Golf Notes April 11

An hour before Tiger Woods teed off Sunday at Augusta National, Mark Steinberg, Woods's agent at IMG, said he did not think Tigermania could reach a higher level than it already has -- not after his watershed win at the 1997 Masters, not after his record season of 2000.

He figures it will level off, albeit on a very high plateau.

Still, the phone rings.

A newspaper that didn't have credentials for The Masters asked if it could get Woods on the telephone after Sunday's round. The morning and late-night shows have called, among hundreds of inquiries Steinberg has fielded the past two days.

"You could think of any type of person or business that might call, and they've called,'' Steinberg said.

And the answer has been a firm but polite no.

Woods is off this week, and will not return to the PGA Tour until the Byron Nelson Classic the second week of May.

NO NEW PHOTOS

If anyone wants to see Tiger Woods with the trophies of his major championships, the best bet is to get the January issue of Golf Digest.

That's also the only bet.

Steinberg said today there were no plans to make another photo of Woods and his current lineup of hardware.

"We already have an officially licensed picture of Tiger with his trophies,'' he said. "You do a picture of that now with the four trophies, and it diminishes the value of the one we did, which is a historic photo.''

The photo on the cover of Golf Digest, which has an endorsement deal with Woods, shows him standing in a suit with the trophies from the '97 Masters and 2000 U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship, along with a U.S. Amateur trophy he won three times.

It was licensed with Famous Photography Inc., which is selling framed and matted prints for $199, $299 and $349 (www.famousphotography.com). Sales from the print benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation.

ANOTHER STREAK:

Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to shoot 59 the same week Tiger Woods won his first tournament of the year. She won the LPGA Tour's first major, the Nabisco Championship, the same week Woods won The Players Championship.

This week, the Swede gets the spotlight all to herself.

The LPGA Tour resumes at The Office Depot at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where Sorenstam will try to become only the third player to win four straight tournaments on the schedule.

Mickey Wright did it in 1962 and 1963, while Kathy Whitworth won four straight in 1969.

The LPGA record for consecutive victories is five by Nancy Lopez, although she took a week off after three straight wins.

"I hope Annika does it,'' Whitworth said. "Actually, I'd be thrilled if she could win five in a row. All records are meant to be broken, and I think it's wonderful that she has the chance to put her name in the record books again.''

The 54-hole tournament will end Saturday because of Easter.

U.S. OPEN UPDATE

The next two weeks are critical for Greg Norman, while Fred Couples might need nothing short of a victory by the end of April.

At stake: An exemption to the U.S. Open at Southern Hills.

The U.S. Golf Association decided to expand its criteria this year to award exemptions to the top 50 in the Official World Ranking as of May 1, instead of the top 20. That seemed to take care of Couples, who was No. 37 in early February.

Now, Couples is No. 60 and in jeopardy of having to qualify.

"I would not try not to do that,'' Couples said, his unique way of confirming that he will do whatever is necessary to get to Southern Hills.

Norman also has been watching the rankings closely. He slipped to No. 45 after missing the cut at The Masters. Norman is at Hilton Head this week, and might go to Houston.

MASTERS SITE A REAL HIT

While the television ratings for The Masters were very high (final numbers will not be available until Wednesday), the official Web site -- Masters.org -- didn't fare too badly, either.

Augusta National officials said there 49.8 million page views by about 1.1 million users. On Saturday, it said users remained logged on to its real-time leaderboard for an average of 4 hours, 20 minutes.

SWOOSH FACTOR

Companies are willing to pay big bucks to have their logos on a player's hats because of the television exposure. According to a report by Golfweek magazine, that paid off handsomely for Nike at The Masters.

Joyce Julius & Associates Inc., which documents exposure time and value during televised events, said the 1-2 finish by Tiger Woods and David Duval was worth more than 15 minutes of international television exposure. That would have cost an advertiser nearly $4.6 million.

Woods's cap alone was on the screen for 9 minutes, 6 seconds. Throw in the swoosh on his shirt (1:23), ball (9 seconds) and glove (2 seconds), and the exposure value was $3.2 million, said Ray Howland, managing editor of the company.

Duval, who signed a deal with Nike last month, gave the swoosh 4:38 with his cap and shirt, which was worth about $1.4 million.

DIVOTS

The PGA Tour is relentless in promoting The Players Championship as a major. On the World Golf Hall of Fame ballot mailed out last week, it lists the victories of every candidate with majors -- and The Players -- in bold type. ... Greg Norman's Shark Shootout is moving to Tiburon, his new course in Naples, Fla. It will be the third course in as many years after moving from Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to his Great White Course at Doral last year. ... Scott Dunlap has won 29 percent of his career earnings at The Players Championship -- a tie for third last year, and a tie for 15th at Sawgrass last month. ... Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb fill out this year's lineup for the Shell's Wonderful World of Golf matches. The LPGA Tour rivals will play the Wolf course on the Las Vegas Paiute Resort.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Tiger Woods played his first 17 majors, including six as an amateur, in 46-over par. He has played his last six majors in 80-under par.

FINAL WORD

"Pretty soon, we'll be teeing off downtown somewhere.'' - Jack Nicklaus, after Augusta National announced plans to lengthen some of its par 4s.

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