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Notebook Confident Garcia full of tips for the veterans
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- Ernie Els has won the U.S. Open twice. Colin Montgomerie has been ranked in the top 10 for much of the past decade. They played a practice round for the PGA Championship with a 21-year-old who acted like both had something to learn from him. Sergio Garcia spent most of the day giving them advice. "Twenty-one-years old, giving Ernie and I tips," Montgomerie said Wednesday, shaking his head. "That's how confident he was. If I was 21, playing with guys who had been top 10 in the world for a long, long time now ... I wasn't that confident." Montgomerie wasn't being critical. He was impressed. The PGA Championship is where Garcia burst onto a worldwide stage, hitting that shot behind a tree with his eyes closed and challenging Tiger Woods until the end at Medinah. This year, Garcia has won twice on the PGA Tour and was in contention at the U.S. Open and the British Open. "He was giving us tips all over the place, from the first tee on," Montgomerie said. "He was telling us how to play out of the rough. And Ernie and I looked at each other on the second tee and thought, 'This is different.' And it continued. But he's very, very good. Great talent. He has a fantastic future ahead of him." Were the tips of any value? "Yes, they were," Montgomerie said. "That was the scary thing. They were actually very good, things we didn't know."
Pretty prize moneyWhen Larry Nelson won his second PGA Championship in 1987, the total purse was $900,000. The winner of this year's PGA will make more than that.The PGA of America said Wednesday that the purse would be $5.2 million, with $936,000 going to the winner. That's a $200,000 increase from last year and makes it the second-richest major behind the Masters, which had a $5.5 million purse and remains the only major to pay the winner more than $1 million.
Tiger and DavidTiger Woods and David Duval, good friends and the two Americans to have won majors this year, have asked captain Curtis Strange if they can play together during the Ryder Cup."They have been reminded that I am the captain and that I make the final selections on who is playing with who," Strange said with a laugh. Woods and Duval played a best-ball match in 1999 and were defeated by Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, giving Europe an emotional boost for taking out Nos. 1-2 in the world, not to mention a 6-2 lead after the first day of matches. "I've thought about that," Strange said. "The comment from them was, 'We won't lose.' I said, 'You have before.'" Strange said whether he pairs them will depend on who makes the team, and how the other matches shape up. "If I have three other great teams out there, it could happen," he said. "But I'm not going to put them out there and have a weaker fourth team."
Duval's history lessonDuval was caught off guard when someone mentioned that Bobby Jones was a member of the Atlanta Athletic Club."I was unaware this was his home club," Duval said. "I thought East Lake was. Just stupidity -- ignorance on my part, maybe. I didn't realize that." Duval can be excused for the history lapse. Jones did grow up playing on the East Lake course, near downtown Atlanta, when it was owned by the athletic club. In the 1960s, the club relocated to a new course north of the city, while a splinter faction took over the East Lake Golf Club. Jones, who died in 1971, never played the new course but always considered it his home club. East Lake has since been renovated and will play host to the U.S. Amateur Championship next week. For Woods, the Jones legacy is more noticeable at East Lake and another of his courses, Augusta National, home of the Masters. "East Lake is where he grew up and then he went out and created Augusta," Woods said. "You'll probably feel it more at Augusta National, because of what the club stands for and he's the one who created the whole tournament. I really don't have the same sense here as I would there."
Monty felt out of placeMontgomerie felt out of his league during a practice round with U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, two-time U.S. Open champion Els and a very confident Garcia."Goosen is playing with a tremendous amount of confidence and Garcia is a great talent," he said. "Ernie has every chance of doing very well. I picked the wrong three guys." It didn't take him long to think of an alternative, mentioning the 25 club professionals who are part of the 150-man field. "I should have picked some of your PGA pros or something," he said. "With all respect to the PGA pros, I can usually beat them." DIVOTS: Upon returning home from missing the cut in the British Open, golf was put into perspective for Tom Lehman. His wife lost their child, which was stillborn. "The Ryder Cup is important, but it sure isn't everything," Melissa Lehman told Golf World magazine. ... Woods has never won a major championship on a par-70 course. The six he has played as a professional were Congressional and Winged Foot in 1997, Olympic Club and Sahalee in 1998, Pinehurst in 1999 and Southern Hills in June. ... Davis Love III has played a lot of golf with former President Bush. The only bad part? "The golf doesn't last very long," he said.
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