Golf

Outback's move to April won't come without risk

Officials at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am are understandably frustrated by the weather troubles that have plagued their Champions Tour event during a four-year sponsorship.

By BOB HARIG
Published March 20, 2007

Officials at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am are understandably frustrated by the weather troubles that have plagued their Champions Tour event during a four-year sponsorship.

There have been rain delays, frost delays, bitter cold and one tournament that ended on a Monday.

So they left a 20-year history of February events behind to head for the warmer weather and longer daylight of April in 2008.

It is a move fraught with risks.

For proof, look to Palm Beach Gardens, where the Senior PGA Championship was played through 2000 the same week after the Masters. Attendance was disappointing, at best.

PGA of America officials figured enough was enough when the group of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson attracted just a handful of people to see them tee off.

"April 1 or Easter is the standard date for the snowbirds to return north," said David Charles, tournament director of the Senior PGA Championship. "And it's not ideal for the spectator population in South Florida."

So the organization decided to move its championship around the country.

Outback wasn't going to make that drastic move, but did it really need to move to April?

The tournament is at the mercy of its format, which calls for pros to play with amateurs during the first two rounds. That basically doubles the size of the field from a regular Champions Tour event. Given the small window of daylight in February, there is little margin for error.

This year's tournament was plagued by blustery conditions and a frost delay that caused the second round to spill into Sunday. The third round began late and could not finish within NBC's allotted television window, meaning it had to switch to the Golf Channel.

With Tom Watson winning for the first time in Florida, a nice opportunity was missed.

February brought weather problems, but April will present others, namely the possibility of golf burnout among fans with the week after the Masters and the fact that many of the area's winter visitors will have left. A positive: Easter comes after the Outback next year.

'WORLD' GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS? This week's CA Championship in Miami marks the first time a World Golf Championship comes to Florida. It replaces the longtime regular PGA Tour event held at Doral. And it means all three of the WGC events will be in the United States.

"It's kind of silly, but this is where the money is," Scotland's Colin Montgomerie said. "It's unfortunate, but this is where the sponsors are. Maybe they should just call it something else."

The three WGC events:

- Accenture Match Play. This is the most popular and interesting of the three. Played at the end of February, it goes directly off the Official World Golf Ranking and takes the top 64 players in the world and seeds them for the tour's only match play event. Sweden's Henrik Stenson, ranked fifth in the world, defeated reigning U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy last month. The tournament was played in Tucson, Ariz., this year after a long run in Carlsbad, Calif. It did make one detour to Australia in 2001, although many players skipped the event.

- CA Championship. The one WGC event that actually moved around the world will now be anchored in Miami. Formerly known as the American Express Championship, it has been played in Spain, Ireland, Atlanta, San Francisco and was in England last year. Tiger Woods is a double defending champion. He won last year's regular tour event at Doral and the Amex in England. The tournament field comes from the top 50 in the world ranking, the top 30 from last year's money list and the top 10 from this year's FedEx Cup points list for a total of 74 players.

- Bridgestone Invitational. What used to be known as the World Series of Golf became a WGC event in 1999 and has been played at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, all but one year, 2002, when it went to Sahalee in Seattle. Woods has owned this event, winning five times, including the past two. The tournament includes the top 50 in the world, members of the previous U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams and U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams and winners of various events around the world. This year it moves to the week before the PGA Championship in August.

Bob Harig can be reached at (727) 893-8806 or harig@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 19, 2007, 23:25:02]