New Event Has Support From Rich and Powerful

What do you call it when a very rich sponsor and a very powerful sports management firm get together to make a golf tournament?

Call it the UBS Warburg Cup, managed and staged by IMG and featuring some of its biggest clients playing in a U.S. versus the Rest of the World match-play format.

Gary Player and Arnold Palmer are playing captains in the $3-million event, which will be held Nov. 16-18, at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. If that date sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it is opposite the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championship EMC World Cup in Japan.

One possible hang-up: While the UBS Warburg Cup is sanctioned by the European Seniors Tour, it has not been sanctioned by the PGA Tour.

Insiders say the PGA Tour is weighing the scheduling conflict but is likely to give its blessing to the event, which has a five-year contract with UBS Warburg (a financial services company), especially because a rights fee is involved.

The new event will have 12-player teams and, besides Palmer and Player, others who have committed include Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, Larry Nelson, Isao Aoki, Hale Irwin, Curtis Strange, Mark O’Meara and Frank Nobilo.

Six players between 40-49 will be in the field on both sides, which gives a semi-Presidents Cup look to the event. Each player on the winning team gets $150,000 and each losing player gets $100,000. The Golf Channel will televise the tournament.

“Wouldn’t it be exciting to see Jack, who is now 61, playing against one of my team members who is 40?” Player said.

We’ll see.

The Rivalry Game

Better watch it or somebody’s going to tear ligaments with their knee-jerk reactions.

It’s as predictable as a Tiger Woods fist-pump after a birdie--somebody other than Woods wins a major and, presto, instant rivalry.

David Duval is the latest to have his name matched with Woods, which is fairly comical, because he was also the first, in case everyone has forgotten.

Actually, it was just two short years ago Duval won four times before the Masters, shot a closing 59 to win the Bob Hope and generally influenced public opinion to the extent that the Next Great Rivalry simply had to be Woods-Duval.

Of course, it didn’t happen. But then neither has Woods-Phil Mickelson or Woods-Vijay Singh or Woods-Retief Goosen, for that matter.

To clarify the Next Great Rivalry, there isn’t one unless both players go head-to-head with a major on the line. And don’t say that was the case last year at St. Andrews when Woods and Duval were in the last group--Woods had a six-shot lead.

Until then, we don’t have any Nicklaus-Palmer or Nicklaus-Tom Watson or Nicklaus-Johnny Miller thing going. We’ve just got somebody besides Woods winning a major.

Tiger Factor, Cont.

Further evidence that it’s Woods who drives the television ratings was presented at the British Open. As if there was any doubt.

ABC’s overnight ratings for the fourth round were down 39% from last year, when Woods won at St. Andrews. They were also down 26% Saturday, when Woods began the round in the hunt and promptly shot himself out of it with a 73.

The ratings were the lowest in five years, since Tom Lehman won at Lytham. Best advice: Dump Lytham from the rotation, and fast.

Meanwhile, there is some grumbling over at CBS, predictable fallout over the new, four-year $850-million television deal that begins in 2003.

The reason is that ABC picked up three tournaments that Woods is likely to play, or has played in the past--the Nissan Open, the Buick Invitational (in 2005) from CBS events and Tiger’s special event, the Williams World Challenge, from NBC.

It’s Official

The biggest winner (besides Duval) because of the British Open? Has to be ABC, which carries the Battle at Bighorn, featuring Duval-Karrie Webb playing Woods-Annika Sorenstam in prime time Monday night.

The Woods audience is going to be dialed in anyway and now Duval has spiked interest in himself. As for Webb’s and Sorenstam’s drawing power, let’s just say they’re lucky to be riding the coattails of their partners.

The Daily Daly

The quote of the week is from Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press on apparently reformed “Wild Thing” John Daly, who says he hasn’t had a drink in 11 months: “Just call him the Mild Thing.”

Oh, Mrs. Player

The second best quote of the week is from Player, asked about Woods getting married sometime: “It’s a bit of a lottery. They’re very nice at first, but when they get you hitched, they’re not so nice.”

Caddiegate

News item: Ian Woosnam gets a two-shot penalty after caddie Miles Byrne has 15 clubs, one over the limit, in Woosnam’s bag in the last round of the British Open, but Woosnam says he isn’t going to fire Byrne.

Reaction: He will though.

Garygate

News item: Player, 65, plays in his 46th consecutive British Open and even though he no longer has a special exemption, there is speculation in the British press he will be back next year.

Reaction: He won’t though.

Autogate

News item: General Motors runs Buick Rendezvous ads featuring Woods at 10,000 movie theaters in a campaign through Aug. 6.

Reaction: You simply cannot get away from him, so pass the popcorn and get used to it.

Nonconforming Comic

Michael Fechter may have the perfect qualifications for making golf balls. He used to be a stand-up comic. Fechter, a former gag writer for Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall and “Designing Women,” is the founder of something called the Fireball Golf Co., dealing in products that are totally nonconforming, of course.

Fechter’s golf ball is not legal according to the USGA and neither is the goo that you rub on the club face to make the ball go straighter.

He explained why his golf ball doesn’t conform: “Too small, too heavy, illegal dimple pattern, silicon on the cover, too much metal in the rubber mix.”

Other than that, Trey Holland would be using them this weekend.

Said Fechter of his philosophy: “Ninety-eight percent of the golf industry are either liars, copycats, idiots or country club jackasses. My job is to find the other two percent. And keep them close.”

He says his company is working on some conforming products. That should be pretty funny too.

Out to Launch?

Speaking of golf balls, Duval’s victory in the British Open has prompted Nike to hurry up its release of the prototype ball he used to win at Royal Lytham. It’s Marketing 101. Expect to see Duval’s Tour Accuracy ball launched well before its January target date.

Gene Andrews: 1914-2001

The 1954 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, the 1970 U.S. Senior Amateur champion and a member of the 1961 Walker Cup team, Gene Andrews might have been the first to use printed, hole-by-hole diagrams when playing in the early 1950s.

Until then, players didn’t have yardage guides but had to pace off distance and scribble their findings on paper. The USGA, which frowned on yardage guides, eventually came around.

Andrews, a Navy veteran, was assigned to a base in San Diego near the Rohr Aircraft factory in 1943 and was one of three ordered to give golf lessons to admirals at San Diego Country Club. Sam Snead was another.

He played three times in the Masters and in the 1958 British Amateur, Andrews birdied five consecutive holes--7 through 11--at St. Andrews.

Andrews was a member of California Country Club in Whittier and was a regular at Rancho Park. He died of cancer recently at his home in Pacific Palisades at 87.

Bruce Update

So much for the Bruce Lietzke avalanche on the Senior PGA Tour.

Lietzke’s debut last week fell somewhat short of overpowering--a tie for 24th. At the same time, it isn’t that much out of line with what some other prominent players did in their coming-out parties on the 50-and-over tour.

Watson tied for 22nd in his first event in 1999 . . . but he won his second time out and has three victories. Tom Kite tied for ninth in his first senior tournament in 2000, won his fifth time out and has two victories. Lanny Wadkins won his first event in 2000 and hasn’t won since. And Hale Irwin tied for fourth in 1995 in his debut, won his fifth time out and has won 30 times since.

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

The 12th Bob Hope/Dr. Howard House tournament will be held Sept. 17 at Pelican Hill. The event benefits Children’s Center at the House Ear Institute. Details: (949) 499-2826.

The Office Depot Championship hosted by Amy Alcott has been moved to El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana from Wilshire Country Club. The LPGA event is April 5-7.