| A few nuts and bolts about the PGA Tour
A reader recently posed some interesting questions about the PGA Tour. There's simply not enough time or space to answer all the questions, but here are some "nuts and bolts" about the Tour. This year there are 47 tournaments. Concurrent events are held opposite the three World Golf Championship tournaments, plus the British Open and Ryder Cup. There also are four events that comprise the FedEx Cup. PGA Tour golfers must play a minimum of 15 tournaments to retain their membership. How many touring pros are there? It would probably be as easy to count the grains of sand on a beach, but just to give you an idea, 256 PGA Tour members cashed checks in 2007. Another 351 players earned money on the Nationwide Tour. In the 2008 PGA Tour Media Guide, 166 players rate full biographies.
Sutton eyes return
The love of competition, the instant gratification felt from sinking a 30-foot birdie putt in front of thousands and an upcoming milestone birthday will lead Hal Sutton back to the well-manicured fairways of Tour golf.
The Shreveport native told The Times on Friday he�ll play on the Champions Tour this season � although with a limited schedule. He says only one thing is for certain as of now, he will not play the FedEx Kinko�s Classic � held in Austin, Texas, a couple of days after he turns 50 on April 28.
�I haven�t done any work at golf in a while, so if I went out there right now my expectations wouldn�t be very good,� Sutton said. �The main thing is I�m going to play more and practice more. I�ll play it by ear. If I feel like I can be competitive, I�ll go and play some.
Tiger Woods Not Playing At Riviera Next Week
Defending champion Charles Howell III and 17 of the top 20 players in the World Golf Rankings lead the way for the Northern Trust Open, Feb. 11-17, at Riviera Country Club. Set to join Howell are Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Adam Scott, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini, K.J. Choi, British Open champion Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia. A total of 32 of the top 48 in the World Golf Rankings are in the field. Other leading entries include Masters' champion Zach Johnson, U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Trevor Immelman. Howell edged Mickelson in a playoff last year. Scott, Sabbatini and Mike Weir, who won back-to-back in 2003-04, also are recent champions at Riviera. Other past champions in the field include Robert Allenby, Fred Couples, Len Mattiace, Corey Pavin and Billy Mayfair, who defeated Tiger Woods for the title in a playoff in 1998 at Valencia Country Club.
Four Aussies in British Open contention
Andrew Tampion headed a group of four Australians into this year's British Open at Royal Birkdale after International Final Qualifying at The Lakes. Tampion shot 8-under-par 138 over the two rounds to finish three strokes clear of Brad Lamb, Ewan Porter and Peter Fowler, all on 5-under 141. Japanese teenage superstar Ryo Ishikawa missed out on qualifying after falling away in the second round with 5-over 78 for 4-over 150 for the event. The 16-year-old Bashful Prince', flanked by a throng of Japanese media, is rated Japan's next great golfing hope after he stunned the Tour when at 15 years and 8 months he became the youngest winner in history on the Japan Golf Tour last year. Tampion, 23, fired rounds of 67 and 71 and will play in his first British Open in July after two previous unsuccessful qualifying attempts at Sunningdale last year and Kingston Heath the year before.
Tracking Ryan Moore
This week: PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, today through Sunday, Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills golf courses, Pebble Beach, Calif. World ranking: 77th. 2008 earnings: $186,150 (48th on PGA Tour). FedEx Cup points: 913 (45th). Last tournament: The first round has plagued the Puyallup golfer this season through three events. He's a combined 13-over the first day of tournaments, including a 4-over-75 last week to open the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. He went on to miss the cut for the second consecutive week. Initially, he wasn't going to play this week, but he reconsidered after missing weekend play the past two events. Moore tied for 19th at the Pebble Beach event in 2007. Tee time today: 9:30 a.m. at Spyglass Hill 10th tee with Jeff Overton.
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