They Can Make Points (and Team) This Week

By THOMAS BONK

Aug. 16, 2001 12 AM PT

DULUTH, Ga. —

It’s the home stretch for making the U.S. Ryder Cup team, which means this weekend’s PGA Championship is the last chance for players to pile up points and work their way onto the team.

As usual, there are a few subplots going on:

* Can Tom Lehman hang on to the 10th and final guaranteed spot?

* Will No. 13 Brad Faxon play well enough to either make the team on his own or convince Curtis Strange to use a captain’s pick on him?

* Will Strange pick the 11th and 12th players in the points (now Chris DiMarco and Joe Durant) or go another way, such as Faxon or No. 15 Frank Lickliter, No. 16 Rocco Mediate, No. 17 Scott Verplank, No. 18 Jeff Sluman or No. 19 Paul Azinger?

The conventional wisdom is that Strange won’t go any deeper in the points standings than 15th, which means that Mediate, Verplank, Sluman and Azinger must pump it up a notch if they’re going to make it.

The winner of the PGA Championship earns 300 points and the runner-up 180, which is what it would take for Justin Leonard to make the team because Strange is apparently not interested in using a captain’s pick on the 1999 Ryder Cup hero.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Davis Love III are all guaranteed spots on the team and the others in the top 10 are Mark Calcavecchia, Hal Sutton, Scott Hoch, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink and Lehman.

Woods says he has a keen interest in what happens this week to shape the U.S. squad.

“I do have an idea of what the team could be,” Woods said. “I’ve talked to Curtis about it. He and I are on the same page on what players he likes, what players that he would like to see make the top 10 and hopefully free up a couple picks.

“But this is a big week for the guys who are toward the bottom who are not quite on the team, and a lot of guys could sneak into consideration by playing well in this championship. If not sneak in, then just get on the team outright.”

The situation for European captain Sam Torrance is more complicated with one more tournament after the PGA remaining. It obviously helped to have Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer play their way onto the team, which means that Torrance is a virtual lock to use his captain’s picks on Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik.

That means Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson and Paul Lawrie would stay at home for the biennial matches, Sept. 28-30 at the Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England.

Montgomerie says Europe should alter its rules to allow more than two captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup to allow for the European players such as Olazabal, Jimenez, Garcia and Parnevik, who chose to play the PGA Tour on a regular basis and thereby limit their chances to play their way on the team in Europe.

It’s Major

Greg Norman has won two British Opens and, of course, zero Masters, which makes him extremely capable of discussing winning (or not winning) majors. Norman says there might be a sentimental favorite at the PGA among the fans.

“Some obviously do like to see a Phil Mickelson win because a lot of people don’t like to see a person go through all that anguish. Look at Dan Marino and the Super Bowl. Look at the Boston Red Sox . . . first time, you know. There are a lot of sports out there where guys haven’t won.

“There are two perspectives there. There’s the player’s perspective and the media perspective. I think it’s a great story to ask guys why they haven’t won, just as long as the player doesn’t lose perspective. If I were a reporter, I’d be writing about that, trying to figure out why and what’s happening and what’s getting into his head. Is it over-trying? Is it under-trying? At the end of the day, it’s good copy.”

Norman might be as well known for his failures at Augusta--no victories in 20 years, but three seconds and three thirds--as he is for his major triumphs at Turnberry in 1986 and Royal St. George’s in 1993.

But Norman says he is still tight with the Masters, no matter how many times it has turned him away.

“I still feel like a part of Augusta even though I haven’t won it. I’ve seen a lot of good copy that’s been put out about me at Augusta and that’s part of the story too.”

Aspirin, Please

Montgomerie on Garcia’s exaggerated, looping backswing: “It doesn’t worry me. It’s not my back.”

Pro News

Georgia Tech’s Bryce Molder, who is turning pro next week and makes his debut at the Reno-Tahoe Open, signed with Gaylord Sports, which also represents Mickelson among others. Northwestern’s Luke Donald, who is from England, also announced he’s turning pro at the Reno-Tahoe Open and he signed with IMG.

Tiger Update

Woods took the last two weeks off and said he needed the rest, which sounds right when you look at his schedule that includes six tournaments in the next seven weeks.

After the PGA Championship, Woods plays the NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, then takes a week off. After that, Woods plays four in a row: the Bell Canadian Open in Quebec, the American Express Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis, the Lancome Trophy in Paris and the Ryder Cup.

Snead on Tiger

Sam Snead, who turned 89 in May, is spending the summer in Hot Springs, Va., and is going to watch the PGA Championship--which he won three times--on TV this week.

Snead considers Woods the favorite.

Said Snead: “I’ll give it to you this way. . . . He don’t hit every fairway, he don’t hit every green, he just stays right in there. He just doesn’t throw it in there and hope something happens. He makes something happen.”

Money News

The prize money for the PGA Championship hit a record $5.2 million--$936,000 to the winner. Last year, Woods made $900,000. In 1975, the year Woods was born, Jack Nicklaus made $45,000 when he won the PGA at Firestone Country Club.

They Didn’t Float

If it’s any indication of how tough the 490-yard 18th at Atlanta Athletic Club could play, consider this: In their practice round Tuesday, the foursome of Woods, Mark O’Meara, Adam Scott and Notah Begay hit a total of eight balls (two apiece) into the water on the right. Woods hit three-iron both times.

Said Darren Clarke: “Probably one of the toughest par fours I’ve played in a long time. I hit a really good drive [Wednesday] morning and I had to hit a five-wood in there. I think you’re going to see a lot of guys forced to lay up.”

Neither Do We

The quote of the week is from Clarke, when asked about hitting off the Bermuda fairways: “I don’t particularly think that much about it. If I start thinking, then I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Norman’s Was Blew

News item: Nick Price and Norman are outspoken in questioning the wisdom of the renovation work at Augusta National that makes the course 285 yards longer.

Reaction: Green has never been their color anyway.

Hooper the Looper?

News item: Ian Woosnam hires Nick Hooper, his physiotherapist, as his new caddie, replacing the infamous noncounting, oversleeping Miles Byrne.

Reaction: Maybe Hooper can massage a couple more victories out of Woosnam.

Age-Old News

Lee Westwood says he didn’t know Clarke’s birthday was Tuesday. Said Westwood: “He kept it very quiet. When you get to 43, you do keep things like that quiet.”

Clarke, of course, is 33.

And a Vet Bill

Westwood missed four cuts in his last six events but seemed to turn his game around last week when he tied for second at the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, so he was asked if he had gotten “rid of all your gremlins.”

Said Westwood: “I don’t have any gremlins. I have two dogs and a cat.”

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Ryder Cup Standings

United States

1. Tiger Woods 2,447.500

2. Phil Mickelson 1,530.625

3. David Duval 1,010.000

4. Davis Love III 749.500

5. Mark Calcavecchia 635.375

6. Hal Sutton 613.000

7. Scott Hoch 597.000

8. Jim Furyk 587.875