Wednesday, December 1, 1999
New Year's event might be shy on partying
celebrities
By MEL REISNER
AP Sports Writer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — One problem in staging a New
Year's golf tournament — even when you're Tiger Woods —
might be finding participants in the pro-am.
“We're contacting athletes and celebrities right now,
and we've got a few, but we're not going to release all the names
until we get everybody confirmed,” Woods said Tuesday at
a news conference for the inaugural Williams World Challenge at
Grayhawk Golf Club.
The 72-hole event runs from Dec. 29-Jan. 2, with the Pro-Am
on Dec. 31 — a buffer between the second and third rounds.
It is a day when many of the world's rich and famous will be tempted
to celebrate New Year's Eve at far-flung sites.
Woods said he wasn't among them.
“Maybe I'm just too much of a realist, but I don't think
anything's going to really change from one day to the next,”
he said. “I don't think your life is going to change that
dramatically just because a calendar year falls by.”
But he acknowledged that the opportunity to crown the first
golf champion of 2000 was too attractive to pass up, even though
the PGA offered other dates.
“Whoever wins this event is going to be the first person
to win a tournament into the new millennium,” Woods said.
“And hopefully that will either kick-start their career or
maybe add a little emphasis of help them start playing better
or continue playing better, whatever.”
The $3.5 million event offers a $1 million first prize —
enough to attract 11 of the top 22 players in the world with one
at-large invitation still to be announced.
The entries of Davis Love III, ranked second only to Woods,
Justin Leonard (13th), Hal Sutton (14th) and John Huston (17th)
were confirmed earlier in the day. The 12-man field also includes
top 10 players Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson.
Although the tournament is organized by his Tiger Woods Foundation,
Woods, who recently won the 1999 Jack Nicklaus Trophy as the PGA's
best golfer after winning eight tournaments, had no plans to be
a gracious host.
“From my own selfish standpoint, it's always nice to be
able to play against, compete and hopefully win a tournament against
the best players in the world, and that's what we have coming,”
he said.
|
