They Might Need a Driver License

By Thomas Bonk

July 10, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The newest men’s major champion says he is all for the testing of drivers, especially now that it has been identified as an issue by Tiger Woods, who insists he confronted a player he suspected of using an illegal club.

“I was surprised, as everybody else was, by him claiming that,” U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk said. “I’m not saying he’s wrong. I’m very surprised by that.”

What Furyk is saying is that cheaters would wind up losing.

“Basically, if anyone found out you were cheating in golf, it wouldn’t be worth [it] because you’d be pretty much banished,” he said. “I’m surprised that someone would take that chance.”

On the driving range at last week’s Western Open, Woods said he approached a player, whom he did not identify, and basically called him out for using equipment that exceeds the standards for conforming drivers. Woods said the player professed ignorance, claiming he merely played the equipment his company provided for him.

Furyk believes any testing program, which the PGA Tour would like to begin next January, would put equipment companies on notice.

“I think two months ago I would have said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, we’re going to test drivers?’ Now, the questions have been raised, some of Tiger’s comments, equipment manufacturers, talking with other players, it seems they really do think we have an issue. Because of that, I think it is a good idea to test equipment.”

The PGA Tour’s proposal is for voluntary testing, a tack that Furyk doesn’t understand.

“Voluntary seems a little awkward to me. If there is a player that has an illegal club, he knows it ... that’s the one guy out there you want to catch. You’re not going to do it in a voluntary manner.”

The incidents at Pumpkin Ridge involving Michelle Wie and Danielle Ammaccapane shouldn’t have been unexpected or overblown. The U.S. Open is the perfect site for pressure to fray nerves. If Wie weren’t 13 and her caddie weren’t her dad but someone more experienced, no one would have noticed.

Walking in a player’s putting line the other side of the hole? Not removing the flagstick? Horrible. What’s next? Stripes with plaids?

If this whole thing was about etiquette, a simple chat between players and caddies on the fairway would have defused the whole matter. If this was about jealousy and too-much-too-soon, that’s not the Wies’ problem.

B.J. Wie said he would no longer caddie for his daughter in professional events, that job going to her instructor, Gary Gilchrest of the Leadbetter Academy.

Today’s dream foursome: B.J. Wie, Ralph Ammaccapane, Jerry Springer and Judge Judy.

Can’t putt? Is it the yips? Help may be on the way, now that the Mayo Clinic has decided to study them.

A pool of 16 low-handicappers chosen from a field of 150 affected by the yips will take part in a putting tournament July 21-22 in Rochester, Minn. The idea is to determine whether the yips is caused by a neuromuscular problem or simply by choking (anxiety).

Heart rates, grip force, anxiety, confidence and stress hormones will be measured.

The Mayo Clinic believes golf is an important physical activity and hopes its research turns up information to prevent golfers from giving up the game because they can’t handle the yips.

If you want to know if Sandwich is any good, the Golf Channel, TNT and ABC are going to let you know. The Golf Channel is covering the British Open at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, with 20 hours of programming, beginning with a one-hour special Monday. TNT, at the British Open for the first time, has 28 hours of live and taped coverage scheduled.

ABC has 16 hours of coverage, including a one-hour preview at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday, plus late-night shows Thursday and Friday. ABC’s live tournament coverage is 6 a.m.-11:30 a.m. PDT Saturday and 5 a.m.--10:30 a.m. PDT Sunday.

Further evidence that Woods influences the ratings: Overnight ratings for ABC’s third-round Western Open coverage were up 76% from last year, when Woods didn’t play. And Sunday’s final-round overnight ratings were up 57% from a year ago, despite two rain delays and Woods’ huge lead.

Annika Sorenstam leads the LPGA money list with $1.214 million. That would put her 27th on the PGA Tour money list. Sorenstam has three victories, one of them a major. Mike Weir also has three victories this year, one of them a major, and leads the PGA Tour with $4.28 million.

Sorenstam’s outfits that she wore at the U.S. Open didn’t impress Dan Raley of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. According to Raley, what Sorenstam wore “clearly said 1950s housewife.” Since retro is in, maybe that’s not all bad.

One of her main reasons for playing at Colonial was to toughen herself up for the LPGA’s majors, which makes Sorenstam’s bogey on the 72nd hole that kept her out of Monday’s three-way U.S. Open playoff even more unfortunate.

That means in the first three majors, Sorenstam was either in the lead or tied for it on the back nine on Sunday but came through only at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. She led the Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills, but three-putted for a bogey at the 13th, missed the green at the par-three 14th and wound up losing to Patricia Meunier-Lebouc by a shot.

The Champions Tour made some changes in eligibility and size of fields for 2004, but the main one is trimming back the starting fields from 81 to 78. The other significant change was scaling back from five to two the number of players who can make a tournament field through open qualifying.

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This Week

PGA TOUR

Greater Milwaukee Open

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Brown Deer Park Golf Course (6,759 yards, par 71), Milwaukee.

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

TV: USA (today-Friday, 4-6 p.m., delayed) and Channel 7 (Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.).

2002 winner: Jeff Sluman.

Next week: British Open at Royal St. George’s; B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.

LPGA TOUR

Canadian Women’s Open