The newest event on the PGA Tour is about to get a boost from golf's oldest sponsor.
Buick, which became the tour's first corporate sponsor in 1958 and is title sponsor of four tournaments, has agreed to become the presenting sponsor of the Tampa Bay Classic, which will be played Oct. 19-22, opposite the Presidents Cup.
"It's a great market for us,'' Tony Derhake, Buick's brand manager of golf, said today. He declined further comment until the deal is ratified by the PGA Tour policy board at its next meeting Sept. 5 in Canada.
Buick's financial commitment will be significantly less than tournaments in San Diego, New York, Michigan, and Georgia, where it is a title sponsor. But it's sponsorship helps the Tampa Bay Classic remain as an official, full-field event for the next two years.
The Tampa tournament -- which used to be the Mixed Team Classic until JC Penney decided to sponsor an LPGA event -- was supposed to be an unofficial team competition in 2001.
But tournament director Gerald Goodman told the St. Petersburg Times he took that idea to over 200 sponsors and none was interested. The alternative, approved by the policy board, was to go opposite the American Express Championship in 2001 and 2002.
Even though the Tampa field will be lacking the marquee players, Goodman told the newspaper that it could help them get a date all to themselves when the new television contract is negotiated.
The Buick deal would take effect in 2001.
SAY AGAIN?
Bill Elliott of The Observer in London wrote in his column Sunday that he approached Mark James some 15 months ago and asked him whether he considered writing a book about the upcoming Ryder Cup.
"No, I don't think so,'' he said James told him. "In my experience, books don't bring in a lot of money and, anyway, they are usually not worth the trouble they can cause.''
James was only partially correct. Book sales are said to be doing well.
BAUER SWAN SONG
Beth Bauer, one of the top amateurs who played on Duke's national championship team in 1999, will be turning professional as soon as she completes the U.S. Women's Amateur, Golfweek reported today.
"It's hard to look at this as my last amateur event, and I'd like to go out with a win,'' Bauer told Golfweek. "Regardless, I'm going to enjoy this tournament.''
Bauer hinted earlier this summer that she didn't feel like her game could continue to develop at the college level.
She plans to make her professional debut at the State Farm Rail Classic on Sept. 2.
MONEY MATTERS
The prize money for winning the 1946 British Open, 150 pounds, wasn't even close to covering Sam Snead's expenses to travel to St. Andrews.
How times have changed.
Jack Nicklaus missed the cut at St. Andrews, then flew down to London for a "Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' match at Suningdale against Gary Player.
Nicklaus won with a 67 and earned $100,000 -- about the equivalent of a tie for seventh in theOpen.
Meanwhile, Karrie Webb struck a blow for equal pay -- even though most of her earnings came from unofficial bonus money.
By winning her second major of the year at the U.S. Open, Webb got a $250,000 bonus from Nabisco. That means she took home $750,000 -- only $9,150 less than what Woods got for winning theOpen.
DIAL NOTAH
Notah Begay has won four times on the PGA Tour, and gets an assist for one victory on the LPGA Tour.
Begay became friends with former U.S. Women's Amateur champion Dorothy Delasin, and she recently took him up an offer to call any time for advice.
"It wasn't an earth-shattering tip,'' Begay said. "I just told her how to approach the final round if she's in contention -- to make as many tap-in pars as you can. You don't want a lot of 3-footers for par, because that will catch up with you.''
Delasin called Begay again after she hung on to win the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic to thank him for the tip.
"She's a nice young lady and seems to have a bright future,'' Begay said. "If my advice helped her, I'm happy.''
WORLD CUP
When Tiger Woods makes out his schedule, he usually only has to consider himself. Lee Westwood might be responsible for an entire country.
England, which won the World Cup two years ago, might not be able to field a team in Argentina under the new World Golf Championships format. The first 18 teams are determined by available players in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Westwood, who is No. 7, says he won't play in the $3 million event in December. England's next player in the rankings is Jamie Spence at No. 100 --and 19 other countries are ahead of him. France (Jean Van de Velde at No. 93) holds down the 18th spot for the World Cup.
That would put England in a qualifier with other "minor'' countries in Jamaica, from which only three teams will make it to Buenos Aires.
Westwood is playing the Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa the week before the World Cup.
"You simply can't say 'yes' to everybody,'' he said. "I do an awful lot of traveling as it is.''
Told that his decision could put England in a qualifier, Westwood said, "That's a shame, but so be it. I've got to do what I think is best for me.''
Westwood also said he plans to skip the $5 million Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship in Australia.
DIVOTS
Tickets for next year's PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club went on sale today. The PGA of America said the gallery will be limited to 32,000. ... Tiger Woods has lined up Grammy Award winners Christina Aguilera, LeAnn Rimes and SEAL for his "Tiger Jam III" in Las Vegas on Oct. 7. Proceeds from the event will go to the Tiger Woods Foundation and charities in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. ...Kenny Murrah, the driving force behind the Ironman Triathlon, has been named coordinating producer of the Senior PGA Tour on CNBC. Announcers will be named later.
STAT OF THE WEEK
If everyone shows up, the PGA Championship next week will have 92 of the top 100 players in the World Ranking.
FINAL WORD
"I didn't think it was frightful. I wasn't playing.'' -- Byron Nelson, on Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open by 15 strokes and the British Open by eight strokes.
