What could possibly be better than a choice of two Tom Fazio golf courses at affordable prices? Try a third course, this one designed by Pete Dye, for a PGA Golf Club in south Florida that is fast becoming a golfing mecca.
"At my stage in life, I'm really lucky to be able to do a golf course like this," said Dye, 73, who is in his 40th year as one of the most notable golf course architects.
The Dye Course at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., is scheduled to open for public play Dec. 10. It adds to a village that already includes the PGA Learning Center, a 35-acre park that features 100 practice stations, putting greens, chipping areas and a variety of bunker styles.
Green fees for the Dye Course have not been set, but they are expected to fall in line with the PGA of America's mission for the facility -- quality public golf made affordable. The Fazio North and Fazio South rates are $32 (carts included) during the summer, $50 in December and $75 during the peak season of January through March.
The Dye Course is a links-style course over 175 acres with five sets of tees, ranging from 5,015 yards to the 7,150 yards. It features an abundance of coquina, ground white limestone shells and corals that form cart paths and vast waste bunkers, weaving its way through about 200 acres of wetland.
"The marsh is so big and the development so sparse that you feel like you're playing golf by yourself," Dye said. "The environmentalists have come back and complimented us. I guess we're doing something right."
PAYNE DONATION: The Tiger Woods Foundation will donate last-place money -- $120,000 -- from his Williams World Challenge to the Payne Stewart Memorial Fund.
Stewart was No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the time of his death in a plane crash and would have qualified for Woods's end-of-the-year tournament that pays $1 million to the winner.
"He deserved to be here, would have been here, but he's in a better place now," Woods said today at Grayhawk Golf Club in Phoenix, site of the inaugural event.
"I guarantee you, he's been partying pretty hard up there and hoping we would do the same over New Year's," Woods said. "You know he would be doing it."
The four-day tournament will be played from Wednesday, Dec. 29 to Sunday, Jan. 2, with a pro-am scheduled on New Year's Eve in the middle of the event. The final two rounds will be broadcast by NBC Sports.
The 12-man field is lacking only a final wild-card pick. The others are Woods, David Duval, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara, Justin Leonard, Hal Sutton, Sergio Garcia, John Huston and Tom Lehman.
CURTIS AND SAM: Curtis Strange and Sam Torrance faced each other only twice in team matches during the Ryder Cup. Their next meeting could be as captains.
Torrance, who made the winning putt when Europe won the Ryder Cup in 1985 for the first time in 28 years, is considered the leading candidate when the European PGA announces its choice for Ryder Cup captain on Wednesday.
Torrance was an assistant to Mark James at The Country Club, and offered the sharpest criticism of the American celebration on the 17th green after Justin Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt.
"Its about the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," Torrance said.
The Ryder Cup will be played in 2001 at The Belfry. Strange was selected as the U.S. captain last month.
CADDIE SHORTS:The three-week experiment for caddies to wear shorts is about to turn into permanent policy.
The PGA Tour policy board has decided to allow caddies to wear shorts in every tournament from Memorial Day until Labor Day, no matter what the temperature or heat index is that week. The policy will also be effective during the two Hawaii events in January.
The other exception will be if the heat index is forecast to reach 100 degrees at a tournament outside the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day window.
The shorts policy also applies on the Buy.com Tour, but not the Senior Tour, where caddies have the option of riding a cart.
DIVOTS: Sergio Garcia used Glen Murray as his caddie during the Skins Game and says he'll probably continue with him through the end of the year. Speculation continues to mount, however, that Fanny Sunesson will go from Nick Faldo to the Spanish teen-ager next year. Murray normally caddies for Retief Goosen. ... Johnny Miller has pulled out of the Father-Son Challenge this week because he injured his knee during the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational two weeks ago. He and son Scott have been replaced by Billy and Bobby Casper. Jack Nicklaus II, who hurt his heel in a boating accident, will be replaced by brother Gary, who last week earned his PGA Tour card. ... Annika Sorenstam has signed a personal services contract with Anheuser-Busch through 2002. As part of the deal, Sorenstam will be featured in Michelob Light commercial with LPGA themes. Sorenstam has won the Michelob Light Classic three straight times. ... Players in their 20s won 21 of 47 events on the PGA Tour this year. Then again, Tiger Woods and David Duval combined for 12 of those victories.
STAT OF THE WEEK:Fred Couples has earned more money ($810,000) in two silly-season events (the Shark Shootout and the Skins Game) than he did in 16 starts on the PGA Tour this year ($769,192).
FINAL WORD:"I'd have to study if I went to college." - 18-year-old Aaron Baddeley, who won the Australian Open Nov. 28, on why he turned down about 20 offers for a golf scholarship.
