In a friendly match
at Augusta National the day after the Masters, Mark Russell's 7-iron sailed
over the 12th green and disappeared into the azaleas, not far from the
spot where Greg Norman's ball vanished during the third round.
``You know, you can
play a provisional for a lost ball,'' Russell's best-ball partner told
him.
Russell answered with
a wry smile, ``I know that.''
He should. As a rules
official for the PGA Tour, Russell's job is to interpret the most complex,
seemingly nonsensical set of rules governing any sport.
Now, he wants everyone
else to more easily understand them.
``When people start
playing golf, they worry about swing technique, but they don't ever think
about the rules,'' Russell said. ``It's amazing to me how many people don't
know how to even drop the ball from a water hazard.''
Russell hopes he can
change that with a book that will be published Wednesday called, ``Golf
Rules Plain & Simple.'' The 106-page book lives up to its title.
``You've got to make
it simple,'' he said. ``Make it too long and you're going to lose people.''
Russell has taken
37 common situations, explained the mistake most players make and then
outlined the correct procedure. Each ``chapter'' comes with an illustration
or a photograph and refers to section in the ``Rules of Golf'' where the
situation can be found.
``The ultimate goal
is that once you know where these things are, the rule book is really not
that intimidating,'' he said.
AUGUSTA
CHANGES
These may be turn
out to be baby teeth compared to the fangs last year, but Augusta National
Golf Club continues to put a little more bite into the course.
The tee box at No.
17, moved 25 yards back last year to make the Eisenhower Tree come into
play even more, has been moved forward 5 yards. That's the good news. But
Augusta National also planted three big trees behind the Eisenhower Tree,
which means any tee shot that goes too far left could be blocked by the
new trees on the approach to the green.
Also, three more trees
have been added to the cluster of 20 pines that were planted last year
down the right side, between the 17th and 15th fairways.
``The changes at No.
17 for the 2000 Masters will continue to place a premium on accuracy off
the tee,'' said Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson. ``Overall, we
were satisfied with the hole last year, but we think that this will be
a further improvement.''
Wait, there's more.
Four new trees have
been planted down the right side of the par-4 14th to require greater accuracy
off the tee. And the greens at Nos. 10 and 16 have been rebuilt and enlarged
by about 10 percent.
Johnson said the new
greens were for agronomic purposes and to stop the encroachment of Bermuda
grass. But it also could lead to new pin placements and more problems.
The par-3 16th could
have a hole cut even farther back to the left, along with one to the front
left. And, the right side of the green has been softened, meaning balls
might not be as likely to roll down to the left side of the green.
At No. 10, new hole
locations are possible on the front left and right rear of the green. Also,
the 12th and 13th greens have new grass to stop the encroachment of Bermuda
over the years, which could lead to pin positions not seen in 30 years.
Tiger Woods' record
score of 270 looks more formidable than ever.
WESTWOOD
HO
Lee Westwood has
a chance to join some exclusive company this week in the British Masters,
where he will try to win his fourth consecutive start on the European tour.
The last player to
win four straight was Nick Faldo in 1989, and the only other player to
have done that was Seve Ballesteros.
``They're two reasonably
good names to follow -- 11 majors between them and arguably the best two
players ever in Europe,'' Westwood said. ``It would be great to join them.''
TIGER TRAIL
After Tiger Woods
won the NEC Invitational at Firestone, the PGA Tour noted that he was the
youngest to win five tournaments in one season since Jack Nicklaus in 1963
at exactly the same age -- 23 years, eight months, 30 days.
Woods was actually
one month younger than Nicklaus.
So, who was the youngest
to win five in a year? Horton Smith, who was 21 in 1929 when he won eight
tournaments.
Through age 23, Smith
won 15 tournaments recognized by the PGA Tour. Woods has won 12 PGA Tour
events and counting. Maybe he should tape a chart of Smith's accomplishments
on his bedroom wall.
DIVOTS
The Williams Companies,
a Tulsa, Okla.-based energy and communications company, has signed on as
title sponsor of Tiger Woods' end-of-the-year tournament. The Williams
World Challenge at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., will offer
a $3.5 million purse to the top 10 players available from the world ranking
and two players picked by the Tiger Woods Foundation. First place gets
$1 million, with $120,000 for coming in 12th. ... Bob Murphy started the
Senior event in Kansas City with a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 first
hole Friday. He made an eagle on No. 1 the next day, a six-stroke swing.
``I guess if you play long enough, you see everything,'' Murphy said. ...
Shigeki Maruyama, the affable star from the Japanese PGA Tour who went
5-0 in the Presidents Cup, says he plans to shift his base to the United
States next year and play more than 20 PGA Tour events. ``I want to try
my luck on the world's toughest tour,'' Maruyama said. ``I will turn 30
next year and I don't want to miss anything that I might regret for the
rest of my golfing career.''
STAT OF
THE WEEK
Mike Weir became
the ninth player to win his first PGA Tour event this year, one more than
1998.
FINAL WORD
``It's not like we're
all Michael Jordan and you're bringing guys up from the CBA.'' -- Fred
Couples, on the PGA Tour players taking on Nike Tour players in the Ganter
Cup.
