Riviera Event to Stay in February

The 2007 PGA Tour schedule is unofficial, but when PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced Wednesday a shake-up in the tournament lineup that includes a three-event buildup to a Tour Championship in September, at least one tournament already knew it wasn’t going to be part of the new plan.

That would be the Nissan Open, which is going to keep its February date, even though it could have been part of the new scheme that instead apparently will feature the Barclays Classic in New York, the Deutsche Bank outside Boston and the Western Open in the Chicago area.

“We knew they weren’t looking at Los Angeles at this time,” said Tom Pulchinski, tournament director of the Nissan Open.

Nissan’s deal with the tournament ends with the 2006 event, but Pulchinski said a new agreement to extend the deal through 2010 should be announced soon. Countrywide is already on board to continue as the presenting sponsor, he said.

The tour is revamping its schedule for 2007, the first year of what will be a new television contract, and plans a season-long points race based upon tournament performance from January through August, plus an earlier Tour Championship to steer clear of ratings conflicts with telecasts of NFL games.

*

Gary Player offered his version of the “he-said, he-said” dispute with Nick Price about when Player actually offered Price the assistant captain’s job on the Presidents Cup team.

Player said Price had a chance to play his way onto the international team, then called him when it was clear Price had no chance. Player added that Price is disrespecting the event with his statement that Player threw Price “under the bus” in discussing the issue with the media.

*

Wait until Hootie Johnson hears about this -- a par-six hole. They’ve got one this week on the Asian Tour at Thailand, an 878-yard monster at the St. Andrews Hill Club for the Double A International Open.

Said golfer Wisut Artjanawat: “I don’t think it’s good. Golf should only have par-three, par-four or par-five holes.”

*

The PGA Tour announced it had passed the $1-billion mark in charitable donations. The Nissan Open -- which began as the Los Angeles Open in 1926 -- has raised $56,704,640 for the L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce charities.

*

Ratings update: Sunday’s final round of the Chrysler Championship on ABC had a 1.1 overnight Nielsen rating and was nearly doubled by the 2.1 rating for NBC’s “Pro Bull Riding” show.

*

Colin Montgomerie, who wrapped up his eighth European Tour Order of Merit title as the leading money winner last weekend, said the final leaderboard at the Volvo Masters in Spain offered hints about next year’s Ryder Cup team.

Montgomerie, a Scot, was third, behind winner Paul McGinley of Ireland and runner-up Sergio Garcia of Spain and tied with Luke Donald of England and Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain.

“That’s almost half the Ryder Cup team in the top three here, and that’s super,” Montgomerie said. “They are very strong. It will be a very, very strong Ryder Cup team again.”

*

The quote of the week is from McGinley, asked what he was thinking about on the last two holes: “Trying to win a massive tournament, obviously.”

The second quote of the week is from Jay Haas, about Tom Watson, who won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, only his 14th Champions Tour event this year: “He’s a legend in his spare time, I guess.”

*

She tied for 14th last week in South Korea, but Annika Sorenstam has a shot at history this week when she tries to win her fifth straight Mizuno Classic in Japan.

Sorenstam tied the LPGA record of five victories at one tournament when she won the Samsung last month, but no LPGA or PGA Tour pro has won five in a row. In her last four winning trips to the Mizuno -- a three-round event -- Sorenstam was a total of 74 under par, shot 11 of 12 rounds in the 60s and won by an average of 5.7 shots.

*

For the second straight year, Tag Ridings secured his PGA Tour card with a strong showing at the Chrysler Championship. Ridings, who was 126th on the money list, jumped all the way to 101st when he tied for third and made $216,164.