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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Friday, February 25, 2000

GOLF WATCH

Even Tiger could
meet his match

BY the time you read this, Tiger Woods might have lost in today's third round of the World Match Play Championship at the La Costa Spa and Resort in Carlsbad, Calif..

I know. Hah. Fat chance.

But you never know in the match-play format. It's so iffy.

It's like that football coach's cliche, "On any given Sunday." Or Saturday, or whatever day the game is played. For ESPN, it can be a Thursday.

First-round victims this week included Phil Mickelson, Nick Price and Vijay Singh. Yesterday, Tom Lehman, Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie went down.

That's the beauty of match play. Forget the strokes and the last hole. It's winning the next hole that counts.

Of course, the format keeps television folks cringing for top names to survive into the matchups for tomorrow and Sunday.

And, for the ratings, they're hoping that Tiger, the No. 1 player in the world, will be involved in both of them. But there's no guarantee, as we saw last year when Woods got bumped in the third round.

The dream final with a million dollars riding on the line would be Woods meeting David Duval, who's ranked No. 2, or Sergio Garcia. We'll know soon enough if it'll be Duval or Garcia, since they meet each today.

Also Tiger's fate for that matter.

He runs into the guy with the killer smile and game, Shigeki Maruyama, who seems to thrive playing one on one. Who can forget what he did in the Presidents Cup?

Of course, if the final match is between Bob Estes and Duffy Waldorf, you can bet the rating will plummet.

At least this year, we're spared of a repeat final between Jeff Maggert and Andrew Magee. They both lost in the first round.

Like I said, on any given day.

Or was that June Jones?

LADY BE GOOD:

The inaugural LPGA Takefuji Classic will be held next Thursday through Saturday as the women's tour holds its first official tour event on the Big Island.

The LPGA has held several unofficial events at the Kona Country Club Ocean Course in Keauhou before. But this is a biggie and one that can only strengthen the LPGA's Hawaii-Australia swing.

There's talk that the LPGA Takefuji Classic, which is committed through 2002, might immediately follow the Hawaiian Ladies Open at the Kapolei Golf Course.

It would make more sense than the one-week break right now, with the Australian Ladies Masters in between. The event Down Under would follow the two Hawaii tournaments, if plans go through.

Karrie Webb, the LPGA's 1999 Player of the year who skipped Kapolei, will be playing in Kona. The 54-hole tournament has an $800,000 purse, with the winner getting $125,000.

Joining Webb in the 132-player field will be Betsy King, who won at Kapolei last week, and her Hall of Fame peers Patty Sheehan, Pat Bradley and Amy Alcott.

Also entered are Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies and Hawaii's Lenore Rittenhouse and Camie Hoshino, who's playing on a sponsor's exemption. Hoshino, a Hilo native who played for the USC golf team, now plays on the Japan LPGA Tour.

END QUOTE:

Mark O'Meara about Orlando neighbor Tiger Woods when he won his sixth straight tournament: "I'd just like to make six cuts in a row."