Open Looking for Long Answer

We interrupt Tiger Woods on his Drive For Five (majors in a row) to bring you a mini-controversy.

The good news for Tiger is that the U.S. Open at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., will feature not only the longest par-five hole in Open history, but also the longest par-four.

This is also the dumbbell news, according to Tiger’s agent at IMG.

“I think that’s a bunch of bull,” Mark Steinberg said. “What’s next? A 500-yard par-four? A 700-yard par-five?”

Whoa. Let’s back up a bit. For the record, for next week’s Open, the USGA has produced a 642-yard par-five at the fifth hole at Southern Hills and a 491-yard par-four, the 16th.

Steinberg says that making holes so long you have to pack a lunch to play them, besides not bothering Woods much, is an unnecessary and ill-conceived response to combating Tiger’s distance off the tee.

“The longer they’re making the courses, they’re not really Tiger-proofing them, you know. If he wanted to, if he really needed 20 extra yards, he’s got it in that swing. He’s probably got 40 yards.”

Meanwhile, the man in charge of setting up the course for the USGA says nothing has been done because of Tiger.

“This has nothing to do with Tiger-proofing,” Tom Meeks said. “I’m not sure you can Tiger-proof anything anyway. He is phenomenal.”

Meeks said the tinkering with Southern Hills is merely an attempt to make it a more stern test of golf. He said all the fairways have been brought in as much as five yards (they’re between 26 and 30 yards wide) and the rough will be somewhere between three and five inches tall. The bentgrass greens are nearly perfect, Meeks said.

The fifth hole was lengthened to 642 yards to bring the fairway bunker on the left into play. And the nearly 500-yard 16th was made a par-four so players can go for the green with a long iron or possibly a fairway wood instead of playing it as a par-five and attacking the hole with a pitching wedge.

Meeks said Southern Hills actually has a par-five tee at the 16th that makes the hole play 567 yards, but the USGA preferred a 491-yard par-four.

The only other par-five, the 13th, cannot be lengthened beyond its 534 yards, Meeks said, because there is no other area to build a tee. The USGA added yardage to six holes in all (Nos. 2, 5, 8, 12, 17 and 18) and it will play at 6,973 yards and a par of 70.

The par-four 12th, lengthened 11 yards to 456 yards, is a claustrophobic, tree-lined, dogleg left, slightly downhill with a creek pinching the fairway in front of the green. Ben Hogan loved the hole.

But with everything else, love is in the eye of the beholder. And any way you measure it, the USGA may be off course, Steinberg believes.

“Maybe they could grow the rough in so much it would be Carnoustie-like unfair, but it’s no fun then.

“What’s the purpose of making the U.S. Open so incredibly hard, what’s second [place] going to be this year? Fifteen over? Last year, Tiger won by 15 shots and he was 12 under par, but second place was three over. After Tiger, the best that any other player in the field did was three over par. Incredible.”

The USGA was unclear on the concept, Steinberg said.

“He just had an amazing week. Hey, he’s the world’s most dominant athlete and he flexed his muscles that week. It’s not like second place was 11 under par.”

Grand Designs

Last year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was where Woods began his binge of four consecutive majors.

Of course, because he started this year with a victory at the Masters, it goes without saying that Woods is the only player with a chance to win them all in one year--the traditional Grand Slam.

Earl Woods says both he and Tiger are well aware of that fact.

“He made that mistake last year,” the elder Woods said. “And I told him, I said, ‘You big dummy. You blew it. You blew the whole damn thing.’ This was right after [Vijay Singh won] the Masters. ‘Now you can’t get the Grand Slam.’

“And then he won the next three. So I said to him this year, ‘You won’t make that same mistake will you?’ He said ‘Hell, no.’ I knew he was going to win [the Masters]. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he won the rest of them this year, either. He’ll probably win two of them, anyway.”

Earl Update

Earl Woods says he will attend the U.S. Open at Southern Hills, which holds few good memories for him. Earl suffered a heart attack while Tiger was playing the 1996 Tour Championship at Southern Hills.

The elder Woods, a diabetic, was not feeling well at the Masters in April, but he says he is doing much better now.

“My blood sugar now is down, so I’m pretty pleased with that. It was at 400 [which is about four times the normal level] when I was at Augusta, and that’s why I didn’t go to the golf course. I said all I wanted to do was make it home. And I did.

“I went to the golf course to attend the ceremony, meet Tiger at the 18th green and that was it. I feel a lot better now. When you have a high blood sugar level, you have no energy and you have no strength and you just cannot do things. Well, that’s over. Hopefully.”

No, He’s Not

The quote of the week is from a jolly Colin Montgomerie when he was asked how he rated his chances at the U.S. Open: “Is Woods injured?”

Fashion Update

If you look closely, you may notice Tiger’s new logo for his Nike Golf gear next week at Southern Hills--his name on either side of what looks like a pennant, shaded black, with interlocking T and W in red. Now you know.

Leave Tim Alone

News item: PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is widely criticized in many media outlets (and his resignation was called for by two writers) for not allowing Casey Martin his cart a long time ago.

Reaction: Finchem does not operate in a vacuum--he works for the players . . . and these players (and their lawyers) clearly wanted to go the distance. So you can cut out this anti-Finchem stuff any time now.

We’ll See About That

From David Feherty, in Golf magazine online, who fears the worst in the aftermath of the Martin decision: “I’m just hoping the PGA Tour doesn’t have to build an HOV lane beside the cart paths because of a flood of applications from people . . .”

He Hates That Law

Ayn Rand Institute senior writer Thomas A. Bowden, a Baltimore attorney, had one of the tougher reactions to the Martin decision.

Said Bowden: “Instead of gracefully accepting his inability to compete with able-bodied opponents,” Martin forced his way in by using the Americans With Disabilities Act which “penalizes ability in the name of helping the disabled.”

Yes, It’s True

From John Daly at last weekend’s Memorial about his driving: “It’s awesome when it goes straight.”

And you’re just figuring that out?

Daly, by the way, failed to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Having a Ball

Woods won the Memorial, Karrie Webb won the U.S. Open, Sammy Rachels won the Senior PGA Tour event and Jason Hill won the Buy.com Tour event and the only one who wasn’t playing a Titleist Pro V1 ball was . . . Woods, who used his Nike Tour Accuracy TW ball.

Now you know.

Or Was It 7 and 20?

In case you were wondering, Jesper Parnevik brought 20 pairs of pants and seven putters to the Memorial.

Celebrate? Not

How do you figure this? One day after being elected to the Hall of Fame, Greg Norman shot an 82 at the Memorial, missed the cut and finished ahead of only one player in the field (Keith Fergus).

Uh, the hall is for what you did in the past, not what you’re doing now?

Yes, Se Ri

Se Ri Pak, who was runner-up to Webb at the U.S. Open, has been listed as one of 50 most powerful Asians, according to the June issue of Asiaweek. Pak, a Korean, is a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour and ranked No. 45.

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

Olympic gold medalists Bruce Jenner, Mitch Gaylord and Sammy Lee are expected to play in the Dream Street Foundation/Bnai Zion Foundation celebrity tournament June 18 at Lost Canyons in Simi Valley. Details: (760) 632-7770.

The Stu Pike/Tak Kobayashi memorial tournament will be held June 29 at Montebello Country Club. The event benefits the Montebello High football program. Details: (562) 696-9896.

A tournament to benefit former Muir High football player Victor Wright, paralyzed from the neck down when he was injured in a game in 1976, will be played June 29 at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena. The City of Industry Lions Club and the Pasadena Host Lions Club are sponsoring the event. Details: (909) 240-1511.

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This Week on Tour

PGA TOUR

FedEx St. Jude Classic

* Site: Memphis, Tenn.

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Course: TPC at Southwind (7,030 yards, par 71).

* Purse: $3.5 million. Winner’s share: $630,000.

* Television: ESPN (today, noon-3 p.m. and Friday, 10 a.m.-noon) and Channel 7 (Saturday, 1-3 p.m. and Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

* Last year: Notah Begay III won the first of two consecutive tournaments, beating Bob May and Chris DiMarco by a stroke. Begay won the Greater Hartford Open the following week.

* Last week: Tiger Woods won the Memorial for the third consecutive year, beating Paul Azinger and Spain’s Sergio Garcia by seven strokes. Woods has four victories in his last five PGA Tour starts, and won a European tour event in Germany.

* On the Net: https://www.pgatour.com

LPGA TOUR

Rochester International

* Site: Pittsford, N.Y.

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Course: Locust Hill Country Club (6,200 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1 million. Winner’s share: $150,000.

* Television: ESPN2 (Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.).

* Last year: Meg Mallon won the first of two 2000 titles, beating Australia’s Wendy Doolan by two strokes.

* Last week: Karrie Webb successfully defended her U.S. Women’s Open title, winning by eight strokes at Pine Needles. The Australian star has won four of the past seven majors.

* On the Net: https://www.lpga.com

SENIOR PGA TOUR

NFL Golf Classic

* Site: Clifton, N.J.

* Schedule: Friday-Sunday.

* Course: Upper Montclair Country Club (6,816 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1.2 million. Winner’s share: $180,000.

* Television: PAX (Friday, 10 a.m.-noon) and CNBC (Saturday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m.).

* Last year: Lee Trevino, at 60, won his 29th senior title. He tied Bob Murphy’s 1996 tournament record of 14-under 202. Tennessee Titan punter Craig Hentrich won the NFL competition.

* Last week: Sammy Rachels won his first tour title, closing with a 63 for a four-stroke victory over Hale Irwin in the BellSouth Senior Classic at Nashville.

* On the Net: https://www.pgatour.com