Life on Riviera May Be What Winless Woods Needs

Tiger Woods is indeed playing the Nissan Open at Riviera next week and will officially enter by Friday’s deadline. At the Buick Invitational, he hinted he might not play Riviera.

As we know, he hasn’t won in his last seven PGA Tour events and says he isn’t that far away. Even though his worst finish is a tie for 13th in four events, the statistics reflect a decline in his play from last year when he won nine times.

Woods’ adjusted scoring average (69.79) is almost two shots off last year’s record of 67.97, even though his actual average through four tournaments is exactly the same as last season’s pace (68.88).

On the greens, Woods was No. 2 in putting last year (1.717 putts a hole), but he is tied for 97th this year (1.785).

However, Woods didn’t make a bogey his last 40 holes at Torrey Pines and after needing 34 putts in the first round, had 26 in each of the last three.

Says Jeff Maggert: “Everyone talks about his little slump, but it’s a tough game. It doesn’t take much to kind of slip down a notch and the other players are right there in front of him.”

SNEAD ON TIGER

Sam Snead, a longtime Tiger-watcher, followed Woods at Torrey Pines on television and believes Tiger’s problems on the greens aren’t going to last.

“He’s had a little problem with putts, mostly short putts,” Snead said. “That is the first thing that goes with a golfer. He is one of the best, but he’s missed an awful lot of putts.

“I know what’s going to happen. He’ll get in a tournament and hole almost everything and that’ll bring him back.”

Snead says the other parts of Woods’ game are nearly beyond improvement.

“He hits the ball far--not as far as Johnny Daly--but more accurate and does more with it. Overall, with his long drives and iron shots and short games, that makes a difference every time. I predict he’s going to be around for a while.”

TIGER AND HIS SECURITY

That autograph-seeker at Pebble Beach who got in Woods’ way and caused Woods to tweak his knee? The incident has prompted Woods’ agent to ask the PGA Tour to “reevaluate” its security procedures for Woods.

Mark Steinberg of IMG said he has opened discussions on Woods’ security with Henry Hughes, the PGA Tour’s chief of operations and a senior vice president.

“We are reevaluating and reviewing some of the procedures and some of the security aspects of Tiger’s day-to-day life on the tour,” Steinberg said. “Safety is a priority.”

What Woods wants is “better awareness” and “people around him doing a better job,” Steinberg said.

“We’re not necessarily saying more people, because sometimes more is worse, but just getting better with what we have.”

STRANGE DAYS

It’s still more than seven months away, but the Ryder Cup is very much on the mind of Curtis Strange. The U.S. captain already has his game face on.

The most interesting fact is not that the U.S. uniforms are already done but that Strange is going out of his way to be noncontroversial.

Well, good luck with that. Expecting Strange to start acting docile is like expecting Mark McGwire to start laying down bunts.

At least Strange is trying. Here are some excerpts from an interview:

Q: Are you watching the players?

Strange: The players take care of themselves.

Q: Should the European side have more than two captain’s picks?

A: Sam [Torrance] is the one that is involved in that and I’m not.

Q: What is your philosophy about captain’s picks?

A: I’ll find the two best players I can possibly find.

Q: Will the U.S. team do better in the alternate-shot format?

A: If they play well, they win, and if they don’t, they don’t.

You get the idea. Strange did say he will revisit The Belfry this summer, but he isn’t going to schedule a practice round there for his players before the event, Sept. 28-30. He spent two days at The Belfry before the British Open last year and that was the first time he had seen the course since the 1989 Ryder Cup.

“It’s a straightforward course,” he said. “It’s an American-type golf course and there’s not a whole lot of local knowledge involved.”

Stay tuned.

MONTY UPDATE

Colin Montgomerie, writing a column in London’s Daily Telegraph, says he was so driven to win the European Tour money title last year that it nearly broke up his marriage.

He was compelled to bring on a . . . sports psychologist? Yes, to help his marriage, Monty got help from sports shrink Hugh Mantle of John Moore University in Liverpool.

NOT DONE COOKING

It happens every time: John Cook spent weeks on physical conditioning during the off-season, then had to pull out of the Buick Invitational when he strained a rib muscle.

Cook, 43, a two-time Bob Hope Classic champion, says he is back in shape now and so is his game. He finished 89th on the money list last year, when he said he wasn’t too focused on his golf.

“I wasn’t that excited the last couple of years,” he said. “I enjoyed playing, but I didn’t enjoy being away all the time. With the move, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving.”

The Cooks lived in Mission Hills from 1981-99, then moved to Orlando.

Cook worked on his swing over the winter and thinks his putting is in good shape to compete. He tied for 67th at Tucson and tied for 57th at the Sony Open.

“I’m not done playing yet,” he said. “I’ve got my sights set on wins, not week to week like Tiger or Phil [Mickelson] or Ernie [Els], but I feel like before I’m done, I can give it one last shot.”

SCHEDULING 101

When did the Nissan Open lose Davis Love III? As soon as he won at Pebble Beach. He did not expect to enter the Buick Invitational last week, but when he won at Pebble Beach, he thought he would try to stay hot and signed up.

But adding a tournament meant dropping one off, said Love, who then decided against playing at Riviera.

FRANK DISCUSSION

Proving that golf is a leader in sports second-guessing, this week’s hottest question is this: What was Frank Lickliter thinking?

It was the third playoff hole Sunday at Torrey Pines to decide the Buick Invitational and Lickliter had just watched Mickelson pound his drive at No. 17 into a canyon.

The smart play for Lickliter? Don’t touch your driver, hit a three-wood or an iron and just get the ball in the fairway.

However, that’s not what Lickliter did. He hit his driver and put his ball just about on top of Mickelson’s. Lickliter said it wasn’t some sort of macho deal, either.

“I hit a driver there every day and a sand wedge or gap wedge,” Lickliter said. “That’s what I was looking for.”

He blamed a bad swing for the result, not his choice of club.

Mickelson won the playoff with a double bogey.

Strange walks a very fine line as Ryder Cup captain who doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers and as an ABC analyst. So he feels strongly both ways.

“Everybody under the heat of competition does what they think is right at the time,” Strange said. “We are all armchair quarterbacks.

“Now, as an analyst, throwing it out there short of the bunker might have been the prudent play. But I do know that driving is his strong suit.

“I’ve been second-guessed myself. You take offense to second-guessing, but maybe they’re right.”

HONESTY AWARD

Mickelson says he changed drivers every round at Torrey Pines, even though he was

really happy with the one he used at Pebble Beach.

“Like I said, it was stupid,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

FOR HOYLAKE’S SAKE

The Royal and Ancient is going to stage a British Open at the Royal Liverpool Club at Hoylake, England, probably in 2006. The last time the British Open was held at the site was in 1968, when Roberto De Vicenzo beat Jack Nicklaus by two shots.

THEY NEEDED MORE

Remember ultimatebid.com, the on-line company that auctioned off a round of golf with Woods last year for $204,000? It’s out of business.

BIRTHDAY BASH

News item: Celebrating his 46th birthday at a Sydney restaurant, Greg Norman is accused by a photographer of punching him.

Reaction: It was a setup job by two photographers, of course. When one deliberately fell and Norman tried to help him up, the other photographer snapped away and called it an attack. Just guessing, but on his 47th birthday (or any time he is leading the Masters on the last day), Norman might want to ban cameras.

SHARK SIGHTING

Norman will be in town next week on a corporate business gig.

How about playing the Nissan Open? From tournament director Tom Pulchinski, who says Norman hasn’t contacted him: “I hope he brought his sticks.”

MONEY NEWS

The Standard Register Ping increases its purse $150,000 to become the 20th LPGA event with prize money of at least $1 million.

There are 16 PGA Tour events with prize money of at least $4 million. But who’s counting?

WHERE DID IT GO?

News item: Seve Ballesteros signs with Callaway to play the ERC II driver, X-14 irons and Rule 35 balls.

Reaction: Let’s hope he get an unlimited supply of the golf balls.

JACOBSEN UPDATE

Peter Jacobsen, who will be 47 in March, hasn’t won in six years and his only exemption to play Tour events is as a past champion or through sponsor’s exemptions. But he says he isn’t through yet.

“I think I can still compete,” said Jacobsen, who has five courses under construction in his design business with Jim Hardy.

Jacobsen said he plans on playing the Senior Tour in 2004.

“I just hope those guys keep it in as good a shape as it is,” he said.

Jacobsen has a sponsor’s exemption into the Nissan Open. So do David Gossett, Jay Haas and Per-Ulrik Johansson.

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The Top &(#@! 5

This week, Thomas Bonk ranks the Top 5 tempers, week in and week out, on the PGA Tour--on the course, of course:

1. Dennis Paulson.

2. Steve Pate.

3. Franklin Langham.

4. Craig Stadler.

5. Tiger Woods.