Scott Has Some Official Business at Riviera

In the rain last year at Riviera Country Club, Adam Scott won the Nissan Open, only it wasn’t an actual tournament victory because they played only 36 holes. He did hold up a trophy for a tournament he didn’t officially win, and was still able to take home the $864,000 winner’s check, which was counted as official money even though it was an unofficial tournament with an unofficial winner.

Got it?

“It was a very unusual week,” said Scott, who officially will be back to defend his unofficial title at Riviera, Feb. 16-19. Scott wound up 15th on the money list last year with $2.59 million and though he hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since the 2004 Players Championship and the Booz Allen Classic, he did win the Singapore Open on the Asian Tour in 2005.

Scott tied for 18th at the Sony Open three weeks ago in his only event so far on the PGA Tour and will arrive at Riviera armed with a new Titleist 905R driver and three-wood, new weapons to take on Tiger Woods, who also is intending to play Riviera.

Scott -- often compared to Woods because they once shared the same coach, Butch Harmon, and a similar swing -- said he’s looking forward to taking his game to a new level, seeing how he matches up against Woods and trying to break through in a major.

“I would like to think that this could be the year because you know Tiger is going to be around the place in a major,” he said. “I feel like it’s an important year to raise my game. Certainly, he is the guy I am looking to beat.”

Woods, who has never won at Riviera, makes it necessary to change focus when you’re in the same tournament, Scott said.

“I think if he is in a tournament, it is certainly on your mind that if he is on his game then he is going to be very difficult to beat,” he said. “Even if he is not on top of his game ... he is just one of those phenomenal players that really has no weaknesses.

“It’s tough getting your head around that, but he is just that talented.”

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They are golf’s Big Four ... or Five, however you want to count them, but they rarely play in the same tournament. This week at the $2.4-million Dubai Desert Classic, Woods flew 20 hours to play the European Tour event and also in the field are Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, but Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson aren’t.

Chances are the first time the Big Five gets together this year will be at La Costa and the Match Play Championship. After that, who knows? Maybe Bay Hill, possibly the Players Championship.

Els is the defending champion at Dubai and tied for 13th last week at the Qatar Masters, his third tournament since he returned from knee surgery that had sidelined him since the British Open. He won the Dunhill Championship in mid-December and was second at the South African Airways Open a week later.

Speaking of Dubai, Woods’ reported appearance fee to play there is $3 million; the total prize money for the tournament is $2.4 million.

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Survey says: According to a survey conducted by Golf Digest and Golf For Women, male golfers are 18 times more likely than a female golfer to break a golf club in anger on the course, but women are 19 times more likely to cry than men. Also, both men and women swear about the same amount, but men tend to drink alcohol and gamble more during a round than women.

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He took himself out of the playoff at Torrey Pines when he needed three shots to get to the green after knocking his second shot into the grandstand on the 18th hole, but don’t feel too sorry for Nathan Green. The 30-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Australia has almost certainly earned his tour card for 2007 in just two weeks.

Green was fifth at the Sony and made $204,000, so when he adds the $448,800 for his runner-up finish at Torrey Pines with Jose Maria Olazabal, Green is sixth on the money list with $652,800. The top 125 on the money list earn exempt status for the following year. Nick Price was 125th last year with $626,736.

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While Woods observes his 376th week ranked No. 1, Green climbed 110 places to 143rd and Olazabal moved up six places to 24th. The top six remain Woods, Singh, Goosen, Mickelson, Els and Sergio Garcia.

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Ratings news: The overnight metered market rating for Woods’ victory at Torrey Pines on CBS was 5.9, or 146% higher than last year, helped in part by its carry-over into the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot. From 7-7:15 p.m. EST, the rating was 9.4. The two-day average overnight rating was 4.5, up 88% from last year.

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The Ford Senior Players Championship, one of five majors on the Champions Tour, is becoming the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in 2007 and moving from the TPC of Michigan at Dearborn to Baltimore Country Club/Five Farms, East course. ... Jim Gormley, a PGA pro from Palos Verdes Country Club, Tim Parun, a club pro at Cottonwood at Rancho San Diego Golf Club in El Cajon, and Southern California PGA club pro champ Scott Miller of Moorpark Country Club won the right to play in the Nissan Open.

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The quote of the week is from Jack Nicklaus, who will team with Tom Watson as one of four two-man teams in Monday’s Wendy’s Champions Skins Game in Hawaii. When asked if viewers are going to see a revamped Nicklaus out there, he said: “I’m 66 years old. I’m not going to revamp a whole lot right now.”

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This Week

PGA TOUR

FBR Open

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: TPC of Scottsdale (7,216 yards, par 71).

* Purse: $5.2 million. Winner’s share: $936,000.

* TV: USA (today-Friday, 4-6 p.m., delayed) and CBS (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

* 2005 winner: Phil Mickelson.

* Next week: AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Pebble Beach.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Champions Skins Game

* When: Monday.

* Course: Wailea Golf Resort, Gold Course (7,044 yards, par 72), Hawaii.

* Purse: $770,000 (Nos. 1-6, $30,000 each; Nos. 7-12, $40,000 each; Nos. 13-17, $50,000 each; No. 18, $100,000).

* TV: ESPN (Monday, 3:30-8 p.m.).

* Format: Two-man teams, alternate shot. Teams are Jack Nicklaus-Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer-Peter Jacobsen, Hale Irwin-Gary Player and Dana Quigley-Raymond Floyd.

* 2005 winner: Nicklaus (in four-player individual format).

* Next event: ACE Group Classic, Feb. 17-19, Naples, Fla.