Last Event Woods Can Profit From

LA QUINTA — As far as golf events go, it’s going to be a nice coronation. That would be the Skins Game, starring Tiger Woods, who is playing in his last tournament of the year. Honest.

Actually, it’s the last one if you don’t count his little made-for-TV combination love-fest and golf outing featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Jeff Gordon and maybe Michael Jordan and Will Smith in a couple of weeks.

Beginning today at Rancho La Quinta, it’s Woods plus Mark O’Meara, Tom Lehman and David Duval in the $600,000 Skins Game.

Duval is a late replacement for Fred Couples, who withdrew because his father is seriously ill. O’Meara is in because he’s Woods’ personal security blanket, and Lehman is in because he was voted in by a panel of experts put together by OCC, the outfit that owns the event.

The Skins Game format is pretty simple. The first six holes are worth $20,000 apiece to the winner, the next six $30,000 apiece, the next five $40,000 each and the 18th hole is worth $100,000.

Of course, the money means little to the guys playing for it. Woods won the money title on the PGA Tour this year with $2.06 million, Duval was second with $1.7 million, O’Meara 13th with $1.1 million and Lehman 19th with $960,584.

Actually, there might be something at stake for Woods, though. It’s his last chance to leave an impression on his peers, who are going to cast votes for player of the year.

Woods is the favorite, although there is a lot of sentiment for Davis Love III. They finished first and third on the money list and each won a major. But Woods won four times in 1997 and Love won twice.

Jay Haas called the vote a toss-up, but Tom Kite said he thinks it’s going to be Woods. Couples said Woods casts a long shadow and Lehman said there’s no question at all.

“There’s a lot of guys that had some good years, but Tiger won four times and won a major,” Lehman said. “Tiger Woods, without question, had the best year of anyone. Even though Davis played well, Tiger is, hands down, the player of the year.”

By Sunday afternoon, the cash register will ring one last time to end Woods’ first full year on the tour. And it has indeed been a very good year for the player who has his own corporation (Tiger Woods Enterprises), his own tournament (Tiger Invitational) and his own foundation (Tiger Woods Foundation).

He’s very likely to also have his very own player-of-the-year award after the voting, which could be a popularity contest between Love, who is very popular with his fellow pros, and Woods, who probably isn’t quite as popular.

Lee Janzen and Brad Faxon, who were Ryder Cup teammates of Woods, said there’s no way anyone would vote for anything except ability.

That seems to leave Woods on his way to an even grander 1998. But Peter Jacobsen said there is a key for Woods next year.

“Humanize Tiger,” Jacobsen said. ‘Turn him into a receptive guy like Freddie [Couples] or [Steve] Elkington or [Greg] Norman or [Craig] Stadler. The best thing for Tiger is to be an approachable superstar.

“If I were going to give advice to IMG [the agency that represents Woods], the next step is to develop the other side of being an idol.

“Right now, people don’t connect with Tiger. They connect with [Couples]. People know more about [caddie] Fluff Cowan than Tiger. . . . The average Joe knows more about how much money Tiger has than what kind of music he likes. I think that’s a mistake.”

If so, then it’s one of the few Woods has made, especially for a player of the year.