Golf Notes April 24

Solheim Cup captain Patty Sheehan could wind up with a lot of fresh faces when the United States tries to win back the cup Sept. 20-22 in Minnesota.

Atop the standings is 26-year-old Laura Diaz, who earned her first LPGA Tour victory last month in Arizona. Cristie Kerr is a 24-year-old player from Miami who turned pro out of high school, won her first event last week and is fourth in the Solheim Cup standings.

``I want to play for Patty Sheehan,'' Kerr said. ``She lives with so much heart and soul it's ridiculous, and I want to help the U.S. bring the cup back here.''

Also in the top 10 are three other young players who have never competed in the biennial matches against Europe -- Emilee Klein (27), Wendy Ward (28) and Dorothy Delasin (21).

``I'm not so much worried about the newcomers,'' Sheehan said. ``They're very aggressive and very confident. We have great veterans to take the newcomers under their wings and help them.''

Dottie Pepper is missing the first part of the year to recover from shoulder surgery but has been given clearance to start chipping and putting. Pepper is second in the standings and has played in every Solheim Cup since it began in 1990. Also high in the standings are Rosie Jones and Juli Inkster.

Sheehan said having so many young players has its advantages.

``I know we can put them out twice a day and they won't poop out,'' shesaid.

TEE IT UP WITH TIGER

You don't have to be rich to play golf with Tiger Woods.

Last week, an unidentified person bid $425,000 on eBay to play golf with the world's No. 1 player at Isleworth Country Club, his home course near Orlando, Fla. A year ago, a financier paid $2.1 million at an Irish auction for the same privilege.

Now, The Upper Deck Co. is giving four regular fans a chance to play with Woods through a sweepstakes that began this month and will run through September.

The company has randomly inserted two ``instant win'' tickets in 2002 Upper Deck Golf trading cards that offer a round of golf with Woods at Isleworth. Two other winners will be picked from sweepstakes entry cards and online entries (www.UpperDeck.com).

Winners will be announced in late September. They will receive round-trip plane tickets to Orlando, hotel accommodations and memorabilia.

SHORT STUFF

Working with Butch Harmon can come with a few perks as Natalie Gulbis recently found out during a trip to Las Vegas. Also on the range that day was Harmon's other client, Tiger Woods, who helped Gulbis with her short game.

What was his evaluation?

``It needs work,'' Gulbis said. ``His short game is amazing. He could hit shots off one moving truck to another. He taught me some mechanical things, and he opened my mind to a variety of new shots in my short game.''

It hasn't worked just yet. Gulbis missed the cut last week in Sacramento.

RICH PURSE

The stakes keep going up at the richest event in women's golf.

The U.S. Golf Association said prize money at the U.S. Women's Open will be $3 million. That an increase of $100,000 from last year, and the purse is $900,000 more than any other event on the LPGA Tour.

``It's a milestone in women's golf,'' said Betse Hamilton, the USGA's women's championship director. ``It's by far the largest payoff on the LPGA Tour. Sometimes people look at prize money. We want to show that women's golf has importance. ''

The winner will receive $535,000 -- only 17 players on the LPGA Tour earned more money all of last season.

Karrie Webb will try to become the first player to win her third straight U.S. Women's Open. She got her first look at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan., from a plane and had a good idea of what to expect when the tournament is played July 4-7.

``I already knew with the lack of trees that the rough would be high and that the wind would blow,'' Webb said. ``Without looking at the course, I know what I'm working on the next 10 weeks.''

MASTERS STUDY

A study by two Northeastern University professors discovered what the PGA Tour has been saying all along: These guys are good.

Frederick Wiseman and Sangit Chatterjee at Northeastern's College of Business Administration have co-written ``Studying Improved Performance in Golf,'' in which they analyzed scores of the top 40 players at the Masters from 1934 through 2001.

The results? Scores have declined and competition has increased.

In the study's analysis, the professors indicate that the average score for the top 40 players declined by approximately 10 strokes since the mid-1930s.

``In the 1990s, we observed a falling curve that levels off,'' Wiseman said. ``But the spread of the scores among the top 40 players has decreased faster than the mean has decreased. This signifies rapid improvement and increased competition throughout the history of the tournament.''

Why the improvement? In another shocker, the study cites changes in technology, increased popularity of golf, more emphasis on instruction and an increasingly scientific attitude toward the game.

Northeastern University said the study will be published later this year inthe Journal of Applied Statistics.

DIVOTS

Garrett Willis tied for 50th in the WorldCom Classic, earning his first paycheck since he finished last in the winners-only, no-cut Mercedes Championship at Kapalua the first week of the year. ... Sponsorship Research International reports that Tiger Woods took up 29 percent of the air time in the final round of the Masters. Other players were shown a total of 46 percent of the time, while the rest of the telecast was devoted to scores and features. ... Jack Nicklaus won his first seven majors by a combined 17 strokes, and two were in playoffs. Tiger Woods has won his first seven majors by a combined 41strokes, with one in a playoff.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Through the first 16 weeks of the PGA Tour season, 16players have earned at least $1 million.

FINAL WORD

``He is magical on and around the greens, and demoralizing in some cases.'' -- Colin Montgomerie, after losing 1-up to Seve Ballesteros in the Seve Trophy, even though Ballesteros hit only one fairway.

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