GOLF : A New Team Event Now Part of Club at End of Season

What’s golf without another new event?

One less television program.

The $2.1-million Diners Club Matches, made-for-television match play among members from the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA tours, begin today at the Nicklaus Resort Course at PGA West.

The regular tour matches start today with 16 teams. There is $890,000 at stake with $250,000 going to the winning team.

Top-seeded is the duo of Lanny Wadkins and Paul Azinger; Loren Roberts and Rick Fehr are seeded second. Other teams include Fuzzy Zoeller-Curtis Strange, Phil Mickelson-Ben Crenshaw and Hale Irwin-Jay Haas.

The seniors and the women, who are playing for $610,000 in prize money, begin play Friday.

All three tournaments end Sunday.

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are seeded first in the seniors’ bracket, and they will open against Simon Hobday and Tom Weiskopf.

Raymond Floyd and Dave Eichelberger play Dave Stockton and Al Geiberger in the first round.

Kelly Robbins and Tammie Green are top-seeded in the LPGA tour bracket, which also features a partnership between Hall of Fame members Patty Sheehan and Nancy Lopez.

The tournament will use a four-ball format. Each player plays his or her own ball with the better score of the two partners counting as the team’s score on a hole.

The Diners Club Matches, created by Jack Nicklaus Productions, is the last PGA Tour sanctioned event of the year.