SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--At the behest of U.S. captain Paul Azinger, the Ryder Cup format will be altered during this September's matches against Europe with foursomes preceding four-balls on each of the first two days. The last time this order was in effect was 1999, when the U.S. rallied to win 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., although the turnaround was generated by strong play during the Sunday singles, allowing the Americans to rally from a 10-6 deficit.

"I'm not saying we're better than Europe at foursomes or alternate shot than Europe is," Azinger said. "I just want to make a change. We've made some huge changes elsewhere, like with the selection process. Why not the format too? They've killed us the last two Ryder Cups playing four-balls before foursomes, for whatever reason. Why not try something different?"

Since 1973, when the Ryder Cup first featured morning foursomes followed by afternoon four-balls, the Americans have a 3-2-1 record.

The format of foursomes preceding four-balls has been used during several recent Ryder Cups, an exception being in 1997 when Europe's captain Seve Ballesteros requested a change shortly before the event began. However, in the last two Ryder Cups, each a rout by Europe, the four-balls have been played in the morning on Friday and Saturday, followed by the foursomes in the afternoon.

Earlier this month, Azinger revealed that he will make his four Captain's picks on Sept. 2, three weeks after the normal post-PGA Championship announcement. During that time period, two of the three FedEx Cup events--the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship--will be contested. "Why not wait until the last possible moment?" Azinger said. "If a guy who doesn't make the top eight on points happens to win either of those tournaments, you have to like his chances of being a captain's pick. That's the whole idea, to have guys on our team who are in form and playing well at the time." The Sept. 2 press conference will take place in New York, and, according to Azinger, the PGA of America has been supportive of all his suggestions. "They've pretty much given me free reign," he said. "They want to win the Ryder Cup back as much as I do, and we're trying to do everything we can to make it possible."

The 37th Ryder Cup will be staged Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla G.C. in Louisville. Shortly after he was named captain, Azinger instituted a significant change in team selection whereby he will be afforded four picks, instead of two, to fill out his 12-man team. Azinger is to discuss the format change later Wednesday at a press conference.

-- Bob Verdi

In preparation for its first foray into drug testing beginning July 1, the PGA Tour held two separate meetings last week before the Buick Invitational. Players were informed about details, prohibited substances and procedures. Several golfers voiced objections to the possible scenario of being examined in their homes, even during off-weeks. Inasmuch as the tour's policy was not collectively bargained, because golfers do not have a union, some think the scope of the system could constitute a violation of privacy.

"There is no question in my mind what they've done is not right," said Frank Lickliter II. "Not only did the tour ram this thing down our throats, they're telling us they can come knocking on my door on Christmas Eve and ask me for a urine sample. Are they kidding? They're passing that off as legal? I can tell you one thing for sure, if some inspector guy comes around with a cup in his hand, he's going to have a hard time getting on my property. And then he's going to have an even harder time getting off my property after I'm done with him."

Lickliter aired his complaint during the afternoon seminar attended by several dozen fellow pros. He said that later on, commissioner Tim Finchem told him not to worry. "Tim said even though it's written in the policy that they can test us anytime, anywhere, nobody will be coming to our houses," Lickliter went on. "Well, that's nice of Tim to tell me that while I'm still hot. Meanwhile, it's still there in black and white on a piece of paper that they can do whatever they want. This isn't like baseball, where the players have to approve whatever measures management tries to impose on them. They just threw this at us and told us, 'This is the new law.'"

Finchem said that drug testing is not his favorite pursuit, but "it unfortunately can't be avoided. This is part of the world of sports today. Testing by definition is a process that speaks to the notion that you don't believe a player when he says he's following the rule."

Finchem rued that such a mindset is "counter to the culture" of golf, where participants call penalties on themselves and therefore "something that's troubled me for a long time." Finchem concluded that drug testing as such will be "difficult for the players, and difficult for all of us as we get into that arena."

-- Bob Verdi

The first four weeks of the PGA Tour season have seen its winners post some pretty low numbers (Tiger Woods' 19-under mark at Torrey Pines just continued the trend) and this week's FBR Open at TPC Scottsdale could produce the lowest winning score yet. Last year, Aaron Baddeley took the title by shooting 21 under par, marking the fourth time in seven years that the eventual champ reached 20 under for the week. The scoring average at the Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish course was 69.85, its lowest-ever total, and marked just the second time in 20 years that it has been in the 60s. The hardest hole a year ago, the 469-yard, par-4 11th, ranked as the 211th toughest on tour. Ony three other holes were among the top 500.

But no matter how easy the course plays, all eyes will be on the 16th hole. The 162-yard, par-3 with the most boisterous gallery on tour yielded 72 birdies in 2007, but no aces. Ryuji Imada came closest, leaving his tee shot nine inches from the cup. Everybody remembers Woods' hole-in-one in 1997, but the last player to make a 1 there was Mike Sposa, who plunked one in the cup in the second round of the 2002 event.

Baddeley won a year ago because he made putts--especially the long ones. Badds was 8 for 23 on putts from more than 20 feet, including four of six from 20-25 feet. His average distance of putts made in a round was 120 feet, 11 inches. The flatstick helped him shoot 64-64 on the weekend to beat John Rollins by one and Jeff Quinney by 2.

--John Antonini

Jerry Pate went almost 24 years between his last victory on the PGA Tour and his first on the Champions Tour, so what if almost 24 months elapsed between his first senior win and Sunday's triumph at the Turtle Bay Championship?

The oft-injured Pate, driven off the PGA Tour because of shoulder woes when he was only 28, kept his game tidy in extreme winds on Oahu that made the final round on Turtle Bay's Palmer course quite a challenge--from tee to green and once you got there.

"I was playing with Scott Simpson," Pate said Monday morning, "and he had about a 30-foot putt on the 16th hole and putted it right off the green into a hazard. The ball just kept going."

The final round began as a dogfight among the final pairing of Gil Morgan, Jim Thorpe and Bernhard Langer, but the trio had its problems. Pate, four strokes behind when the day began, birdied Nos. 8-10, then settled in with seven straight pars that pretty much settled the outcome, giving the 54-year-old his first win since the 2006 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am at 5-under 211.

The week was an emotional one for Pate, who dedicated his victory to the memory of Justin Wilk, the 25-year-old son of his good friend Kevin Wilk, who died unexpectedly Jan. 8. "It was devastating for Kevin," Pate said. "He had gotten an e-mail from his son the day before he died, talking about much he was looking forward to this year, and then, boom, the next day they find him dead. I told Kevin I was going to Hawaii for two tournaments, and I was going to win one of them for Justin."

An Alabama physical therapist, Kevin Wilk guided Pate through many hours of rehabilitation following the golfer's shoulder surgeries in 2003 and 2006. "This game is so crazy," Pate said. "I won in Tampa two years ago then got hurt a month later and had to have another surgery. And then after being out of the game for six months, I kind of lost my putting. All last year I had a mechanical flaw--I was kind of dragging the putter grip back first and creating a bad angle with my left wrist. I tell you, I was missing putts from a foot. It's not like I was nervous and had the yips, I just mechanically couldn't release the putter."

Pate, 41st on the 2007 money list, finally figured out what was wrong with his putting stroke last fall, and he came into the new year confident that a career with so many detours might go smoothly for a while. Sunday's win makes him fully exempt and has broadened his optimism.

"I can challenge them," he said of tour standouts such as Jay Haas and Loren Roberts. "Those guys are great players. But history says that before I was injured, when my putting was solid, I could compete with anybody. This is exciting for me."

--Bill Fields

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Kevin Streelman won't win the Buick Invitational on Sunday, but he warrants your rooting interest in a high finish given his overnight climb from obscurity into a pairing with Tiger Woods on Saturday and the obvious joy with which he embraced it.

Streelman, 29, is a career mini-tour player (he played the Hooters Tour in 2007), who took the most arduous route to the PGA Tour, by surviving all three stage of tour qualifying last fall (and tieing for 14th in the final stage). He needed to birdie four of the last five holes just to make it to the second stage.

His Q-school status wasn't sufficient to ensure him a berth in the Buick; he was the third alternate. He went to Torrey Pines anyway on the chance that enough players would withdraw prior to the start of play that he would get in. On Thursday, he was sitting on the putting green, contemplating his imminent trip home to Phoenix when he learned that Matt Goggin had withdrawn, and if he could get to the tee in four minutes he was in.

"I ran to the first tee and [hit] the fairway and my putter got hot," he said. Streelman opened with a 67 on the North Course at Torrey  and followed it with a 69 on the South Course  Friday, good enough for solo second place, four strokes behind Woods heading into the third round. His reward: a Saturday pairing with Woods (and Stewart Cink).

He went into the pairing with an attitude that served him well, expecting nothing other than a learning experience.

"It's going to be very gratifying and a tremendous learning experience, to be able to walk next him, probably a little bit behind him, to just see what he does and try and compare," he said. "Obviously, it's going to be a huge ordeal out there, but it's going to be great. If I play great, great. If I don't, it's going to be a tremendous learning experience that hopefully I'll be able to build on down the road."

Streelman played admirably alongside Woods, considering his dearth of experience in front of a crowd. A double-bogey at the ninth and three back-nine bogeys cost him a final-round pairing with Woods, the inevitable winner, but a top-10 finish is within reach (he's tied for 11th through 54 holes).

The Buick is just the sixth PGA Tour event for Streelman, a Duke graduate for whom ascension to the PGA Tour has been laborious. In 2004, he Monday qualified for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (he missed the cut). At the time, he was sponsored by a Chicago concern, and when he went to Los Angeles the following week to attempt to qualify for the Nissan Open, he called his sponsor to request money for the entry fee. "They stopped taking my calls," he said. "To this day, I have not heard a word from this guy. So I was stranded. I was living in Chicago and stranded in Southern California, with probably $400 in my bank account."

Whatever the outcome  Sunday, he won't be stranded in Southern California because of a cash shortfall. That much is certain.

-- John Strege
(Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Anthony Kim is not aging before our eyes (though it should be noted that he's no longer the youngest member of the PGA Tour), but he is determined to mature before our eyes, to wit: heretofore known more for his mouth, he's now all ears.

Kim, 22 (tour rookie Jason Day is 20), has been mentored by Mark O'Meara, with whom he partnered in the Merrill Lynch Shootout in December, and he began listening, attempting to absorb some of the wisdom that O'Meara had to impart.

"He just said, 'patience,' about 84 times," Kim said, explaining that he's attempting to take away from his budding friendship with O'Meara. "I had to get it through my head."

The payoff may already have begun. In the first start of his second season on the PGA Tour, Kim tied for third at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last week. Then on Thursday, a cool, wet day at Torrey Pines G.C., Kim shot a four-under par 68 on the North Course, which placed him on the Buick Invitational leader board.

"I'm playing smarter," he said. "I've been trying to do that the
last six tournament rounds (five at the Hope, one at the Buick). I've been playing with guys like Mark O'Meara and Jeff Sluman and I'm playing a lot smarter than I would have.

"We made a pretty dumb par (at the Merrill Lynch Shootout), and it was like water off his (O'Meara's) back. In the past I would have been hot. Patience, he said. I had to get it through my head."

O'Meara and Kim played three rounds together at the Merrill Lynch Shootout and also had dinner together a couple of times there.

"He wants to win," O'Meara said. "He's got a little bit of an attitude, but he's grown up a lot."

O'Meara cited an interview he overhead last year, when Kim said he could not understand why he hasn't won yet. "You're not going to win every week," O'Meara told him. "If you try and force it too hard you're
always going to get in your own way. So you've got to let it come to you and be patient. Then when you win, it will build on itself. You'll learn from that."

--John Strege
(Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Kelly Tilghman returned to the broadcast booth for the Golf Channel on Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course for the first round of the Buick Invitational. Tilghman, who served a two-week suspension from her company for making a racially insensitive comment during a telecast with partner Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, read a taped, on-air apology prior to Thursday's broadcast.

"I'm Kelly Tilghman. It's an honor to be with you again. In a recent live broadcast I used an inappropriate word that was offensive to many. Over the last two weeks, I've taken time to reflect and truly understand the impact of what I said. While I did not intend to offend anyone, I understand why those words were hurtful. I am terribly sorry for any hurt that I've caused. I would like to express my deepest apologies."

--Mark Soltau

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Tiger Woods' goals are never modest, of course, and truth be told he expects more of himself that others expect of him. So it should come as no surprise that his goal for 2008 is to win the grand slam. He even said on his website recently that "it's easily within reason."

Anyone advancing the notion that he's put unnecessary or undue pressure on himself by publicly acknowledging that he's aiming so high hasn't been paying close enough attention to where his arrows have been landing over the years.

"If Tiger Woods thinks he can win something, I don't know if anybody is going to argue with him," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said.

The grand slam venues this year are generally a comfortable fit for Woods--Augusta National, where he's won the Masters four times; the South Course at Torrey Pines, where he's won the Buick Invitational three straight years and five times; and Royal Birkdale, where in the 1998 British Open he missed a playoff by a single shot. Only Oakland Hills, site of the PGA Championship, has not been especially kind to Woods.

"I like Oakland Hills," Woods said Wednesday in a news conference at Torrey Pines, where he will make his 2008 PGA Tour debut in the Buick Invitational on Thursday. "I liked it when I first played there in '96
(in the U.S. Open). Those greens are the key to that golf course. You've just got to figure them out. I think that's when you're going to have to spend a little bit more time in the practice rounds in preparation, trying to figure it out."

Bobby Jones remains the only player in history to have won the grand slam, in 1930, when the slam included the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, in addition to the U.S. and British Opens.

"It's the development of my game over the years," says Woods, explaining why winning the slam is within his field of vision. "For most of my career, I've won more than four tournaments per year, and all I have to do is win the right four, and I've done those a few times. I think if you put it all together, have luck on your side, all the stars will line up, and it certainly is possible. A couple years  ago, I came within four shots of winning or being in a playoff on all four, so this year, I think it's possible."

As for the notion that his expectations are unreasonable and that he might be setting himself and others up for disappointment, he replied, "Well, I've had that happen before, won two majors in a row and people say, 'What's wrong with you?' It is what it is. The question is do I see it as a possibility, and I say, 'yes.' A lot of different factors go into it, and hopefully all those factors line up for me. The venues this year, I like all of them, but I've liked all the venues in the past. It's just a matter of getting your game coming together at the right time and getting all the right breaks."

Among the factors that represent potential obstacles is Phil Mickelson, who also is making his 2008 PGA Tour debut at the Buick.

"He's obviously a very comfortable player and he should be," Mickelson said. "He's won countless events and double-digit majors. But I think this year I should be able to put myself in contention as well, and I look forward to the opportunity to competing against him."

Mickelson, who proclaimed himself recovering finally from a respiratory ailment that has dogged him for months, has been working on strength training to help accommodate a shorter swing on which he has been working with instructor Butch Harmon.

"As we shortened the golf swing a little bit, I needed to have a little bit more speed to keep the same distance and hopefully have more accuracy," he said. "I've had to strengthen my lower body to be a bit more stable, and then I've had to strengthen my upper body to be able to accelerate.

"I feel very comfortable with the swing changes that I've made over the past nine months. I believe that heading into the 2008 season I'm much better equipped to drive the ball well, better physically equipped to accommodate the changes that Butch Harmon and I are implementing. I feel like I'll be able to drive the ball in the fairway and not have the big misses."

--John Strege

At the USGA Annual Meeting on Feb. 9, incoming president Jim Vernon, executive director David Fay and the rest of the governing body's brass will have some good news to share on the financial front. Golf World got an early look at a copy of the 2007 annual report that will be released in Houston while working on a story for this week's issue on the USGA's outlook for the coming year. The report shows that the USGA and USGA Foundation had a net income of $1.21 million on revenues of nearly $137 million for the year ending Nov. 30, 2007. Net assets at year's end were $253.3 million.

The 2007 figure is modest compared to the USGA's reported net income $8.4 million in 2002, $4.4 million in 2004 and $2.3 million in 2005. However, a year ago, the governing body had a deficit of $6.12 million on revenue of $126.6 million, so things are moving in a positive direction.

An interesting note: For the first time in USGA history, revenues from the association's championships and team matches, including broadcast rights, broke the $100 million mark.

--Ryan Herrington

John Daly hasn't gotten much love lately. The Angry Golfer has given him the business for railing against the PGA Tour's new cut policy. And last week he withdrew from the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic with a rib injury he says he originally incurred at last year's Honda Classic when he tried to stop his swing because a spectator took his photo. Daly confirmed he is considering a lawsuit against the event's insurance carrier--even though he is asking Honda tournament director Ken Kennerly for an exemption in 2008. We began to feel sorry for big lug, so we searched the web for some Daly dedication and we found it in this blog by Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski. Somebody still loves ya, Big John.

Trevor Immelman is happy to see the calendar turn to 2008. Catching a stomach virus at last year's Masters and losing 30 pounds was only the half of it. After winning the Nedbank Challenge in December, Immelman, ranked as the PGA Tour's 18th-best player in Golf World's 2008 preview, thought he had a pulled muscle in his rib cage, but an X-ray showed a benign golf-ball-size tumor. He had it removed and hopes to start his season at next week's FBR Open. "It was pretty serious," said instructor David Leadbetter. "But he's very fit, and it won't be long, a week or two, before he's back to normal. He's such a quality player. He's one of those young guns who could really do something."

--Tim Rosaforte

LA JOLLA, Calif.--The Buick Invitational will be played with heightened interest this week, starting with the fact that Tiger Woods will be attempting to win here for the fourth straight year. He also is seeking his third straight PGA Tour victory in this, his season debut.

There also is the fact that Phil Mickelson is making his season debut, though for a time that seemed in jeopardy as a result of a respiratory ailment that kept him in bed for a few days. After three days of antibiotics, he said he felt good enough to play in the pro-am Wednesday morning and expects to work with teacher Butch Harmon in the afternoon.

"I'm feeling much, much better," Mickelson said in a statement through his representatives, Gaylord Sports Management. "I'm happy about that and looking forward to working with Butch to make sure everything's in order for this week."

There is the site, too, Torrey Pines G.C. in La Jolla. The South Course at Torrey Pines is the 2008 U.S. Open venue, so the Buick Invitational is doubling as a homework assignment for many in the field.

The tournament marks the return of Kelly Tilghman to the Golf Channel booth, ending her two-week suspension.

Finally, there were the mandatory players' meetings on Tuesday in which the PGA Tour's new drug policy was explained in detail.

In other words, it's not just another week on the PGA Tour.

-- John Strege

ANAHEIM, Calif.--Tiger Woods has announced the launch of Fist Pump Challenge, an online contest to help kids identify and share their greatest achievements. As part of the Challenge, he is asking young people to share their own Fist Pump Moments with the world on www.tigerwoodsfoundation.org.

"It is important for young people to celebrate their accomplishments," Woods said Monday at the Tiger Woods Learning Center. "The Fist Pump Challenge allows kids to highlight the moments in their lives that brought them closer to reaching their goals. I believe that small steps can lead to big changes."

For Woods, his first significant fist pump came at age 11 when he beat his father Earl for the first time on the golf course. He remembers it like yesterday.

"We were playing the back tees at the Navy Golf Course in Long Beach," he said. "I birdied 16 to get to even par. On the par-5 18th hole, my dad missed a 20-foot birdie putt and I made a 15-foot right-to-left uphill birdie putt. I clenched my fist, punched the air, and went crazy. He didn't know what happened, but it was the greatest thing I ever did in my life."

After children get permission from their parents, they are asked to submit a video with their name, age and accomplishment to www.tigerwoodsfoundation.org. Those without video access can e-mail their Fist Pump Moment for posting.

"Kids can inspire kids," said Woods. "That's where this program can be so successful."

Video and written entries will be voted on by website visitors and prizes include iPods, Tiger Woods '08 EA Video Games and gift cards. Later this year, the Tiger Woods Foundation plans to tie the Fist Pump Challenge into the Earl Woods Scholarship program, offering kids in the Washington D.C. and Orange County, Calif. areas the chance to earn a college scholarship.

Monday was also a special day for Woods and his mother Kultida, who dedicated a statue to celebrate the legacy of Earl Woods and honor his efforts to reach millions of children. An eight-foot bronze replica of Tiger and his father was designed by Elliot & Ivan Schwarz of Studio EIS.

A smiling Woods and his father are dressed in golf attire, and Tiger has his right arm around his dad's shoulders. The inscription reads: "I challenge you to make a difference in the world, to reach higher and farther then you ever imagined."

Fittingly, the statue was dedicated on Martin Luther King Day.

"This means so much to me as his son, my mother, and everyone who knows my father," said Woods, who was accompanied by his wife Elin and new daughter Sam. "I think about my dad every day. It's amazing how much smarter he has become. I have Sam now and keep reflecting on all the things he taught me."

--Mark Soltau

John Daly flew overnight from Hawaii to California, then drove to Las Vegas for his first session with Butch Harmon. "If he [does] all the things I ask him to do, he'll win this year," Harmon said.

Most of the work will be between Daly's ears, but Harmon did get Daly to tighten the backswing on his wedge shots and get more extension on his follow-through with the longer clubs. "Ball-striking wise, he's tremendous," Daly said after arriving early for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Daly has no sponsor on his shirt and no exempt status. He also said he has avoided alcohol for a week and didn't visit any casinos during his Vegas stay. "Times are tough," he said. "Only one guy could get me there, and that's Butchie."

--Tim Rosaforte

This article is taken from the Jan. 18 issue of Golf World Magazine

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- The view from the upper reaches of the leaderboard is better for Steve Marino (right) than it is for Kevin Na, who ostensibly are the pro and con on the merits of LASIK eye surgery. Each of them had the procedure last month, yet only Marino is satisfied with the results.

"My eyes were so bad," Na said. "I got it done from, like, the world's greatest doctor. He told me, 'It might take more than one surgery because your eyes are so bad, but we can probably get 20/20.' The first week it was awesome. It wasn't perfect, but it was very good. I was excited. It just slowly got worse and worse. Right now, it's not very good. I can't see balls land."

Yet Na needed only 22 putts in his round of 64 at Waialae CC in the second round to move into second place behind K.J. Choi. "I have (my caddie) line me up, and he says, 'It looks good,' and I just pull the trigger."

Marino, conversely, is seeing everything with a clarity that is new to him.

"I wasn't even seeing close to 20/20 with my contacts," said Marino, who was in third at the halfway point. "So when I got the surgery done, the next day, I've never seen that well before in my life. It's made a big difference. I can actually see the flagstick from 150 yards away now, and I can tell whether my ball is in the fairway or in the rough off the tee. I can see the hole better, too, and I can see the grass better. It definitely helps me read the breaks. I needed the flag tended from 30 feet last year, and now I'm 60 feet away and I can see the hole fine. It's just awesome."

Tiger Woods, of course, is the most prominent member of the PGA Tour to have underdone the LASIK procedure.

-- John Strege
(Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Few players join the PGA Tour with the fanfare that has accompanied Jason Day's ascension, but for any young player, there is a learning curve, and in his case he already has received his first lesson: Honesty is not necessarily the best policy.

At 20, Day is the youngest player on the PGA Tour, and his victory last year in the Nationwide Tour's Legend Financial Group Classic made him the youngest in history to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.

Late last year, the Australian prodigy told the Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun, that his goal is to be the No. 1 player in the world. "I'm sure I can take him down," he said of Tiger Woods. "I want to measure myself against Tiger Woods … There's a lot of pressure and you try to handle it. All I want to do is work hard, win tournaments and catch up with Tiger. At 19, Tiger didn't win a tournament as a professional. Next year on the tour, I've got to win two tournaments, because that's what he won and I want to try and keep up with him. It's a big ask for a 20-year-old kid on his first year out on the PGA Tour."

Day has been stung by the predictable backlash. He has been widely criticized -- often, he said, by those citing only the phrase "I'm sure I can take him down" and ignoring the greater context of his overall remarks, that, "It's a big ask."

"I don't understand it," Day said at Waialae CC, where he was making his debut as a member of the PGA Tour, in the Sony Open. "There are so many guys who want to be number one, but I chose to be honest about it and they crucified me.

"I'm still going to be working hard to get to the number one spot, and that's Tiger Woods," said Day, who shot 73-70 and missed the cut. "I know it's not going to be given to me."

-- John Strege

HONOLULU--Spencer Levin has never lacked for confidence, which he boldly demonstrated by traveling to Honolulu to attempt to Monday qualify for the Sony Open in Hawaii. The odds of succeeding in Monday qualifiers are not especially good--here, 64 players were attempting to qualify for four spots. To travel 2,500 miles to make the attempt is a leap of faith.

Levin's belief in himself paid off; he shot 67 at Makaha Resort and G.C., to make the field, then shot a three-under-par 67 at Waialae C.C. in the first round of the Sony to put himself on the leader board.

"If I don't make it (in qualifying), I'm in Hawaii," said Levin, who by virtue of tying for 42nd at the PGA Tour Qualifying School has full Nationwide Tour status. "If I don't make it, I was going to make a vacation out of it. In the meantime, I would get a little competition in."

Levin, 23, has not played in a tournament since the Qualifying Tournament. The Nationwide Tour does not begin until Jan. 24.

Last year, Levin played on the Canadian Tour, winning twice, on consecutive weeks. He introduced himself to the golf world when, as an amateur, he shot a 69 in the first round of the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, a round that featured a hole-in-one at 17, his first swing following a rain delay. Eventually he tied for 13th and was the low amateur.

Lately, he has played well in practice at home in the Sacramento, he said, but came here expecting nothing.

"I never expect anything," says Levin. "When I play, my goal is to play my hardest on every shot."

--John Strege

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Michelle Wie has been the headliner of the Sony Open in Hawaii since she first played in it in 2004, as a 14-year-old amateur, and nearly made the cut. This year, she was not offered a sponsor's exemption, and there is scant evidence that she ever played here.

The Honolulu Advertiser, for instance, had a 20-page special section in advance of the Sony Open, and her name appeared only twice, and both times in stories on other players. She wasn't mentioned until the 12th paragraph of a story on Tadd Fujikawa and the 15th paragraph of a story on Paul Goydos. In the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, it was the eighth paragraph of a story in Wednesday's paper before she was mentioned.

A native of Hawaii, Wie has been displaced as a teen idol by Fujikawa, a 17-year-old high school junior and a Honolulu resident who tied for 20th in the Sony last year as an amateur. Fujikawa is playing this year as a professional.

Moreover, a second 17-year-old Honolulu golfer is in the field as well, Alex Ching, a high school senior who gained a spot in amateur qualifying.

Wie, it turns out, is not only gone, but forgotten as well -- for the moment, anyway.

-- John Strege

The Roger Clemens steroids scandal has reached the PGA Tour. Clemens is an avid golfer and has participated in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Pro-Am for the past several years. However a story in the Desert Sun newspaper indicates Clemens has withdrawn from the tournament. You see, Clemens originally had someplace more important to be on Jan. 16, the first day of the five-day Hope tournament in Palm Springs. Before the hearings were postponed, he was scheduled to be in Washington to appear in front of the Congressional House Oversight Committee about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. "[Clemens] withdrew," Hope tournament director Mike Milthorpe told writer Larry Bohannan. "But what we did was we sent an e-mail to his people to say that if he testifies on Wednesday, and he's still interested in playing, he could get on a plane and play Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized to viewers and to Tiger Woods personally for saying about Woods during Friday's telecast of the Mercedes-Benz Championship that today's young players should "lynch him in a back alley."

Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told USA Today, "It is a complete non-issue. Kelly and Tiger are friends. It might have been a poor choice of words, but there was absolutely no ill intent whatsoever."

In a statement, Tilghman said, "On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger's dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words," Tilghman said. " have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments."

This story appears in the January 11 issue of Golf World.

WHEN the San Diego Union-Tribune reported last week that mice testing positive for hantavirus had been found in the Torrey Pines State Reserve, there was some concern about the nearby Torrey Pines golf courses, home of this month's Buick Invitational and, later in the year, the U.S. Open. Would caddies be required to carry snap-traps? Would players have to wear surgical masks? Would Johnny Miller run out of rodent jokes?

The concern was real because hantavirus can be a serious illness. While it usually results in symptoms similar to the common flu, the illness can progress and in a small number of cases even result in death. According to the paper, more than 375 people have died from hantavirus in the United States since 1993.
Tom Wilson, the tournament director for the Buick Invitational (Jan. 24-27), said he received assurances from city officials that there were no problems that would affect that event or the Open. "Besides," he added, "the State Preserve is about 300 feet below the golf course."

Jody Kummer, the reserve's supervising Park Ranger, said the virus "is not an issue" for either tournament or for daily-fee players.

"As long as you're in the open, like on a golf course or a trail, you can't catch the virus," she said. "It's only when you're in a closed space, such as a small attic, for a length of time where you can have a potentially damaging contact with the virus. You'd have to climb into an attic, sit on a mouse's nest and breathe for awhile in the closed space in order to be at risk."

San Diego County health officials announced Dec. 29 that blood samples taken from two wild mice caught in traps in November tested positive for the virus. Health officials returned to the field Jan. 3, wearing ominous-looking safety suits, to check traps for more mice. They said results on a battery of lab tests on those mice would be available in about two weeks.

So while Torrey Pines officials might consider Tiger-proofing their course (he's won the Buick Invitational the past three years), there is apparently no need to mouse-proof it.

-- Ron Lux

Rory Sabbatini wouldn't address his withdrawal from last month's Target World Challenge at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, preferring to let his new Adams clubs do his talking. Sources at Nike Golf denied Sabbatini was let go at the request of Target host Tiger Woods, but Sabbo burned so many bridges by leaving Sherwood CC early it's doubtful he will ever be invited back. As for the $170,000 he earned that week, look for him to donate it to a charity connected with the Wounded Warriors program.

Mercedes contender Jonathan Byrd took a page from Zach Johnson's book by assembling his team for a preseason  strategy session. Led by sport psychologist Morris Pickens, who also works with Johnson, they targeted parts of Byrd's game that need attention. "It worked for Zach," said Byrd, who practiced with a heavy heart after his father, Jim, was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor. After surgery and six weeks
of chemotherapy and radiation, Jim watched his son fall from third to 15th with a 74 Sunday at Kapalua. With his 30th birthday coming up Jan. 27, Byrd still has more wins (three) than any American player in his 20s--and hopes to increase that total at this week's Sony Open. "Four has a nice ring to it," he said.

Sporting a teenager's attempt at a moustache, Tadd Fujikawa warmed up for the Sony by playing the Mercedes-Benz Pro-Am. He thought so much of the invitation that he flew to Maui from Honolulu for a practice round. He's able to do that now because of endorsements with Aloha Petroleum and Kraft Foods. He also has deals pending with luxury-watch and health-insurance companies. Fujikawa, who turned 17 Tuesday, also will play at Pebble and has become an affiliate member of the European and Japan tours.

--Tim Rosaforte

KAPALUA, Maui -- The Pittsburgh Steelers beckoned in more ways than one for Jim Furyk, a passionate Steelers fan. When he finished his round Saturday, a 66 that thrust him into contention at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, he heard that the Steelers and Jacksonville were tied early in their AFC playoff game, 7-7, but asked that nothing more be said about it. He was taping the game and was anxious to get back to the television set.

It was a game that apparently he could have seen live, had he not won the Canadian Open last year to earn a trip to Kapalua, where he has a second home. A PGA Tour official said that someone from the office of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin phoned tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to invite Furyk to the game. Furyk, a native of the Pittsburgh area, still knew nothing about the invitation other than what the tour official told him.

"It's flattering," he said. "I guess it's too bad I won last year. I would have enjoyed that immensely. Obviously I'm excited about the game, and living in Jacksonville makes it a little more interesting."

Furyk does not know Tomlin, but has gotten to know members of the Rooney family that owns the Steelers. "The Rooneys support my charity event up in the Philadelphia area," Furyk explained.

Well aware that his round of golf was interfering with his watching the Steelers, he played as though he were in a hurry to finish, which is to say that he took fewer strokes than anyone in the field  Saturday to complete his round. He vaulted from a tie for 17th to a tie for third at one point of the third round.

-- John Strege

KAPALUA, Maui -- The elevation changes on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort will test the stamina of the fittest of men, of which Mark Calcavecchia obviously, and by his own admission, is not one. How then to explain his overcoming the weighty burden he carries and shooting a seven-under-par 66 there in the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship Friday?

He trained for this event. He began climbing South Mountain in Phoenix. The first time he went up, he sent Tiger Woods a text message: "Hiking a mountain. May die."

"I got to the top of South Mountain and really thought I was going to have a heart attack," he said.

Calcavecchia, 47, climbed South Mountain three times, he said, and did some jogging as well, in preparation for the cardio test that the Plantation Course represents.

"I was trying to get my legs stronger and to get in a little bit of cardiovascular shape," he said. "Two years ago (I played) here with no preparation whatsoever, and by the time I got to the (Bob Hope Chrysler Classic), my knees and legs were killing me. Walking this course took a toll on me, so I wanted to be a little bit better prepared."

After opening with a two-over par 75 on a wet, windy and wild Thursday, Calcavecchia awoke Friday to legs that still felt fresh. He made nine birdies, and a pair of three-putt greens were his only blemishes.

"It goes to show you that even though some of these guys look fat, they're still in some kind of shape," said PGA Tour rules official Jon Brendle. "They basically walk five miles a day out there. They're more of an athlete than you think."

-- John Strege

KAPALUA, Maui -- Stephen Ames played alone in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Thursday, the first off in a field with an odd number of players, 31. He didn't turn it into a sprint, but he did play in barely three hours and finished five holes ahead of the next pairing.

"It was fun, actually," he said. "That's the pace of play we should play every week, but that's not going to happen again."

Ames shot a one-under par 72 on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort, a score good enough to ensure that he wouldn't play alone again by virtue of the re-pairing done after every round here. When he came off the course, he feigned bewilderment. "I don't have a (score)card to sign," he said.

On those occasions when a player is without a partner, he has the option of employing a marker to play along. Players rarely use it, however, particularly when they have an open course ahead of them.

Enhancing Ames' enjoyment of his solo pursuit was the fact that he played well, notwithstanding a three-putt bogey at 18.

"My swing felt pretty good," said Ames, who qualified for the event by winning the Children's Miracle Network Classic last year. "I haven't played golf since the Skins Game (in November), if you call (the Skins Game) playing golf, nine holes a day (for) two days."

Ames' expectations coming into the Mercedes were "zero," he said. "It's more of a kick start than anything else. This is kind of getting the juices flowing again."

-- John Strege

KAPALUA, Hawaii--Joe Torre is a part-time resident of Kapalua, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and has been recruited to serve as the honorary starter of the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua's Plantation Course on Thursday.

It is a harbinger for the new Dodgers manager, who won't have an A-Rod and Jeter anchoring this lineup, either. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who earned their annual invitations here, again sent their regrets. So did Adam Scott and reigning British Open champion Padraig Harrington.

Once known as the Tournament of Champions, the Mercedes now is a tournament of some champions. Free money (no cut and guaranteed earnings of $65,000) in and of itself is no longer an adequate inducement, particularly when travel halfway around the world only a few days after Christmas is part of the deal. For the game's elite, free money is too easy to come by elsewhere and in substantially larger sums than the $65,000 guarantee for finishing last here.

"Personally, I think we start too early," Steve Stricker said Tuesday. "I talked to Gary Planos (Kapalua Resort's senior vice president resort operations) and he kind of feels the same way. It's holiday time. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited as hell to be here, but you still have family back home. You've got to take off on the 27th or 28th, right after Christmas, to get over here and make sure you're rested and ready. Personally, I'd like to see it start a week or two weeks later in the season, just to be home through Christmas and the first of the year and be able to spend some time with family and friends."

The merits of his argument notwithstanding, it doesn't seem likely to change, and absenteeism will continue to beleaguer an event that debuted on the PGA Tour in 1953 and probably deserves better.

--John Strege

KAPALUA, Hawaii--The best new anecdote I heard in the pressroom Tuesday at Kapalua--and this was a hard act to follow after Boo Weekley's tale of forgetting he left two bullets in his carry-on bag at the Pensacola Airport--was Steve Stricker talking about his days working for lumber company in his home state of Wisconsin.

As Stricker, the back-to-back Comeback Player of the Year, tells it, he could have lost his right arm.

"I have a scary story," said Stricker, "and I still think about this to this day. It could have ended my career."

Stricker was asked in an interview at the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Tuesday what was the last job he held prior to becoming a professional golfer:

Stricker: It was probably at Nelson Young Lumber in Edgerton when I was in college. I worked at a lumber company during the summers. My brother works there now in the office, and I would just deliver lumber. He was nice enough to let me go and play in golf tournaments when I needed the time off, so it wasn't like a full-time summer job or something.

So you worked at a lumberyard?

Stricker: Lumberyard delivering lumber. It was good fun. [Laughter.]

Some hazard in that, isn't there?

There was some hazard. I have a scary story, and I still think about this to this day. It could have ended my career without question. I still don't know what I was doing. But I'm waving the guy back. I usually rode with the driver, they didn't let me drive very much. So we're delivering to a brand-new house, and I'm waving him back. Now he's coming back and I'm up on the front stairway, and now I get off the side of the stair but I'm still right behind the truck waving him back like this.

He's looking at me, and all of a sudden he's coming too close. Now I'm pinned up against the back of the house which is right here. So I'm like, stop, and I go like this. The back of the flatbed pushes my arm right into the new siding. Now I'm a little bit pinned right there. I finally unwedge it and leave a dent in the new siding, but I still cringe at that to this day. I didn't do that again. I was off usually on the side of the truck. [Laughter.]. That was dumb.

--Tim Rosaforte