GOLF / SHARK SHOOTOUT : Pressure or No Pressure, Price Is Definitely Right

With $1.1 million on the line, the Franklin Funds Shark Shootout is so thick with tension that you couldn’t drive a golf cart through it.

Not really, says Nick Price.

“It’s the end of the year, there’s really no pressure,” said Price, whose earnings of $1.48 million topped the PGA Tour money list. “All the pressures of the year are gone. It’s great to put the emphasis on the guys’ enjoying themselves.”

The three-day event begins today at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, where 10 two-man teams will play for a first prize of $250,000 and to raise money for children’s charities such as the National Childhood Cancer Foundation and Casa Pacifica.

Price is teamed with tournament host Greg Norman, who might understandably be a bit tired. He won $252,000 Sunday in a tournament at Gotemba, Japan, then came back with another victory Wednesday in the PGA Grand Slam at La Quinta, pocketing another $400,000.

“I’m going to throw a saddle on Nick, and I’m going to ride him for the next three days,” Norman said. “He’s going to ask me to take my spurs off.”

Other teams include last year’s champions, Tom Kite and Davis Love III, plus Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart, Peter Jacobsen and Arnold Palmer, Chip Beck and Corey Pavin, Steve Elkington and Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin and Bruce Lietzke, Mark Calcavecchia and Brad Faxon, Ben Crenshaw and Fulton Allem, and Mark O’Meara and Curtis Strange.

The teams will play a best-ball format today, then alternate shots on Saturday and a scramble on Sunday.