DATE: Sunday, July 6, 1997                  TAG: 9707060167

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:  107 lines

MICHELOB OFFICIALS PLAN FOR TIGER - AND HOPE ORGANIZERS MUST DO LOTS OF WORK, EVEN THOUGH WOODS MIGHT NOT COME.

How does a PGA Tour event avoid getting caught with its pants down should Tiger Woods choose to grace the tournament with his presence?

Well, order more port-a-potties, for one.

The Michelob Championship at Kingsmill has done that. It has also increased its security force, brought more marshals on board, reserved more transportation buses and alerted food service providers about a potential onslaught.

Now, it just crosses its fingers and prays.

Michelob Championship executive director Johnnie Bender said there's probably a 50-50 chance that the blinding star of golf's galaxy will shine upon the Kingsmill River Course come Oct. 9-12. But three months before the tournament - which traditionally has run this week in Williamsburg - plans are being made just in case the 21-year-old Woods shows up.

The PGA Tour requires an event Woods plays in to be ``Tigerized,'' meaning there are Woods-specific rules that must be followed, relating primarily to extra security.

``We've put the right things in motion,'' Bender said. ``We haven't sat back and said, `He's not coming.' We've said `Let's prepare in case he does come.' ''

That 50-50 guess may be overly optimistic.

Woods is selective in setting his schedule, and already has a busy dance card around the time of the Michelob. The Ryder Cup is two weeks before the Michelob, which is followed immediately by the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic and the Las Vegas Invitational. Woods is the defending champion in both of those and will certainly play in them.

Where does that leave the Michelob? Quite possibly out of luck, although it's impossible to say definitively.

Woods' policy is not to announce his intentions until the Friday before a tournament, which is when the PGA Tour requires players to make a firm commitment. Bronwyn Harris, who works in public relations with IMG, the firm that represents Woods, said that policy is strictly adhered to in fairness to the fans.

``A lot of people would be very disappointed if they expected him to come and he changed his schedule,'' Harris said.

But a tournament doesn't have the luxury of waiting that long to prepare.

Woods' impact is immense. For example, at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic in Irving, Texas, two months ago, overflow record crowds of 260,000 jammed the TPC at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas to witness a Woods victory. The previous weekly attendance record for the 30-year-old tournament was 150,000. Saturday's gallery numbered 75,000; Sunday's was 85,000.

With record crowds come headaches. A lot of the fans Woods is drawing to the game do not know course etiquette, and other players have complained of problems with flash bulbs, loud talking at inappropriate times, cell phone conversations during play and fans running to the next hole to get a glimpse of Tiger.

``We know with Tiger comes a different package,'' Bender said.

But if a tournament is fortunate enough to land him, it's an attractive package despite the few warts. A Woods sighting at Kingsmill would certainly obliterate the tournament's weekly attendance record of 120,018. With that comes increased revenue, as well as increased television ratings.

CBS, which will broadcast the Michelob, can vouch for that.

Three times this year, Woods has been in contention on a Sunday in a tournament televised by CBS. At the MasterCard Colonial, the ratings jumped to 5.9, a 127 percent increase over the tournament's Sunday broadcast of the previous year. At the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Sunday ratings were 5.2, a 79 percent increase over the previous year. At the Masters, Sunday ratings were 14.1, a 53 percent increase over the previous year. That Sunday Masters, despite Woods winning in a rout, was the most-watched telecast in golf history, with an estimated 44 million viewers.

But at the MCI Classic the following week, with Tiger on a holiday, CBS ratings plunged to an all-time low average for the tournament of 2.2.

Considering that a title sponsor like Michelob purchases about half of the network's advertising time during a tournament, how do you suppose the Anheuser-Busch honchos in St. Louis feel about the importance of bagging Tiger?

``Anheuser-Busch as a corporation would like to have him there,'' said an understated Bill Rammes, chairman and president of Busch properties and the executive chairman of the Michelob Championship. ``It would be the same for any tournament.''

PGA Tour rules, however, do not allow tournaments to offer inducements to players, such as ``Tiger, have a brewery, on us.'' But tournaments are allowed to lobby players.

``The pressure on the tour is to have the best field you can have, and the best field today includes Tiger,'' Bender said. ``There's no question there have been conversations about Tiger and whether I anticipate he'll play. Certainly the corporation would like to have him here.''

Bender has talked to Woods' father, Earl, and agent Hughes Norton to extend an invitation, and has written letters as well.

``I think we've made the gestures, we've talked to the right people who can get the message across,'' Bender said.

She is optimistic in part because the tournament comes late in the year. If the records-conscious Woods, currently first on the PGA Tour money list, is in competition for the money title, he may drop in on Kingsmill.

The Michelob has offered sponsor's exemptions to Woods the last two years when he was an amateur. Although he did not accept, Bender believes that will pay off eventually.

``Tiger's father did tell me he would remember our kindness,'' Bender said. ``I think down the road we will have him here.''

How far down the road, who knows? But if it's this fall, be prepared: all roads leading to Kingsmill will be jammed.

``We'd be parking people down in Virginia Beach and busing them up here,'' Bender said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS file photo

Tiger Woods' policy is not to announce his intentions until the

Friday before a tournament, which is when the PGA Tour requires

players to commit.

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