Thursday, January 11, 2001
Mercedes Notebook
Tiger: A showman at his best
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — He won nine
times last year, including three straight majors. But most of
the interest in Tiger Woods on Wednesday had to do with what was
under his hat.
Nothing.
Woods dyed his hair blond over the holidays
to have some fun, and made newspapers around the world when he
went public from the sidelines of the Orange Bowl. He since has
shaved his head, leaving a 5 o'clock shadow on his scalp.
In his press conference at the Mercedes
Championship, Woods was talking casually about his game, how he
was hitting the ball, how important it would be to hit it straight
... when there was a long rat-a-tat of cameras clicking.
All he did was remove his hat for a split
second. And judging from his smile, it wasn't a spontaneous scratch
of the head.
“I didn't do that on purpose, did I?”
Woods said.
One television reporter had been looking
away and asked Woods to remove his hat again. He smiled and refused.
At the end of the interview, the reporter again asked Woods to
remove his hat, and he declined.
She looked away, and Woods quickly lifted
the lid.
Click! Click! Click! Click!
The sound of shutters caused the reporter
to look up, just in time to see the hat back in place, and a smile
on Woods' face.
———
EARLY START: Phil Mickelson came to Hawaii
about 10 days ago and has been working hard on his game the past
four or five days.
His last official tournament was a good
one. He became the first player since 1996 to win a tournament
in which Tiger Woods had at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
Mickelson came from one stroke down to beat Woods by two strokes
in the Tour Championship.
“I want very badly to continue the
play that I had last year,” said Mickelson, a four-time winner
a year ago.
———
DUVAL-TITLEIST: The split between David
Duval and Titleist became official when Duval's camp sent a letter
informing Acushnet Co. that it was terminating the contract, and
Acushnet filed a complaint Friday in Massachusetts seeking damages.
Duval has been playing the Nike Tour Accuracy
ball and is close to signing a deal as soon as the legal wrangling
is over.
Duval declined repeatedly to discuss why
he is leaving Titleist. “I'll be glad to tell you all you
want to know when this is over,” he said.
Tiger Woods, whose $100 million contract
with Nike includes a cut of the profits, said having Duval aboard
would be good.
“Right now, it's logistically not the
best thing for him, all the stuff he's got to go through,”
Woods said.
Woods said Nike consulted him first about
the possibility of signing Duval.
“They just wanted my opinion,”
he said. “I think it would be a great fit for both sides,
both David as well as Nike.”
In the meantime, Duval is without a sponsor.
He is wearing shirts from Pablo Creek, his
home golf course in Jacksonville, Fla., and a cap with Sun Valley
on it (he has a second home in Idaho). He also is carrying a lightweight
bag from his days at Georgia Tech.
He actually had to pay for the shirts.
“They picked out a bunch of them for
me and said, 'We'll just put it on your bill,'” Duval said,
hand on hip in mock anger. “Can you believe that?”
———
THE REAL BLONDE: At the LPGA Tour's first
tournament of the year in Orlando, Fla., Karrie Webb was jokingly
asked if she thought Tiger Woods was tired of being compared to
her.
“Yeah, I'm sure he gets asked that
a lot,” she said. “I think maybe he blonded his hair
to be like me.”
Webb won seven times last year, including
two majors.
———
DIVOTS: Paul Azinger has signed a five-year
deal with Liquidmetal to play its driver. ... The purse for the
Mercedes Championship has increased to $3.5 million, with a $630,000
check for the winner and a Mercedes sports car. ... Tee times
for the first round were based on when players won last year.
Woods and Azinger (Sony Open) are in the final pairing, while
Mike Weir (Valderrama) will go off first. ... Sixteen players
in the 33-man field were in Australia last week for the Match
Play Championship. ... Tiger Woods has a new headcover for his
driver. His mother, Kultida, has made him a new Tiger cover every
year since he was 10. She stitches “Love From Mom” in
Thai.
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