Monday, August 28, 2000
Woods versus Garcia is prime time, with
little at stake
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — Perhaps the people putting together
Tiger Woods' latest prime-time show should have waited a little
longer to pick his opponent.
Imagine Bob May and Woods going at it in a real “Battle of
Bighorn.”
That's not what ABC viewers will get Monday night when Woods returns
to prime time after a year of winning almost everything in the
daytime. Instead, he'll face Spain's Sergio Garcia in a scheduled
18-hole made-for-television match.
Garcia was picked long before May staged his thrilling and memorable
duel with Woods in the PGA Championship. And the mediocre way
Garcia has played this year has done nothing to boost any claim
to a budding rivalry with Woods.
That leaves little at stake at Bighorn Golf Club except some television
ratings and $1.5 million in prize money in an event that is more
packaged entertainment than competition.
Oh, and a bit of pride, too.
“I'm not going to lay down for him, that's for sure,”
said Woods, who earned $1 million on Sunday with an 11-stroke
victory in the NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
It's not likely to match the drama of the PGA, where Woods and
May went head-to-head down the stretch at Valhalla Golf Club.
But it is a chance for viewers to bond again with Woods in a show
that begins at 8 p.m. EDT.
It worked last year, when Woods beat David Duval in the inaugural
match, and enough people tuned in to give it a 6.9 national rating
and a 12 share. And ABC is hoping it will work again, although
it was CBS that televised the real drama in the PGA only eight
days ago.
“That's why we're playing — to get people involved in
the game,” Woods said.
Well, not entirely.
For what will be 31/2 hours or less work at Bighorn, the winner
will take home $1.1 million, while the loser will have to console
himself with $400,000.
While Duval was competitive last year — losing 2-and-1 at
Sherwood Country Club — this year's match at first glance
appears to be more of a mismatch. Garcia has not won this year,
and struggled over the weekend in the Reno-Tahoe Open while Woods
was dominated the far more prestigious NEC Invitational.
Garcia got the nod largely because he is also represented by the
IMG sports agency that handles Woods, and because his enthusiastic
play on the course might add a spark missing with the wooden Duval
last year.
“He's young, charismatic,” Woods said. “Even though
he hasn't played up to his standards, he's still playing good
enough. And in a match play situation, anything can happen. That's
the beauty of it.”
Of course, the way Woods has played this year, pairing him with
anyone might be considered a mismatch.
Not that the final score of the made-for-television event matters
much, anyway. Like the old Shell Wonderful World of Golf matches,
it is merely a showcase.
“I think that people like to watch Tiger play and like to
watch Sergio play, too,” Garcia said. “It is good for
golf and good for us.”
That might have been different a year ago, when Garcia took Woods
down the stretch in the 1999 PGA Championship before losing by
a shot. At the time, Garcia was widely heralded as Woods' new
rival, though he has done little since to claim that honor.
Last year's “Showdown at Sherwood” at least paired Woods
and Duval, who was the No. 2 player at the time. It was the first
prime-time golf match and held viewers despite having to fill
time between shots with taped interviews and information about
the Met Life blimp.
The first two holes of Monday's match will be taped before the
show actually goes live, and lights have been set up on the finishing
holes in case the match goes the distance under darkening desert
skies.
Unlike last year, plans are to have live microphones on the players,
although Woods doesn't usually engage in much idle chitchat in
any competition.
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