Golf Notes May 30

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem now has a good idea of how the grass at the TPC at Sawgrass would stand up if The Players Championship is moved from March to May under the next television contract.

Finchem asked Jon Scott, the tour's director of agronomy, to use the adjacent Valley Course as an experiment.

The results?

''We're pretty confident we can make a go of it if that's what the commissioner decides,'' Scott said.

Superintendent Fred Klauk was instructed to increase overseeding of bent grass on the Valley greens to see if they would hold up later in the spring, and Scott said they turned out ''excellent.''

The biggest concern was the rough. Bermuda grass in May can be as challenging as the thick, long rye grass that players typically face during slightly cooler conditions in March. The question is whether the Bermuda rough would be as consistent.

''It's an issue with the players,'' Scott said. ''They feel consistency is important, that if they hit an errant shot that lands in deep rough and a competitor hits an errant shot that lands in short rough, whether that's fair.

''The question is how much consistency can we get in rough, and how necessary that is.''

Otherwise, the grass likely won't get in the way of a possible move.

Scott did note that additional overseeding with bent grass could cause a reduction in the number of rounds played on the Stadium Course prior to a Players Championships in May.

MASTERS DONATIONS

Augusta National Golf Club is contributing more than $3 million to charities, with almost half going to local programs.

''The Augusta community works with the club throughout the year providing the tournament with valuable support,'' club chairman Hootie Johnson said Tuesday.

The CSRA Community Foundation in Augusta will get $1.25 million, which it then distributes to local charities.

The national First Tee program will get $1 million, while the rest is divided among programs sponsored by the U.S. Golf Association, PGA Tour, Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the LPGA Tour, PGA of America and FORE! Augusta, which helps to develop golf in the area.

OPEN AND SHUT

Frank Lickliter won his first PGA Tour event at the Kemper Open. He also got out of having to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Lickliter moved into the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list, and also to No. 49 in the world rankings - making him exempt from qualifying in both categories.

TIGER'S TOURNAMENT

PGA Tour events aren't the only tournaments where prize money is going up. Tiger Woods' unofficial Williams World Challenge will offer $3.8 million in prize money, up from $3.5 million last year.

That wasn't the only increase. The size of the field also has gone up, from 12 to 16 players - defending champion Davis Love III, the top 11 players available from the world ranking and four wild cards selected by the Tiger Woods Foundation.

The winner still gets $1 million, while last-place money goes up $10,000 to $130,000.

The tournament will be played Dec. 13-16 and returns to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The last two winners, Tom Lehman and Davis Love III, went on to end PGA Tour victory droughts the following season.

MEMORIES

Dottie Pepper has a few memories of the last U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles, and none of them are fond.

''I remember the backup on the second par 3 being so long that I actually fell asleep,'' Pepper said. ''We had four or five groups on that tee.''

Pepper went on to miss the cut for the only time in a U.S. Open, and it only got worse from there.

''I had no way to get home,'' she said. ''I had to wait for my mother to come get me.''

DINAH AWARD

Melanie Hagewood of Baylor won the 2001 Dinah Shore Trophy Award, presented by The LPGA Foundation each year to a female college player who excels in the classroom and on the course.

Hagewood has a 3.98 GPA while majoring in mechanical engineering, and is Baylor's top player with a 77 scoring average, earning second team All-Big 12 honors.

She received a crystal replica of the Dinah Shore Trophy. Baylor gets a $7,000 grant from the LPGA Foundation in Hagewood's name.

STROKE CHALLENGE

Justin Leonard beat out Meg Mallon in their ''birdie battle'' during May, with 11 at the Kemper Open to give him 65 for the month. Mallon was off last week and had 54.

Each birdie was worth a $1,500 donation by Bayer Aspirin to the American Stroke Association for research. Along with a special event that kicked off the campaign in New York, Leonard and Mallon raised $308,500 for stroke research.

The American Stroke Challenge has raised more than $1.4 million in seven years.

DIVOTS

Former LPGA champion Chris Johnson withdrew from the U.S. Women's Open. She was replaced by Kathleen Robinson of Alexandria, Va., who has been playing golf just six years. Robinson's career low round is 72, which she shot in sectional qualifying to be the first alternate. ... The season-ending Tour Championship is changing its logo to give more visibility to its presenting sponsor, Houston-based Dynegy Inc. Officials said the new design was to identify Dynegy as a ''significant partner in our efforts to grow the event,'' not to mention giving the company more bang for its buck. ... Golfweek will honor Earl Woods as its Golf Father of the Year during the magazine's 19th annual Father & Son Open on June 15-17 at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla. The award is given to a father who has made an ongoing commitment and contribution to the game. Past winners include Jack Nicklaus, Karstein Solheim, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and King Martin, father of Casey Martin.

STAT OF THE WEEK

American-born players have won only two of 15 events on the LPGA Tour this year, a trend that also applies to the U.S. Women's Open. Juli Inkster is the only American to win her national Open the past six years.

FINAL WORD

''I'd light the fire with $100 notes and go fishing. Or perhaps I'd buy a small island like Tasmania.'' -Stuart Appleby, on his plans for a PGA Tour pension that could be as large as $200 million.

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