When Arnie Speaks, Tiger Should Listen

By now, we don’t have to guess who wasn’t coming to dinner, we know it was Tiger Woods.

After he withdrew from the Buick Challenge, then didn’t attend a dinner in his honor, it seemed pretty clear that Woods has trouble with this dining out thing.

At Stanford, Woods found himself in hot water with the NCAA after he dined with Arnold Palmer and Palmer picked up the check.

Dietitians everywhere must cringe every time Woods refers to his fast-food eating habits.

And now there is the latest instance, when Woods cited mental exhaustion and failed to show up at a dinner in Pine Mountain, Ga., to receive the Fred Haskins Award as the nation’s best college golfer.

It’s beginning to look like there’s a problem every time Woods steps to the plate.

Woods, who received some criticism from players such as Curtis Strange last week, may soon get an earful from Palmer. He probably ought to listen.

“Tiger should have played,” Palmer said. “He should have gone to the dinner.

“The lesson is you don’t make commitments you can’t fulfill, unless you’re on your deathbed, and I don’t believe he was on his deathbed.”

Palmer said Woods deserves every cent of his multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, but indicated that added responsibility comes with status and wealth.

Palmer believes the incident will not affect Woods’ popularity.

“People will forget it in a week,” he said. “But once you do what he did once, the second time is probably a little easier. And you can’t fall into that trap.

“The important thing is how he handles it from here. I like Tiger very much. I am saying publicly exactly what I would say to him personally.”

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Glenn Sheeley in Golf World, spoofing Tiger Woods’ ad campaign, termed Woods’ pullout at the Buick Challenge this way: “Goodbye world.”

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More Tiger tales: The latest is that Woods won’t play in the Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout Nov. 15-17 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks after all, but has committed to play in the Australian Open a week later and receive a reported appearance fee of $190,000.

Also, the current count of Woods books in the works numbers four. Warner Books has a two-book deal with Woods, one of them his autobiography. Two other Woods biographies already are being written.

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Palmer, who is flying a new jet, is entering a new area: cyberspace. Palmer has his own website with Sportsline USA.

As part of his website, Palmer will answer e-mail periodically. The morning he went on line, Palmer received 500 questions.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Palmer said of the Internet. “Life is so exciting in this day and age for anyone who has a chance to stay up with it.”

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For the first time in his career, Palmer wears soft spikes, which he never thought would give him the right footing without slipping.

“The golf swing I had, I needed nails to nail me down to the ground,” he said.

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The 1998 Nissan Open will be played at Valencia Country Club.

The event has been staged at Riviera since 1972, except for 1983 when it was held at Rancho Park because that was the same year the PGA Championship was at Riviera.

In 1998, the U.S. Senior Open will be held at Riviera, which doesn’t want a PGA Tour event on the same course the same year.

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Because he is only No. 73 on the Senior PGA Tour money list, Harold Henning said he is having an off-season.

The way it works out, the poorer you play, the earlier your tee times.

“When I get to the golf courses, I can always find a parking place, the sweet rolls are fresh and the flies haven’t landed on the Danish,” Henning said. “I’m the chairman of the breakfast club.”

Golf Notes

The fifth Speedo Inner-City Games golf tournament will be played Oct. 23 at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach. The event will raise money for the program that emphasizes sports and academics. Miller Lite/AVP Tour star Karch Kiraly and boxer Paul Gonzales are among those scheduled to play. Details: (213) 881-6569. . . . Emilee Klein has qualified for the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship Nov. 18-24 at the Desert Inn Resort and Country Club in Las Vegas. The event offers a $150,000 first prize, the largest ever for a first-year LPGA Tour event. . . . Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Frey, Chris O’Donnell, Ken Griffey Jr. and Michael Chiklis are the early entries in the Lexus Challenge, Dec. 18-21 on the Citrus Course at La Quinta. . . . Buck Owens, Toby Keith, Terri Clark, John Michael Montgomery, Aaron Tippin and Michelle Wright are among the artists who will play in the 14th Academy of Country Music Bill Boyd golf classic Oct. 21 at the De Bell golf course in Burbank. The event benefits the T.J. Martell Foundation for cancer, AIDS and leukemia research for children, the Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratory and the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. Details: (213) 462-2351.