The PGA Tour is throwing a season-opening party in an exotic locale. And it is giving out some choice door prizes.
The lure of a $5 million purse doesn’t go as far anymore, especially not as far as Australia. Many of the top golfers have decided against going to the other side of the world.
The 2001 money season begins Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia) with the World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play at the Metropolitan Club in Melbourne. The no-shows include Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie and Davis Love III. Defending champion Darren Clarke, who won last year’s tournament in San Diego, declined to defend, saying, “I need to be with my family.”
Even the most famous Australian golfer, Greg Norman, has decided not to return to his native land for the event. Norman, who lives in Florida, played in several Australian tournaments in November and didn’t want to make another trip.
The final count has only four of the world’s top 10 trekking to Australia, with second-ranked Ernie Els drawing the top seed. No. 8 Hal Sutton, No. 9 Vijay Singh and No. 10 Tom Lehman round out the top 10 representatives.
The top 64 ranked players automatically qualify for the head-to-head competition. There have been so many rejections that the tournament had to dip to No. 102 Kevin Sutherland to fill out the field.
When the tournament made its debut in February 1999 as the inaugural World Golf Championship event, 63 of the top 64 players were on hand at La Costa in San Diego. It was held there again last year, and as the first event on the schedule.
However, because these are World Championship events, the PGA Tour wants to move them around the world. It opted for Australia, thinking many of the top players then would stay in the Pacific and play the next week at the Mercedes Championships in Maui.
But they were wrong. The players weren’t thrilled to be away over the holidays. Also, the prospect of traveling all the way to Australia with the possibility of losing in the first round was a major deterrent.
“If it was stroke play, I’d probably go,” said Woods, who was runner-up last year. The no-shows come on the heels of the troubled season-ending World Golf Championship event in Spain. Many top players also spurned that event in November because of the timing and travel.
Now with back-to-back World events attracting less than the best, questions are being asked about their future viability.
“They are wonderful tournaments, and the players want to support them,” Mickelson said. “It has been frustrating. When the players have been asked location, time of year, our input has been discarded.”
The Tour contends that’s not true. If anything, Commissioner Tim Finchem says, adjustments have been made for future events. The World Match Play will return to La Costa in February 2002. And instead of playing the final WGC tournament, the American Express Championship, at the end of the year in Spain, it will be held in September 2001 in St. Louis; the other WGC event is in August at Akron.
He’s coming: Woods never divulges his schedule, but it is generally assumed the Advil Western Open is on his list. He is a two-time winner and the tournament is one of his favorite stops. Another indicator Woods plans to be at Cog Hill came with his announced schedule of clinics in 2001. On the list is a stop at Rockford on the weekend of June 30, which leads into Western week.
During each clinic, Woods gives hands-on instruction to 25 kids selected from the community, along with an exhibition for 2,500 kids. So start getting in line now.
Kickoff: The LPGA season begins with the Jan. 12 LPGA.com Classic in Orlando. There are four new events in new markets. But Chicago still can’t find a slot on the LPGA’s schedule.
The biggest change for the LPGA is the designation of the fourth major. Gone is the du Maurier Classic, which ended its run because of Canadian legislation banning tobacco sponsors. In is the Women’s British Open at Suningdale in England.
Tap-ins: Casey Martin’s day at the U.S. Supreme Court has been set for Jan. 17. … Woods’ first tournament will be the Mercedes Championships. Then he probably won’t play again until the Feb. 1 AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. … Prize money for the Senior PGA Tour will be about $60 million for 2001. The players also will get extra incentive from the newly formed Charles Schwab Cup, which will pay $2.1 million in tax-deferred annuities to the top five players who earn points based on top-10 finishes. The winner gets a $1 million annuity.
