Woods Hopes to Master the New-Look Augusta

It’s still six weeks away, but the Masters always seems to be in the news, with its new look and its old champion. Nearly 300 yards have been added to Augusta National and nine holes have been altered, supposedly to make the venerable layout a lot tougher in the years to come. That’s all right with Tiger Woods, who doesn’t take the alterations personally.

“The changes are not for me,” Woods said. “They’re for the kids that are coming up in the future. You know, I’m not that long anymore. I kind of dink it around.”

(Woods averages 298.2 yards off the tee, second to John Daly at 316.7. The PGA Tour average is 277.)

“There are a lot of kids out there now in college golf and in high school golf that hit the ball further than I do,” Woods said.

“They’re getting bigger and stronger and the new technology is helping out. It’s only going to enhance that in the future. So I guess they went ahead and took a step to prevent players in the future from shooting tournament-low [record] scores.”

Woods won last year with a 16-under-par total. When he won his first Masters in 1997, Woods established the tournament record total of 18 under par.

What’s going to win it this year, on the beefed-up course? Woods says a lot depends on the weather, but that’s not the only factor.

“I don’t think in the future the scores will be quite as low because of the fact that now it’s so much longer,” he said. “We’re hitting longer clubs [into the greens]. And the last couple of years, the greens haven’t gotten up to speed. Last year, we got some rain to soften [them] up and we were able to take advantage of that. Hence, we shot low scores.

“I think if you get the greens baked out, how they had it in ’99 when [Jose Maria Olazabal] won, they get it where they’re hard and baked out, where we were hitting longer clubs to the greens, making a lot of pars will be awfully good.”

Club News

Is the PGA Tour ever going to step in and try to solve this club controversy business?

Maybe, but don’t count on it, says PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who would prefer to see the USGA and the Royal and Ancient settle it by themselves. In fact, Finchem says he has told both bodies to get their act together, the sooner the better.

“I think the current system is inefficient on its face, that to have two groups writing the rules instead of one for a global sport doesn’t seem to us to make a lot of sense,” Finchem said.

The best way to get it done is for a new decision-making group to be formed, he said.

“We are patient,” he said. “We are not in a position to insist on anything, except to say that we would go off and do a different set of rules for golf at the PGA Tour level, which we’ve already reserved the right to do.”

More Finchem

The next four editions of the Accenture Match Play Championships will be in the United States and possibly at La Costa Resort and Spa, which was purchased by KSL Recreation Group in November. Finchem said the first choice would be to stay at La Costa, but he intends to discuss the issue with the new owners when the event is over.

Ryder Cup Update

News item: Seve Ballesteros suggests that Olazabal be allowed to play Ryder Cup this fall, even though he didn’t qualify when the team was chosen last year.

Reaction: Sort of like a wild-card deal, huh? Actually, not a bad idea, as long as both captains get to sub out a player who’s slumping big-time. Seve must be joking. He can’t be serious, since such a move goes against every principle in golf, let’s try for it. Not.

Not on This Day

The week’s honesty award goes to Matt Gogel, who played Darren Clarke in the first round at La Costa.

Said Gogel: “Darren is a better player than me. Day in and day out, he’s a better player than me.” Clarke lost to Gogel, 2-and-1.

He’s Making Sure

Sergio Garcia adjusted his grip 36 times on his tee shot at No. 1. Not that anybody’s counting.

Sergio-Martina?

No one is denying that Garcia and tennis player Martina Hingis are friendly. Just how friendly has not yet been established, although hints have been dropped everywhere. Last week, the Barcelona-based newspaper Sport published pictures of Hingis and Garcia together in a blue Ferrari, purportedly in Garcia’s hometown of Borriol, Spain. The pair was also supposed to have played golf and tennis together.

And Aspirin

News item: Ernie Els says the secrets to beating jet lag are to sleep, drink water and hope for the best.

Reaction: Players will tell you those are also the secrets to beating hangovers.

Sink or Swim

News item: To keep his back healthy, Jim Colbert (who defends his title at the SBC Senior Classic at Valencia Country Club March 1-3) works out for an hour a day in the swimming pool.

Reaction: He makes no mention of the water wings available for his use at all times.

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

Wayne Gretzky, Alice Cooper, Andy Garcia, Rick Dees, Kathy Lee Crosby and Lee Majors are among the celebrities scheduled to play in the celebrity pro-am at the SBC Senior Classic, Feb. 27-28 at Valencia.

Lottery tickets are being sold to play in the Toshiba Senior Classic pro-am with Fuzzy Zoeller March 4 at Newport Beach Country Club. Proceeds to go to the Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital in Newport Beach. Details: (949) 660-1001.

Aree and Naree Wongluekiet, the 15-year-old Thai twins who live in Bradenton, Fla., have received exemptions into the Kraft Nabisco Championships, March 28-31 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Three other amateurs and five pros were also given exemptions. Lorena Ochoa, a sophomore at Arizona, and Nicole Perrit, the U.S. girls’ junior champion from Santiago, Chile, are the amateurs. The pros are Raquel Carriedo of Spain, Suzann Petterson of Norway, Karine Ichor of France and Yuri Fudoh and Chieko Amanuma of Japan.