No Matter Woods’ Mission, Nothing Seems Impossible

So what are we supposed to make of what Tiger Woods did last weekend at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic? No, Woods didn’t win at Irving, Texas, but . . .

He took four weeks off and in his first tournament back was in danger of missing the cut after the first round. Then, three days later, he almost won the tournament.

Even for Woods, that’s a first-rate high-wire act. And if Woods had managed to coax in that 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole Sunday, he would have shot a 62 and worked his way into what would have been a four-way playoff, eventually won by Jesper Parnevik.

Anybody want to bet that Woods wouldn’t have prevailed had he been in it?

When you look at it, Woods has performed such spectacular feats that he is in danger of making the fabulous appear routine. Like Sunday at the Nelson: He holed out from the fairway on the last day and now everyone expects it every hole.

So what will Woods’ next trick be?

Will he ace the shot from the rooftop in Germany to another rooftop in that tricked-up exhibition with Colin Montgomerie this week?

Will he win that Deutsche Bank/SAP Open in Hamburg, then show up at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, and announce he intends to play left-handed so he can get a good feel from both sides of the plate?

Wait until the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Woods can hit a two-iron off the tee and still outdrive most of the field. After what happened last week, Woods feels good about himself.

“After not playing for a month, I think I did a pretty good job,” he said. “That’s one of the difficult things about coming back after a long layoff. Your competitive edge isn’t as sharp as it should be.

“No matter how much you practice, you always tend to put the driving range swing on it, not the tournament playability swing. And that’s one of the things that every player fights after a long layoff. You just need to go out there and play more by feel and instinct and that takes time to get back.

“By Sunday, I felt pretty good, very comfortable about going out there and having every shot count.”

By the time he gets to Pebble Beach, Woods should be ultra-comfortable.

A VISION IN PINK

From in front of his television set at his home in Houston, the ultra-colorful Doug Sanders took a long look at Parnevik’s bright pink pants on the last day of the Byron Nelson and gave them his approval.

“You got to do something a little different,” Sanders said. “That’s the way I was.”

In his heyday, Sanders could have put a peacock to shame with a wardrobe that looked as though a rainbow had just exploded in his closet.

You won’t find this in the history books, but Sanders was perhaps the first golfer to wear pink . . . except he didn’t stop at pink slacks. He had pink shoes, pink socks, a pink shirt, pink underwear and, yes, a pink glove.

“Painted it with nail polish,” Sanders said.

He says his favorite color was whatever he was wearing that day.

“I took a lot of pride in the colors I wore,” Sanders said. “I felt good because I knew I looked good. As for Jesper, I’m just delighted to see some color again.

“I like to see that stuff. There’s a bunch of clones out there in all walks of life. Now, I’m not putting anybody down, you know, but if you had a bunch of caddies and pros and after three holes they went around the corner and changed clothes, you couldn’t tell who was who.”

LET’S GO TO A BREAK

News item: The PGA Tour takes the unusual step of issuing a statement of apology and regret after CBS cut away Sunday from the Byron Nelson playoff before it was over everywhere except on the West Coast and about 22 minutes before the 7 p.m. Eastern time drop-dead cutoff.

Reaction: What did CBS want to show instead? “Heidi?”

Reaction II: Think they would have done it if Woods had been in the playoff?

By the way, CBS had a 4.0 overnight rating for Sunday’s telecast--up 25% from last year.

Can you say “Thank you, Tiger?”

Why CBS pulled the plug: It’s the sweeps period and it didn’t want golf to go long and affect “60 Minutes” and the mini-series “Jesus.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

From Parnevik, asked if 88-year-old Byron Nelson would like the pink pants: “I think he would look good in my pants.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK II

From Woods, the defending PGA champion, when told that the last to successfully defend his PGA title was Denny Shute in 1937: “Well, I wasn’t around then.”

YESSIR, JESPER

Now, don’t laugh, but Parnevik says he will contend at the U.S. Open next month at Pebble Beach.

“The Open is probably one of the best venues where I would have a chance,” he said. “Usually, it’s just a straight hitter’s U.S. Open, where one driver can be a little bit off sometimes.

“So I’m really looking forward to Pebble Beach, where it’s going to be more a links-type golf course, which I usually play very well in. . . . “

THE PRICE IS, WHAT?

The Nick Price-Nike-Chipshot.com saga has been proceeding at a dizzying pace. The latest: After Nike said it was suing chipshot.com for using Price in ads with him not wearing Nike-contracted shoes and clothes, Price said he was through with Nike.

Price, who didn’t wear Nike golf gear last week at the Byron Nelson, probably got mad and felt better, but was it good business to say goodbye to Nike? He turned his back on close to $2 million in endorsement income for 2000, not to mention performance bonuses of about $500,000.

Meanwhile, Nike’s apparel and footwear catalog for retailers feature Woods, of course, but Price is all over the thing, representing the “classic” designs.

There is yet another Nike issue: Woods used a Nike Tour Accuracy ball in the pro-am at the European Tour event in Hamburg, even though he has a deal to play Titleist. Golf World reported that Woods has an escape clause in his Titleist ball contract.

SIGN LANGUAGE

So how dumb does Padraig Harrington feel?

Harrington, five shots ahead before the last round of the Benson and Hedges International on the European Tour, showed up at the course in Sutton Coldfield, England, on Sunday to find out he was disqualified.

Why? Because somebody got around to noticing that he had not signed his scorecard on Thursday after the first round.

Said Harrington, “The rules are the rules.”

Glad we got that out of the way. What’s more interesting is how exactly did Harrington get out of that scorer’s tent on Thursday without signing his card? What were those officials in there doing?

For what it’s worth, the PGA Tour assigns an official to the scorer’s tent whose job is to inspect each card for a signature before the player is allowed to leave.

CHANGES

The Bell Atlantic Classic on the Senior PGA Tour is now the Instinet Classic. Instinet, which is an agency broker in the financial services marketplace, is increasing the prize money from $1.1 million to

$1.4 million in a three-year deal that also moves the tournament from Avondale, Pa., to the Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana in Princeton, N.J.

ADDITION

The PGA Tour has its World Golf Championship series and now the LPGA is getting into the act--sort of. The first Women’s World Cup Golf, a $1-million event featuring 16 two-player teams from different countries playing a 54-hole stroke-play format, will be played Dec. 1-3 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Ladies European Tour announced a Ladies World Cup of Golf in Ireland in September, but the LPGA is not sanctioning that event.

ENDLESS DUNES

There were a lot of players grumbling about the bunkers last week at the Byron Nelson. The problem? Too much sand. Some players felt somebody had off-loaded the Sahara Desert into the bunkers.

Yes, bunkers are hazards. No, two- and three-iron shots shouldn’t be burying in them.

BEN THERE

Ben Crenshaw tied for 77th at the Byron Nelson and that might not seem so imposing, but it’s the first time he has made a cut in 23 months--a string of 24 tournaments going back to June 1998, when he tied for 63rd at the Buick Classic.

CLEAN SWEEP

Mothers Pat Hurst, Juli Inkster and Cindy Figg-Currier finished in the top 10 at the Electrolux USA Championship in Franklin, Tenn., on Mother’s Day. Hurst won.

For what it’s worth, there are 42 mothers on the LPGA Tour.

Also for what it’s worth, all 144 players in the field were given vacuum cleaners by the sponsor.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

The first Junior Golf Day, featuring free instruction, lessons on etiquette and contests, will be held Sunday at Nike Golf Learning Centers and American Golf-operated courses at Dominguez in Carson, Arcadia, Knollwood in Granada Hills, Rancho San Joaquin in Irvine, David L. Baker Memorial Golf Center in Fountain Valley, Camarillo Springs in Camarillo, Mountain Meadows in Pomona, Scholl Canyon in Glendale and Simi Hills in Simi Valley. Details: (877) 313-4653.

Dot.com note of the week: The USGA is accepting on-line entry applications for its national championships--except the U.S. Open, the Junior Amateur and the Girls’ Junior Championship--at www.usga.org.

Callaway Golf joined Orlimar and Cleveland Golf in announcing it won’t take part in the PGA International Golf Show in Las Vegas in September. Orlimar is planning to introduce a new metal wood next month at the U.S. Open.

Meanwhile, the USGA added three more Callaway ERC drivers to its list of nonconforming clubs--the nine-degree loft, 10-degree loft and 12-degree loft. The 11-degree loft ERC already was on the USGA’s nonconforming list.

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* SHORT COURSE: Ocean Trails, which lost half of its 18th hole last June in a landslide, will open as a 15-hole layout. B1