Golf Notes June 9

Woods planning end-of-year event for foundation

In August, Tiger Woods will take part in the "Showdown at Sherwood" with David Duval. Perhaps his latest venture should be called the "Rumble at Rio Secco."

Woods' camp is working out the final details on an end-of-the-year tournament at Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The tournament will feature the top 10 players and two wild-card picks by Woods to compete for a purse that is said to be in excess of $2 million. Additional money from television rights and a title sponsor would benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation.

A spokesman for IMG, Woods' management firm, said only that the event is still being discussed and could not be confirmed.

It was not clear whether the field would come from the top 10 on the money list or the world rankings -- or what the event would be called. One source said Woods' name would not be part of the tournament title.

The promoters would also have to pay a release fee to the PGA Tour, which the source said would likely be about $1 million.

RATINGS: Overnight ratings suggest the U.S. Women's Open suffered going up against Tiger Woods in the Memorial Tournament.

CBS Sports, which broadcast the Memorial for the first time since 1988, had an overnight rating of 4.8 and a 13 share, up 30 percent from a year ago when it was 3.7 and a 9 share. It was the highest overnight for the Memorial as far back as records go (10 years).

Meanwhile, Juli Inkster's five-stroke victory in the Women's Open gave NBC Sports a 2.0 with a 4 share, down 35 percent from a year ago (3.1/8).

"It was a very tough weekend with a lot going on," said NBC spokesman Ed Markey, noting that NBC was on the air from 9 a.m. with the French Open and ending at 9 p.m. with the NBA playoffs.

The rating is the percentage of TV households in the nation tuned to a program, and each network point represents 994,000 homes. The share is the percentage tuned to a program among those televisions on at the time.

PENNEY CHANGES: LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw will be in Dallas later this month to meet with JC Penney about sponsoring a full-field tournament. The opportunity arose when Penney decided to end its sponsorship of the Mixed Team Classic and instead focus on the LPGA.

"We're disappointed we're not going to have the mixed team concept, but the good news is the sponsor is staying with us," Votaw said.

Among the details to work out is where the tournament would be played, when it would fit in the schedule and the size of the purse. If Penney commits the same money to the LPGA as it did with the Mixed Team ($2 million purse, divided evenly among tours), the LPGA could get another $1 million tournament as early as next year.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has given the green light to Suncoast Golf Group to put together the Greater Tampa Open, an official event with a $2.4 million purse that will be played Oct. 19-22 opposite the 2000 Presidents Cup.

Suncoast is working on a PGA Tour team event in non-Presidents Cup years or when the cup is played in December in the southern hemisphere. That event would be unofficial.

KUCHAR AD: Matt Kuchar nearly ran into eligibility problems on the eve of the NCAA Championships because MasterCard used his image in an advertisement called "A Priceless Moment" in this month's issue of Golf Digest.

According to Golfweek magazine, the ad was published without Kuchar's knowledge and he was not paid. Georgia Tech officials took care of the problem before the tournament started.

"We certainly did not want to do anything to jeopardize his eligibility," said Jeff Price of MasterCard, who wrote Tech an apology to say the implied endorsement in the ad was "an inadvertent error on our part."

Kuchar found out about the controversy the day before the first round. He shot a 15-over 159 at Hazeltine, and No. 2 Georgia Tech missed the cut by 18 strokes.

"I don't think it upset me," Kuchar said. ``I wish I could attribute something to my bad play, but I can't. I just didn't have it."

BRADLEY SHUN: Should the USGA women's committee stay true to its word, Nancy Lopez better get her game together if she wants another shot at the U.S. Open next year at the Merit Club in Chicago.

Sadly missing at Old Waverly was Pat Bradley, the 1981 Open champion and only woman to win the LPGA's modern grand slam. She hoped to receive an exemption, but the USGA did not offer one.

"I'm sitting here, basically in shock," she told the Boston Globe during the Open. "It does not seem right. I gave 25 years of my life to the United States Women's Open and felt I deserved better treatment."

The USGA gave exemptions this year to Lopez and Jane Geddes. Bradley received one last year and missed the cut.

"We usually give past champions an exemption the first year, and that was last year for Pat," Mary Capouch, head of the women's committee, said. She said great champions often get a second exemption, through rarely in consecutive years.

That does not bode well for Lopez, unless the USGA changes its mind.

DIVOTS: No one is trying to jump on the senior tour gravy train like Mike McCullough. Since 1996, he has played in 89 consecutive events for which he has been eligible. ... Phil Mickelson, whose wife has had a difficult pregnancy, plans to be at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open. The latest checkup revealed that the baby is healthy and that Amy is likely to go the full term. The due date is June 30. ... Grace Park skipped the award ceremony for low amateur in the U.S. Women's Open because she had a plane to catch.

STAT OF THE WEEK: The last three women's majors have been won by scores of 18-under (du Maurier), 19-under (Dinah Shore) and 16-under (U.S. Open).

FINAL WORD: ``I would like to think of myself as an athlete first, but I don't want to do a disservice to the real ones." -- David Duval.

AP