THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110552
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 90 lines
Like the milquetoast wizard who hid behind that big curtain in Oz, professional golfers hide behind the facade that they are ``independent contractors,'' unpaid by the PGA Tour and thus beholden to no person, no organization, no event. They are entitled to play when and where they choose.
It's a loophole a dream-team lawyer would admire.
So when the PGA Tour pulls into the sweatshop known as Williamsburg, as it has for 15 years, stars are harder to find than new planets.
They have a litany of excuses. July's too hot in the Colonial Capital. The tournament's held too near the start of the British Open. There's too much travel from here to there. It's too difficult to get acclimated to the British Open's cool, clammy conditions after a week wiping the sweat from your sweat.
Hurricane Bertha may change that last one this week, but those are the primary reasons just five of the top 50 money-winners on Tour this season are parking their courtesy cars in Williamsburg this week.
What bunk.
Wanna know where Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, John Daly, Jeff Sluman, Davis Love III, Brad Faxon and Scott Simpson, among others, were earlier this week?
Try Kenmore, Wash., participating in the Ernst Championship. That's a charity event Couples has put together in his hometown. Mickelson, the winner, took home $130,000. Couples, second, cashed a check for $65,000. The guy with the worst score, Jeff Coston, made $15,000.
According to Michelob executive director Johnnie Bender, there were four or five of these mini-tournaments this week alone. Whoever said charity begins at home must have been thinking of the PGA Tour.
The way I see it, there are five truly professional golfers at Kingsmill this week - Jay Haas, Blaine McCallister, Mike Hulbert, Tom Purtzer and Hal Sutton. It's not their swings. It's their attitude.
The first four played in Kenmore Monday and Tuesday. They then grabbed a late-night flight and arrived in Williamsburg at 2 Wednesday morning. Later in the day, each escorted a foursome around the course in the annual pro-am.
There are so many of these charity events competing with regular stops that, as recently as two weeks ago, Bender didn't have enough players to fill the pro portion of the field for the Orion Burkhardt Monday pro-am.
She was forced to send a letter to several of the stops prior to her event, begging for assistance from players who've sopped up millions of Anheuser-Busch money and an incredible list of freebies the past decade and a half.
Sutton called to say he'd seen her letter and was changing a previous commitment in order to help out.
Many, many more called to say thanks, but no thanks.
This despite the fact that this event has more outlandish perks than any stop on the circuit.
Every player in the field receives free use of a car for the week.
The nursery not only baby-sits players' kids, the workers there throw theme parties for them every day of tournament week, take them to Busch Gardens, the Colonial Village, Jamestown and museums in Hampton.
Tuesday night, the tournament staff hosted a barbecue for the players and their families - with clowns, and pony rides and a country-western singer.
The annual wives' program Wednesday featured a lecture and demonstration by Gary J. Prindiville, director of security for Anheuser-Busch and an expert in self-defense. Most places, there's a fashion show.
Did I mention the free passes to Busch Gardens and Water Country, U.S.A.?
There are 2,000 volunteers at Kingsmill this week, almost twice as many as at the average PGA Tour stop. They're the ones getting the shortest end of the stick, and have since Day One.
They don't count for much, not when there are 36-hole charity tournaments that pay the low man almost eight times what he'd make for bringing up the rear at a real tournament.
The PGA Tour loves to crow about how many millions its members raise for charity. But doesn't its membership have an obligation to golf fans in this area who've waited years to see more than a handful of players they've heard of?
Of course, it does. And the stars regularly choose to ignore that obligation. The result is that this tournament has received less return on its considerable investment of time, talent and money than any other stop on the Tour.
People 'round here say they can't wait for 1997, when the tournament moves to October and a spectacular field is anticipated. I'm no longer sure it's going to happen.
See, the leaves can be awfully crinkly here in the fall, and it's about a month 'til Thanksgiving and most of these guys really haven't spent the kind of time they'd like to with their wives and families. And there's this charity thing in Wyoming. ... ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MICHAEL HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Host pro Curtis Strange is one of the few name players fans can
follow this weekend. He expects a stronger field when the event
moves to October in 1997. ``Who knows?'' he says. ``We might get all
the guys who aren't here now.'' by CNB