U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Can Go at It From Tips

It’s not easy being Ryder Cup captain (see Lanny Wadkins, Tom Kite), but the fun is just beginning for Curtis Strange, who is going to have his team in place the day after the PGA Championship.

At this time of year, the focus of pro golf is just the way the PGA of America likes it, basically because it tends to dominate the proceedings. The PGA of America runs both the PGA Championship and then the Ryder Cup, thus training the spotlight directly on Strange.

He has a good grip on the situation at least.

“If we win, the players are great, and if we lose, it’s the captain’s fault.”

Of course, that’s a totally accurate appraisal of the situation. So in the interest of patriotism, here are some suggestions that may come in handy and help Strange do his job better come September in England.

1. Pretend as though it’s all up to you, but ask Tiger Woods who he wants to play with.

2. Choose Paul Azinger with one of your captain’s picks. You are going to need somebody with a sense of humor.

3. No matter how much you would like to, don’t read the tabloids . . . unless it’s about the Loch Ness monster again. That’s always fun.

4. Do not let your kids or your friends or Michael Jordan ride around with you in the golf cart, as Kite did at Valderrama. Looks bad. Looks worse if you lose.

5. Do not say anything bad about Colin Montgomerie, no matter how easy it is.

6. Put your team in whatever color shirts you decide and don’t talk about it again. You have enough to worry about and uniforms should never be an issue.

7. If somebody on your team makes a huge putt on the last day, stay off the green until the match is over. That will save apologies later.

8. Don’t resort to any corny pep talks . . . never mind, you wouldn’t do that anyway.

9. Be honest . . . never mind, you’re always that way anyway.

10. Get everyone prepared so they play as well as they can, win or lose. That’s all anyone has the right to expect from you.

Battle III, Fun 0

For something that was under the lights, it had zero electricity.

Now that they’ve hit the switch at Bighorn, let’s take one last look at ABC’s prime-time golf event featuring Tiger Woods, David Duval, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb that didn’t seem to please anybody.

The final critique is probably going to be this: The men were indifferent, the women were nervous and the golf was bad.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be a Battle IV though. What format they’ll use has not been decided, although Strange (wearing his ABC commentator hat this time) has a notion: “Whatever Tiger decides.”

What happened? The alternate-shot, mixed-team, match-play format was probably too quirky. They might have been better off playing a scramble.

And get serious . . . the real reason it wasn’t a men vs. women setup had nothing to do with the potential that Woods and Duval would wipe the desert floor with the LPGA players, as has been speculated almost everywhere.

No, it was a TV decision. There’s no way the match could have come off on television with four golf balls in play. It took nearly 4 1/2 hours to play only two balls Monday night. You use four balls and you have a series on your hands.

Enough has been said about the ratings. They weren’t good, the lowest in the three years the Battle has been on the air.

Now, keep this in mind:

* The final national ratings were 6.0 and an 11 share between 8 p.m-11 p.m. on the East Coast.

* The preceding Monday’s programming on ABC--the news magazine show “Downtown” and a four-year-old movie called “The Edge,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, drew a 6.8 rating and a 12 share.

* If prime-time golf can’t beat that, you have to wonder what ABC is thinking.

Augusta Update

It’s August and the Masters is still eight months away, but Augusta National is very much in the news. The club began a much publicized renovation project in the middle of June and now word is that alterations are vast in scope. Apparently, only three of the 10 par-four holes are unaffected.

As usual, club officials are mum on the subject and won’t comment on the record on the exact details of the lengthening and toughening of the course until they choose to, which is supposedly next week. But that didn’t stop the hometown Augusta Chronicle from taking aerial pictures. Golfweek did the same.

If this continues, expect club members to install dummy bunkers to throw everybody off track.

The Tom Fazio design project will be done by the time the club opens to members Oct. 11, although it is likely that one of the nine holes being renovated won’t be ready for the opening. How is it being done so quickly? The club didn’t rely on one construction crew, but brought on several instead.

Officer’s Club

Believe it or not, the speculation on who will be appointed Ryder Cup captains in 2003 is already underway.

After he won the Dutch Open, Bernhard Langer began campaigning on his own behalf for the Oakland Hills event.

Said Langer: “I would love to be a captain and probably fairly soon as well.”

Other possibilities for the European captain include Nick Faldo, 44, and Ian Woosnam, 43. Langer is also 43.

As for the U.S. captain, perhaps the most logical contenders are Hal Sutton, 43, or Azinger, who will be 42 in January. Sutton is well liked by the players, the 1983 PGA champion and a three-time Ryder Cup player.

Azinger is a little young--Strange was nearly 45 when he was appointed and Ben Crenshaw was 46--but fills the other requirements. He won the 1993 PGA Championship and has played on three Ryder Cup teams.

He has played decently this year and Strange could use a captain’s pick on him this year, which would be a huge tip-off that Azinger is on the fast track to the 2003 captain’s job. Sutton is playing his way onto the team.

Uh, Sleeping?

The quote of the week is from Len Shapiro of the Washington Post on the low entertainment value of Monday night’s “Battle at Bighorn” on ABC: “It was the only time you will ever hear me wonder in print or aloud, ‘Where was Dennis Miller when you really did need him on a Monday night?”

Thinking Ahead

News item: Aaron Baddeley says he will not defend his Australian Open title so he can play in the PGA Tour qualifying tournament instead.

Reaction: Good move. The problem isn’t playing a golf tournament in Australia in November, it’s finding a place to play all next year.

Shark Update

Remember Greg Norman? There is a Shark sighting at the International, where Norman is scheduled to play for the first time since he missed the cut at the Memorial the last weekend of May.

Norman withdrew from the British Open because of the death of a close friend.

Why would Norman schedule the International? He was fourth there in 2000, matching his best performance of the year.

Money News

A year ago at the British Open, reigning U.S. Amateur champion David Gossett turned pro but didn’t have a place to play on the PGA Tour unless he got sponsors’ exemptions.

Last week, he won the John Deere Classic and nailed down his PGA Tour card for two years.

The 22-year-old won $504,000, $464,823 more than he made in his other 12 PGA Tour events.

Money News II

Briny Baird was the runner-up to Gossett at the John Deere and made $302,400, $27,306 less than his father, Butch Baird, made in 20 years on the PGA Tour.

Wadkins, Wadkins

News item: Lanny Wadkins to serve as analyst for CBS on the 14th hole at International this weekend while brother Bobby makes his Senior PGA Tour debut at the Lightpath Long Island Classic.

Reaction: You can bet Phil Mickelson and Sutton (who had run-ins with Lanny over his previous critiques) are wondering this--if Lanny were commentating at the Long Island tournament instead, would he be critical of his brother?

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

The Partners in Care Foundation tournament will be held Oct. 8 at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village. The event benefits Kids and Families at Risk being served by the programs of Partner in Care Foundation and Visiting Nurse Community Services. Details: 818 526-1780.

The third Jim Murray Memorial tournament will be held Oct. 15 at Lakeside Country Club. Seven journalism students will receive $5,000 as Murray Foundation scholars: Collin Hansen of Northwestern, Ada Anderson of Ball State, Rebecca Campana of St. Bonaventure, Kyle Nagel of Missouri, Sara Thorson of Arizona State, Stephanie Kindel of Trinity College and Joshua Partlow of Columbia. Details: 310 476-8948.

The Hyundai Team Matches are moving from Pelican Hill Golf Club to Monarch Beach Golf Links for the Dec. 7-9 event, which will be shown Dec. 8-9 on ABC.

The 19th Vince Ferragamo Foundation tournament raised $189,000 for the Special Olympics and other charities.

Gerald Hall, a member of the PGA of America for 52 years and the golf pro at Santa Ana Country Club for 24 years, died at 78 in San Marcos. He was a member of the Southern California PGA Hall of Fame.