Tiger Woods prefers to take the week off before a major championship. This year, he's making an exception.
Woods will play the Buick Open in Michigan next month, the week before he defends his title in the PGA Championship at Valhalla, outside Louisville, Ky.
That's sure to raise speculation that Woods is contractually obliged to play a certain number of PGA Tour events sponsored by Buick, with whom he signed a $30 million deal at the end of last year.
"It is absolutely not in his contract,'' his agent, Mark Steinberg, said today. "If we had a contractual situation, I'm sure Buick would have wanted him in the New York area (Buick
Classic in June), and Tiger didn't play there.''
Tony Derhake, brand manager of golf for Buick, also said there was nothing in Woods's contract that required him to play, although "he does recognize that his tie to us is very important.''
Steinberg attributes Woods's decision to play the week before a major to good scheduling. The Buick will be the first of three in a row -- the NEC Invitational is after the PGA -- followed by seven weeks until The Presidents Cup.
Woods likely will play only once during those weeks.
"He needs to get in some events,'' Steinberg said. "He feels
like he's got to get into a rhythm.''
Woods has played the Buick Open twice at Warwick Hills in Grand
Blanc. He tied for fourth in 1998 and tied for eighth in 1997. Both those years the Buick Open was played the week before the PGA Championship. Woods went on to finish T-29 in the '97 PGA at Winged Foot and T-10 in the '98 PGA at Sahalee.
The defending Buick Open champion is Tom Pernice Jr., who doesn't mind having the
world's No. 1 player in the field.
"You should be excited to have Tiger coming here,'' Pernice said. "It's a major, major thing. He can bump ticket sales right away by 20 percent.''
SORENSTAM STEPS UP
All of a sudden, the LPGA Tour has a race on its hands -- and perhaps a rivalry, too.
While Karrie Webb won four of her first five tournaments this
year to set off Tiger Woods-like alarms, her last victory was the
Nabisco Championship in late March. Since then, Annika Sorenstam
has caught her with four victories, and trails by about $102,000 on
the money list.
Each player has beaten the other in a playoff, and each player
has won twice when the other wasn't in the field.
So, who's No. 1?
"Well, Karrie, according to the rankings,'' Sorenstam said.
"But I know inside, I'm pretty good. She's still leading
player-of-the-year and the money rankings, but I'm happy the gap is
getting smaller. There are a lot of tournaments coming up.''
Both are in the Japan Airlines Big Apple Classic this week, followed by the U.S. Women's Open and its whopping $2.7 million purse.
RESTLESS FRED
A few months shy of turning 41, easygoing Fred Couples has been shaken by the reality that he hasn't won in two years and probably won't until he starts devoting more time to
golf.
"To come out here and beat these guys is not easy. But I've
done it for a long time,'' he said. "So what happens is you just
get out there and a year goes by and you don't win and then you
say, 'Well, geez, I'll just play and maybe it's going to happen.'
And it's not going to just happen.''
It used to happen as easily as pushing the buttons on the
remote. Couples won 14 times during a 16-year stretch, including
the '92 Masters and The Players Championship twice. His last
victory was the '98 Memorial, and he really hasn't come close
since.
Couples attributes that to lack of play -- only 16 tournaments
last year.
"If I don't make another dime on the PGA Tour, it's not going
to affect me. But if I keep playing the way I'm playing, it's going
to affect me,'' he said. "And that's my point. I want to play
better and I need to play a little more.
"Otherwise, I should just make a decision. It's not worth my
while to travel around and finish 12th or 18th or 30th. I've been
doing this too long.''
One incentive to play well is The Presidents Cup. U.S. captain
Ken Venturi would love to be able to pick Couples, but he has to at
least get into the top 20 for consideration. Couples's longtime
coach, Paul Marchand, is the assistant this year.
BACK TO ORLANDO
The LPGA Tour can expect a strong start to its 2001 season -- a new tournament with a $1 million purse and a return to one of the best courses on tour.
The JCPenney Classic, formerly a mixed team event until the
company decided to align itself only with the LPGA Tour, will make
its debut Jan. 12-14 at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando.
Television coverage for the 54-hole event will be announced
later.
Grand Cypress played host to the season opener in 1998 and 1999
until HealthSouth backed out as a title sponsor, and the event was
canceled this year to give Penney time to make the transition from
a mixed team event to the LPGA Tour.
Commissioner Ty Votaw isn't the only one excited about the
return to Grand Cypress. Kelly Robbins won there two straight years
before the hiatus.
DIVOTS
While Callaway Golf has signed Arnold Palmer to a 12-year deal, no television commercials are planned until late fall and early next year. Palmer will be used primarily to promote the
Callaway ball, which he started using in January. ... This week marks the one-year anniversary of Tiger Woods regaining the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Ranking from David Duval. He remains No. 1, by the largest margin in the history of the rankings. ... Duke junior Beth Bauer could be the next player to turn pro. "I really
enjoy college a lot, but I don't think my game will ever reach its
peak in college golf,'' she said at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. ...
Woods extended his streak to 15 rounds of par or better on the PGA
Tour, the longest of his career. ... Charles Howell, the NCAA
champion from Oklahoma State who turned pro two weeks ago, has
signed with Hambric Sports Management. ... In a Golf Digest survey
of 1,000 instructors, David Leadbetter was voted No. 1 among the 50
greatest teachers, followed by Butch Harmon.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Through 28 tournaments, there already have been six multiple winners on the PGA Tour. At this time last year, only three players had won at least twice.
FINAL WORD
"Jack was my idol. Tiger never played with Jack when he was truly great, so he has no real point of reference with Nicklaus. He never stood on the first tee when he was the best. I
did, and he was beyond compare.'' - Hal Sutton.
