Tiger's tournament gets Arizona address

Tiger Woods' end-of-the year tournament to benefit his foundation has a title sponsor, an unusual format -- and a new home.

The event, scheduled for Dec. 29 to Jan. 2, is moving from Rio Secco Golf Club outside Las Vegas to Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. One reason for the relocation is the logistics of having a tournament in Las Vegas around New Year's Eve -- especially in 1999.

"Let's face it, Vegas is not a bad place to be over the millennium," said Mark Steinberg, the agent for Woods at IMG. "There's a significant increase in cost that time of the year."

As for the tournament itself, Buy.com has signed up as the title sponsor and the event probably will be called the Buy.com World Challenge. Target is lined up as a presenting sponsor. Steinberg said the 12-player field probably will be composed of the top 10 players available from the world rankings, plus two selections by the Tiger Woods Foundation.

The format will be stroke play over 72 holes, but not the traditional dates. Instead, the first two rounds will be Wednesday and Thursday, followed by the pro-am on New Year's Eve. The final two rounds will be on the weekend and televised by NBC.

The only question now is how many from the top of the world rankings will bother to spend a holiday week playing golf, something they'll end up doing 26 weeks out of the year.

The attraction, beside the $1 million check that goes to the winner, is a chance to tune up for the season-opening Mercedes Championships the following week in Hawaii. Still, one top player said he wouldn't be surprised if the Woods camp had to dip as far down as the 20s in the rankings to fill the field.

PING ON DISPLAY: Ping Golf, the company that paved the way in offset, perimeter-weighted clubs, is moving into the arena of blade irons.

The new clubs, which still don't have a name, were on display during the British Open. Billy Mayfair and Bernhard Langer tried the prototypes during the practice round, and Mark Calcavecchia used them in the first round.

John Solheim, chairman and chief executive officer, said the new clubs officially will be introduced next year.

"It is to compete with the blade market," he said. ``But we're still doing it the Ping way."

While the iron has a traditional look, it has a black piece of thermal plastic on the back that is neutral to the axis and is used to tune the club for feel and weight.

"It's basically like a cavity," Solheim said.

There is also a notch in the piece joining the head to the shaft. It is designed to couple the vibration of the head and shaft for optimal spin. Also, the grooves are slightly wider apart than the PingEye-2 or the Ping Zing irons.

The new clubs will be similar to traditional Pings in one respect. Solheim said the 1- and 2-iron blades still will be slightly offset to make them easier to hit.

HARDEST FOUR MAJORS: Right from the start, two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen called this the year of the toughest majors.

Depending what happens next month at Medinah in the PGA Championship, he may be right -- at least in relation to par.

Thanks to Jean Van de Velde's spectacular collapse, the winning score in the British Open at Carnoustie Golf Links was 6-over 290, the highest winning score since Sam Snead won in 1946 at St. Andrews. Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters with an 8-under 280, the lowest score at Augusta National in 10 years. U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart won at Pinehurst No. 2 with a 1-under 279.

Add it up, and the three major champions of the year are a combined 3-under.

The major champions were a combined 5-under in 1959, 1963 and 1972. The toughest of those years may have been 1959, since the lowest any winner got in a major was 4-under (Art Wall Jr. in the Masters).

If this year isn't the toughest, it certainly has been the strangest. The Masters had rough and the U.S. Open didn't. The U.S. Open looked like a British course, and the British Open resembled something set up by the USGA.

As for Medinah? Brace yourself for a par-72 at 7,401 yards, the longest golf course in major history.

SHORT SHOTS: Just because PGA Tour caddies can wear shorts this week if the heat index reach is 100 or higher in Illinois for the John Deere Classic, don't expect to see a wide variety of dress.

According to a memo from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, the caddie shorts will be required to be "hemmed, khaki color and should be no shorter than knee-length."

And don't expect all caddies to be eternally thankful to the PGA Tour for the test run.

"Those guys are ridiculous," said Andy Martinez, the caddie for Tom Lehman who was told to change from shorts to pants on the second tee during the 1996 PGA Championship.

"I thought someone was going to have to die for this to happen. He didn't, so I guess I was wrong."

Martinez was referring to Garland Dempsey, the caddie for John Maginnes who collapsed during the Western Open. Dempsey had quadruple bypass surgery for a blocked artery last week, although the heat was not believed to a factor.

Jerry Higginbotham, the former caddie for Mark O'Meara who now caddies for Sergio Garcia, was surprised by the news.

"That's cool," he said. ``But they should consider it when the heat index is over 90, not just 100. It's nice of them to at least give it a try. We should be allowed to wear shorts."

DIVOTS: According to the Darrell Survey, 87 players wore alternative spikes at Pinehurst No. 2, compared to 69 players who wore traditional metal spikes -- the first time there were more alternative spikes in the U.S. Open. That wasn't the case in the British Open, where 102 players wore metal spikes, compared to 54 players in alternative spikes. ... Greg Norman will finish the '90s with the most top 10s in major championships. His sixth-place showing in the British Open was his 15th top 10 this decade, three more than Nick Faldo.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Paul Lawrie became the eighth straight major championship winner in his 30s or older.

FINAL WORD: ``Scott Hoch's not here, so maybe they're picking on me.'' -- David Duval, on the British tabloids.

AP