A wide-open approach to U.S. Open

We all know how U.S. Open courses are set up … fairways so narrow you get claustrophobia. Readjust your thinking. At Torrey Pines, the U.S. Golf Assn. has tweaked six fairways for the Open in June and actually widened four of them.

What’s next, dumping the rough?

“Everybody thought we’d come in and narrow the place up,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competitions. “We fooled them.”

Of course, Torrey Pines is still brutally long, all 7,643 yards of it, and that’s the longest U.S. Open course in history. And there’s still a 614-yard hole lurking out there, if the back tees are used.

But for anyone already looking ahead to the Open (hello, Tiger Woods), the fact that the USGA is actually trying to make things even a little bit easier is one for the record books.

Davis said the alterations are actually minor. Here are the changes.

No. 4, 488-yard par four: The hole that runs along the ocean, the fairways have been widened out to the right, up near the green.

No. 5, 453-yard par four: The fairway has been widened in the drive zone, which should bring bunkers into play.

No. 13, 614-yard par five: If the shortest teeing area is used at 5390 yards, the fairway to the left, up against the canyon, is widened.

No. 18, 573-yard par five: A risk-reward hole, the fairway is widened out near the pond and wraps left around the pond.

Of course, the USGA did narrow a couple of fairways, the 612-yard 9th where three yards were taken off the left of the fairway in the third shot area and the 435-yard 14th where the fairway was narrowed up beyond the drive zone.

The Open is still seven weeks away, and that’s plenty of time to start getting ready for the chatter about the brutal, 614-yard par five - if it’s played from the farthest tee, which would require a 250-yard carry over a canyon.

Davis said the 539-yard tee at the 13th will be used at least once over the weekend and that all three teeing areas (the other is 599 yards) will be used at least once.

But the 614-yard tee?

“If we get normal weather conditions, it’ll play straight downwind,” Davis said. “But if we get any kind of precipitation or any cool weather and a crosswind or even a Santa Ana, I guarantee you won’t see the tee marker all the way back there.”

The Boo File

Boo Weekley won the Verizon Heritage for the second year in a row, moving him over $4 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour. He closed with a par 71 and said he really didn’t play that well, or even finish by chipping in at the 18th like he did last year.

Weekley said he didn’t get to do a celebratory fist-pump like last year and hadn’t rehearsed anything Sunday.

“I wanted to do the moonwalk, the belly-roll,” he said.

The Tiger Bounce

Chances are April isn’t going to go down as one of the better bond markets. Why? Blame it all on Woods. In looking back over the last 11 Aprils, the bond market does better when Woods wins the Masters, according to analysts at BNP Paribas and reported in the Wall Street Journal.

A Woods victory has meant an average return of 1.09% on the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index while the Treasurys show an average total return of 1.11%.

When Woods doesn’t win the Masters, the Lehman has lost an average of 0.12 and the Treasurys have lost an average of 0.33.

Ratings game

The overnight ratings in metered markets for CBS coverage of the Verizon Heritage were down slightly, with Saturday’s third-round earning a 1.3 compared with a 1.9 in 2007. Sunday’s fourth round had a 1.8 rating, compared with a 2.4 in 2006 (there was rainout coverage in 2007). Plus, the New York market was preempted by the Papal mass until 5 p.m.

Ochoa can’t win this week

Has any player won a major and three other tournaments in four straight weeks, earned entrance to the Hall of Fame along the way and received any less attention than Lorena Ochoa? It’s doubtful, and it’s also downright embarrassing for the LPGA Tour, even if it’s not really all its fault.

First, the tour should have figured out the Hall of Fame points scenario long before Ochoa got there, to build up some interest.

Second, you’ve got to be nuts to schedule a tournament (and in Mexico?) opposite the Masters, which is the only tournament anybody in golf cares about for one week.

The rest of the LPGA Tour gets a break this week, because Ochoa isn’t playing. Her next event is the John Q. Hammons the first week of May.

As for now, Ochoa said she’s content, which is understandable.

“I’m just trying to enjoy my moment. And I would like to enjoy it for a long time.”

Chatter

The sponsor is bitter in Texas, where the chief at EDS is openly talking about dropping its sponsorship of this week’s EDS Byron Nelson after its deal ends in 2009.

EDS spends about $6 million a year on the tournament and has been the title sponsor since 2003, but Chief Executive Ron Rittenmeyer told PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem last week that he’s not happy with the playing date the event has now, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

The Nelson was the second week in May for years, but lost its slot when the Players was moved to that spot and the Nelson got a date three weeks earlier. The shift in dates has hurt the field, according to Rittenmeyer.

–Amy Alcott signed a marketing deal with Gaylord Sports. Alcott, 52, who won 29 times on the LPGA Tour and is a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, plays the Legends Tour, and is working on her second book, “Spiked Shoes.”

Gaylord Sports represents Phil Mickelson, among others.

Numbers

Robert Allenby and Justin Leonard made their 11th straight cut over the weekend, and that’s the longest streak on tour this year.

– Stewart Cink’s tie for seventh at the Verizon was his fifth top-10 finish this year, the same number as Woods and Stuart Appleby. That’s the most on tour.

– The Masters’ website, masters.org, had 5.4 million unique viewers over tournament week, a 16% increase over last year. The average time spent on the site was more than 90 minutes.

Bulletin board

Some of the celebrities expected to play in the Kiwanis Club of Simi Valley tournament May 1 at Moorpark Country Club are Kermit Alexander, Alan Thicke, Coolio, Mitch Gaylord, Carlos Palomino, Kevin Sorbo and host Richard Karn. The event benefits the Simi Valley Community Foundation. Details: (760) 632-7770.

– The Ninth Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission tournament is May 12 at Riviera Country Club, with Keith Jackson to be honored with the Ambassador Award of Excellence. Details: (213) 236-2381.