and Pebble Beach the last two years.
The Mercedes seemed
like the best this time since it is the first tournament of the
year and almost all the PGA Tour winners are at Kapalua. However,
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is cool to the idea because
two years ago hardly any players bothered to get on an elevator
at the Ritz-Carlton to attend the banquet.
___
A LESSON FROM MARTHA:@
It was only a matter of time before Martha's name came up during
a PGA Tour meeting about protecting the image of golf.
Only it wasn't Martha
Burk and her campaign against all-male Augusta National.
During a players
meeting at the Buick Challenge, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem
used Martha Stewart as an example of how actions can lead to consequences
that destroy even the most squeaky-clean reputations.
"It was about
how a brand can turn very quickly," Finchem said.
Stewart's conglomerate
has suffered since accusations of insider trading.
Finchem often talks
to players about their behavior on and off the course, although
he said his role in preserving golf's image is "overstated."
"The sport takes
care of that," Finchem said. "I try to enforce to our
players that they need to make sure we're not doing anything to
tarnish it."
___
TIRESOME QUESTIONS:@
There may be a day when no one questions Phil Mickelson about
his aggressive style of play.
He's not holding
his breath.
"I would think
that after 10 years, after 25 tournaments a year, four rounds
a week ... you've seen me play roughly 1,000 competitive rounds,
and every single one of them I play aggressive and attacking,"
Mickelson said. "I would think we would just come to accept
it, because I certainly have."
___
AUGUSTA BOUND:@ The
record number of first-time winners on the PGA Tour has translated
to a high number of first-timers at Augusta National.
PGA champion Rich
Beem, K.J. Choi, Chris Riley, John Rollins, Phil Tataurangi and
Jonathan Byrd each earned their first trip to the Masters by finishing
in the top 40 on the money list. Joining them will be Pat Perez,
who finished 40th by $38,613 over Peter Lonard.
Len Mattiace, a two-time
winner this year, will play the Masters for the first time as
a professional. He last played in 1988 as an amateur.
___
A GOOD RIDE SPOILED:@
Curtis Strange hopes carts are banned on the Champions Tour by
the time he is old enough for the 50-and-older circuit.
Don't count on it.
"Regardless
of what we would like to do in terms of presentation, we also
recognize that for whatever set of reasons, we play at a number
of golf courses that are very difficult to walk," commissioner
Tim Finchem said.
Finchem said the
goal over the next couple of years is to return to more traditional
courses, such as Oak Hills in San Antonio, which were built for
walking.
"It's not the
most important thing on our agenda, but those discussions are
ongoing," Finchem said.
Strange, who turns
50 in two years, said the number of carts make a senior tournament
look like a "member-guest outing." He said competitive
golf should include the ability to walk 18 holes a day.
"If you can't
do that anymore, that's when you go do something else," Strange
said.
___
DIVOTS:@ Sponsorship
problems also are creeping into the silly season. Gaylord Event
Television is looking for a new title sponsor for the Team Matches
_ previously sponsored by Diners Club and Hyundai. ... Mark Calcavecchia
and Fred Couples completed their Shell's Wonderful World of Golf
match last week. It was postponed two months ago when cameraman
Brian Blodgett was killed in a forklift accident while filming
the second hole at Santa Lucia Preserve in Monterey, Calif. The
first of the Shell's series will be televised Thursday at 8 p.m.
on The Golf Channel, a match between David Toms and Phil Mickelson.
... A TaylorMade Firesole driver found in the rubble of the World
Trade Center collapse has been donated to the U.S. Golf Association
for its display honoring victims of the attack. ... Former President
Clinton plans to play in the Nov. 15 pro-am for the Hyundai Team
Matches in Dana Point, Calif.
___
STAT OF THE WEEK:@
Only four players have won the PGA Tour money title and the Tour
Championship in its 17-year history.
___
FINAL WORD:@ "I
don't know. I haven't won a major yet." _ Sergio Garcia,
asked if winning the Ryder Cup felt like winning a major championship.
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