Warming Up for Bigger Money

When can you call a $2.8-million tournament a warmup?

When it’s this week’s Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club, which is going to be a grassy laboratory for the players competing for the really big money next week--the $5-million Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship at La Costa.

Tiger Woods, Fred Couples and John Daly were the latest to commit to play Riviera, where nine of the top 15 on the official world ranking list are going to show up.

However, the expected rush of foreign players to get ready for the match-play event never materialized.

Most notable for their absence at Riviera are Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, Lee Westwood and Nick Faldo of England, Steve Elkington of Australia and Jumbo Ozaki of Japan. Elkington won the 1995 PGA at Riviera and Montgomerie was the runner-up. Faldo won the 1997 Nissan Open at Riviera--his last tournament victory.

They’re not playing. Neither are Mark O’Meara and Tom Watson.

But South Africa’s Ernie Els is, and so are Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, Vijay Singh of Fiji and Nick Price of Zimbabawe.

Woods and David Duval head an entry list that also includes Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and Payne Stewart.

As for the 64-player La Costa event, it represents the PGA Tour’s first foray into staging limited-field, big-money events featuring players from all over the world. Match play also means that there is no guarantee that high-ranking players will be around for the weekend with a shot at the $1-million winner’s check.

At Riviera beginning Thursday, the field is playing for a first-place share of $504,000--the tournament’s highest payout for a winner.

The two schools of thought for the Riviera-La Costa setup are to stay sharp by playing Riviera, or to take a week off to practice for La Costa. Since this is the first year of the $5-million world events, the players are going to have to decide which approach works best.

Consider Duval’s schedule. He played at Kapalua, then took a week off. He played at the Bob Hope, Phoenix Open and Pebble Beach, then took last week off. He has Riviera and La Costa on his schedule, but has hinted he will play only the Honda and the Players Championship when the tour moves to Florida.

Woods is three tournaments deep into a five-week streak that began at the Phoenix Open and continued to Pebble Beach and to La Jolla for the Buick Invitational, which he won. Woods still has Riviera and La Costa to go.

In any event, Riviera is back hosting the event after a year’s absence when the tournament was played at Valencia. The U.S. Senior Open was held at Riviera last July and that meant the Nissan Open needed a new home for one year.

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Nissan Open

* When: Thursday through Sunday

* Where: The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades

* Defending champion: Billy Mayfair

* Purse: $2.8 million ($504,000)

SCHEDULE

* Monday: Nissan Dealers Pro-Am, 8 a.m.

* Tuesday: Gillette Tour Challenge, 1 p.m.

* Wednesday: Nissan Open Pro-Am, 6:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m.

* Thursday, Friday: Tournament begins, 7:30 a.m. both days

* Saturday, Sunday: Tournament continues each day at 8 a.m.

* Information: (800) 752-OPEN