THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507160192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COMMENT
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Advice to spectators headed here today: Scout the ninth green and pick out a favorite spot. That's where the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic could be won. Or lost.
Because of television considerations - ESPN airs today's final round from 1:30 to 4 p.m. - the field will be cut in half today, with the bottom half going off the 10th tee.
Jay Haas and Ken Green are just seven strokes off the lead, and yet they will tee off at the 10th and finish at the ninth, an oddity for the PGA Tour's East Coast swing.
``TV dictates what we do,'' said the king of Kingsmill, Curtis Strange. ``On the West Coast we go two tees, threesomes all the time, because we have to finish early for East Coast time.
``That's part of the fun of coming back East, we go to twosomes on the weekend unless something unusual happens. Like ESPN wanting us to finish early tomorrow.''
Think Haas and Green don't have a chance of winning? Be advised that Payne Stewart came from seven back on Sunday in Houston to win a playoff with Scott Hoch this spring.
Better yet, Jim Gallagher Jr. came from seven shots off the lead in Greensboro to win, without benefit of a playoff.
There's also a history of seven-shot comebacks in the Anheuser-Busch. Ronnie Black did it in 1984.
And while Haas and Green, just to name two, might be seven or more back, they are just four shots out of fifth place.
``Someone could get hot,'' said Gallagher, who is one shot out of the lead. ``And some of it could depend on what the leader does. It could happen.''
ESPN will be airing ``Mountain Biking'' and ``American Muscle'' at tournament's conclusion. Obviously, the country's premier cable sports network isn't bumping up the Anheuser-Busch because of late afternoon programming conflicts - unless I'm totally underestimating the ratings potential of mountain biking.
The better guess is that the Anheuser-Busch, a relatively minor PGA Tour event already plagued by heat advisories and a suspect field, doesn't want to bump heads with major tournaments on major networks.
Later in the day, the U.S. Women's Open airs on NBC while the Senior PGA Players Championship plays on ABC.
Gallagher would like to think the early TV time is a little bit give-and-take: Nine players will be chartering to New York after today's round to catch the Concorde and fly to the British Open. Every minute counts when making a connection.
Tournament officials are confident the winner will be crowned at the 18th hole. Typically, the field strings out enough that prospects of a winner tipping his hat to the crowd in the ninth fairway are slim and none.
But it might be false confidence. Murphy's Law has a tendency to hang out at the Anheuser-Busch. Remember the darkness-induced Monday morning playoff of a couple years ago?
Anheuser-Busch officials didn't believe there would be reason to fear the ninth hole becoming its Iwo Jima - a significant part of tournament history with only a still photographer to record the event. And in today's microwave society, that couldn't happen.
But a lot of cameramen could be left scrambling from one side of the course to the other should Billy Black Shoes come to his last three holes with a share of the lead, particularly if those last three holes are seven, eight and nine.
The fans will follow. And while there is an enormous grandstand surrounding the 18th green, all that stands behind the ninth are temporary bleachers that hold approximately 160 people.
Building a similar grandstand behind the ninth overnight was out of the question.
Said executive tournament director Johnnie Bender: ``It took the crews seven days just to build the ones at the 18th.'' by CNB