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Ireland 1st, Tampa Bay Classic 2nd

PALM HARBOR -- Gerald Goodman, tournament director for next month's Tampa Bay Classic, likes to say that if you want to watch PGA Tour play in the United States the third week of September, you have to come to the Westin Innisbrook Resort.

The key words, of course: United States. The same week, Sept. 19-22, many of the sport's top names will compete in the American Express Championship in Ireland.

The rest of the PGA Tour players will be at the Tampa Bay Classic, an "opposite" event that is at the mercy of golf's World Rankings. Anyone who is ranked among the top 50 as of Sept. 9 -- a week before -- is eligible for the Ireland event. If they are eligible, they either player in Ireland or don't play.

That means, despite his tournament being a little more than a month away, Goodman can't say for certain who will be here, even though he has 156 spots to fill.

"It is awkward because the first thing everybody asks is 'Who's coming?' " Goodman said Wednesday at the tournament's media day. "You don't really have an answer. We answer the same way every time. 'We expect to have ... ' "

Goodman named players such as Clearwater's John Huston, who won the 2000 Tampa Bay Classic, John Daly, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair and Dan Forsman. He also could get players such as Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Charles Howell, Billy Andrade, Adam Scott, Loren Roberts, Fred Funk, Jeff Maggert and Mark O'Meara.

It depends ... on whether they want to play, and if they are eligible.

For example, Daly is 55th in the World Rankings. But the Ireland event takes the top 50, and if there are withdrawals, the event gets the next ranked player. Five players have to skip the American Express Championship for Daly to be eligible at his current position.

So the final field won't be determined until Sept. 13, the Friday before the tournament.

"It is hard for people to understand about the field," Goodman said. "These guys are independent contractors. They can go and come as they please. We're not only battling that, but the fact that we're an 'opposite.' But it's our last year of being an opposite."

Next year, the Tampa Bay Classic becomes the Chrysler Championship of Tampa Bay with its own date. Then, Goodman will worry about attracting Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia ... a much better problem to have.

SPONSORSHIP WOES: Goodman is thankful for his situation. Although Buick is leaving as a presenting sponsor after this year, Chrysler will take full sponsorship from 2003-06. That's huge in the current golf climate.

There are nine PGA Tour events seeking title sponsors for next year, including the event at Doral in Miami. The Phoenix Open is for the first time looking for a title sponsor. The tournament at Hilton Head, S.C., severed ties to WorldCom because of its accounting woes. There is a good chance many of these events will have to do it without corporate help next year, a tough task with purses pushing $5-million.

FROSTY: It's no secret the top two players in the world, Woods and Mickelson, are not best buddies. If there was any doubt, Mark Calcavecchia -- friends with both -- confirmed it in an interview with Golf Digest.

"Phil and I were supposed to be first off for a practice round at Augusta, and Phil was getting on Tiger for cutting in front of us," Calcavecchia said. "Tiger looked at Phil like he thought he was kidding, but he wasn't. Phil was like, 'You better get your a-- out of the way, or I'm hitting.' And I was like, 'Wow!' Tiger was looking at me like, 'Is he serious?' It was a bit of smack. Then Phil comes back with that grin he has, like he was partially messing with him. So they've got a little of that going on."

SNEAK PEAK: Woods got a quick look Tuesday at Hazeltine National Golf Club, site of next week's PGA Championship in Minnesota. He and O'Meara flew in, played the course in less then three hours, then returned to Michigan, where they are playing in the Buick Open.

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