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PAGE 8THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, April 5,2000 Approach Shots Where they're playing PGA Tour this.week .NEXT UP: The Masters, April fi 7 9, Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club. THE BUZZ: Tiger Woods looks for his second green jacket and the course suits his game, but Phil Mickelson is hoi with two victories this season, including last week at the BellSouth Classic. TV: LISA, Thu.-I : ri. (l.ive coverage, -1-6:30 p.m., repealed from V-11:30 p.m.); CBS, Sal. (Live coverage, coverage, 3:30-6 p.m., highlights, highlights, 11:33-11:50 p.m.), Sun. (Live coverage, -1-7 p.m., highlight's; 11:35-11:50 .p,m.). The Odds Following are a sampling of odds to win the Masters, according to London bookmaker William HiH: Tiger Woods 94 David Duval 12-1 Davis Love III 16-1 Colin Montgomerie 18-1 Ernie Els 20-1 Phil Mickelson 25-1 Jim Furyk 28-1 Tom Lehman 28-1 Jesper Parnevik 33-1 Nick Price 33-1 Hal Sutlon 33-1 Loe Westwood 33-1 Fred Couples 40-1 Justin Leonard 40-1 Viiay Singh 40-1 Sergio Garcia 50-1 John Huston 50-1 Greg Norman 50-1 Mark O'Meara 50-1 José Maria Olazâbal 50-1 * speculation» from the man out fient Masters tuneup He is 60, and he's equipped with an artificial hip, but the Forecaddie reminds ... lie's still the Golden Bear. ,, Jack Nicklaus has awakened his donnant golf game at just die right time. The Masters is upon us, and Nicklaus, a six-time winner at Augusta National Golf Club, tuned up with a flourish April 2 in the final round of the Tradition in .Scottsdale, Ariz. Nicklaus shot a 5-under-par 67 and finished at 1-under-par 287 for the 72 holes, playing die last 24 holes at 8 under. The 67 was Nicklaus' best .round since a final-round 67 at die 1998 U.S. Senior Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Only Howard Twitty's 66 beat Nicklaus for low final-round score. "This," Nicklaus told die Forecaddie, "is very encouraging. It's been a while." Nicklaus' teacher, Jim Flick, noticed a difference in his pupil. "He played golf today," said Flick, "and his body language is ■better." . Nicklaus always has been able to re-energize himself at Augusta National, but he said the time is drawing near when dial might not lie die case. "I enjoy the golf course, but it is getting to the point where die golf course is a little too strong for me," said Nicklaus, who won his last Masters in 1986 at age 46. "I don't have die lengtii I once had, •and diey keep lengthening die golf course." Georgia Peaches Colin Montgomerie chose not to play last week's BellSouth Classic because he doesn't particularly particularly care for die TPC at Sugarloaf. But on his way to Augusta from ,TPC at Sawgrass, lie stopped by the BellSouth the day before die ^opening round to test out some new equipment on the practice . tee. However, after about an hour, PGA Tour officials infonned Monty lie was in violation of die mies , and had to leave. During an official Tour event, the course and practice iireas are open only to competing professionals and die lop 10 alternates. alternates. Shoo, .lly And speaking of Georgia, the man out front happened happened to drop in at the Golf Club of Georgia during BellSoutii week and encountered this star-studded .foursome: Sergio Garcia, U.S. Amateur champion David Gossett, Australian Often champion Aaron Baddeley and Victor Garcia, Sergio's father and teacher, wlio is considering going to the Senior PGA Tour Q-School. ,,,-t:srBi33sn3e "This is a big | milestone for me. I proved to myself that I can win out here. " - PGA Tour rookie Gary Nicklaus, runner-up at the BellSouth Classic FROM THE EDITORS OF GOLFWEEK (www. GOLi-WERK.COM) April 3-9,2000 Defending Master Olazabal drives for confidence BY JEFF RUDE D , - IFFERENT year, same quandary. José Maria Olazabal and the driver, adversaries. adversaries. He has stmgglecl off the tee since at least 1998. Big crooked stick, little confidence. He did win his second Masters on those wide Augusta National fairways in 1999, but he sat out the weekend at the next three majors. Spray jobs all. "I couldn't hit a fairway," Olazabal said of the U.S. Open and British Open. "Out of 14 I'd hit maybe three or four fairways. It was quite depressing." The year, even considering that one splendid week in Georgia, was one of his worst. He finished better than 10th in only one other medal tournament. He ended up No. 32 on the PGA European Tour Older of Merit, only his third time out of the top nine in a dozen full seasons. He broke his hand punching a wall in frustration after an opening 75 at the U.S. Open. l ie blew a singles lead to Justin Leonard and his European side lost the Ryder Cup. Mainly he drove it crummy. And it weighed on his mind from one millennium to the next. "The only way to get positive is to see the ball fly in the middle of the fairway," \ \ -, Olazabal said. "The woods and water are ' not good. They are not a builder of confidence." confidence." Most of his misses have been to the right. His clubface has tended to open at impact, leading to a push-fade. But left wasn't out of the question, either. So, enough being enough, in January Olazabal got on an airplane in his native Spain and flew to London to see renowned 75-year-old instructor John Jacobs at nearby Wentworth. The erudite Englishman, tutor to Olazabal for nearly two decades, made one major change over two days: a stronger grip. Olazabal, 34, has long had one of the weakest grips in professional golf. Jacobs had considered recommending the alteration before but didn't tinker because Olazabal has been so accurate accurate hitting irons. But now it was time to turn the left hand toward the right on the grip. "He's not as bad a driver as : he thinks he is; he's talking his way down," Jacobs said from England. "On the other hand, lie had lost confidence. He drives it perfect for me after five minutes, minutes, but then goes to the first tee and has problems. It had become so mental." The grip change felt "horrible" at first, but Olazabal suddenly could set up right and hit a natural draw down the right side of the fairway. "That's good," he told Jacobs, "because normally I'd be deep in the right rough." Jacobs and Olazabal see each other about three times a year. They have had their argumentative moments over the years while working mostly at tournament sites. Eights that other people would notice, Jacobs called them. "We'd both be uptight because we wanted it so much," the teacher said. "But I get the nicest notes from him in Christmas cards." • In January, they worked away from the usual traffic of tournaments, and in calm, and both came away encouraged. Their only concern was that the stronger grip might cause Olazabal to hook his iron shots and fight going left. For that reason, Jacobs told him not to be afraid using a weak grip with shorter clubs, a practice of Arnold Palmer, among others. "You have to have the same grip throughout the set," Jacobs said. "Teachers will tell you that, but champions won't necessarily necessarily do that." Post-advice, early signs are that Olazabal is driving the ball straighten In the first round of the WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play, for instance, he missed only three fairways. "There's no reason I shouldn't be a good driver," said Olazabal, the superb scrambler who won the '99 Masters despite ranking 64th in driving accuracy and 55th in distance. "The changes will take a while to gel comfortable with, but they have put me in the rigid direction. I hope to see improvement throughout the season." Jacobs expects it. "I can't see into the future, but I think his best golf is ahead of him," the coach said. "He's a champion. He's another one who can will his way to win. Without a shadow shadow of a doubt, technique is secondary to heart. Jack Nicklaus is a perfect example. There are a lot of people with better golf swings, but look at Jack's record. On the 72nd hole, he's trying to win, not trying not to lose." Confidence certainly is vital to Olazabal. He seems to respond to pep talks. Seve Ballesteros went out of his way to call the slumping Olazabal the "best player in the world" before the -1993 Ryder Cup, and Olazabal responded by winning two team matches. Ballesteros sent him a note of encouragement before the final round of the 1994 Masters, and Olazabal won. Last year, Gaty Player gave him an inspirational talk two nights before the Masters started, and feeling more relaxed and confident, confident, the son of a greenskeeper won again. Olazabal arrived last year at Augusta having won 17 times on the PGA European Tour and four times in America. But he tied for 52nd and missed the cut the two |; ; previous weeks, and his confidence was low. He was ! three years removed from thinking he might not ever play, or even walk, again because of nagging injuries to his feet. The Player sermon helped. But nothing lifted his spirits spirits more than a second-round 66 en route to an 8-under- par 280, two strokes better than Davis Love III and three ahead of Greg Norman. He won primarily because of iron accuracy and a remarkable short game. He got up and down 21 times in 28 tries, a 75 percent success rate. He had rio three putts for the week. 1 Tliis year, Olazabal knows Tiger Woods is favored to win. But he also knows how confidence and momentum can switch. There's driving, then there's drive. "If I'm playing my best, I'm going to make things hard on Tiger," Olazabal said. "I think most lop players in the world think that. Otherwise there's no reason to tee off." Go/fweek/Sagarin Performance Index 7k Performance Index is a worldwide worldwide rating of pro golfers. Each player's rating is a numerical measure measure of ability, roughly equal to that golfer's typical one-round score. The.difference'between two players' ratings indicates the expected difference of strokes per round between those players. Name Rating 1. Karrie Webb 69.05 2. Juli 'Inkster 69.74 3. Se Ri Pak 69.88 4. Annika Sorenstam 70.01 5. Mi Hyun Kim 70.38 6. Dottle Pepper 70.44 7. Laura Davies 70.44 8. Sherri Steinhauer 70.45 9. Meg Mallon 70.47 10. Lorie Kane 70.53 11. Rosie Jones 70.80 12. Maria Hjorth 71,04 13. Janice Moodie 71.08 14. Emilee Klein 71.12 15. Jenny Lidback 71,19 16. Beth Daniel 71,19 17. Michele Redman 71.20 18. Tina Barrett 71.24 19. Rachel Hetherington 71.30 20. Grace Park 71.31 21. Kelli Kuehne 71.51 22. Liselotte Neumann 71.56 23. Pat Hurst .71.60 24. Leta Lindley 71.64 25. Garin Koch 71.64 26. Ok-HeeKti 71.68 27. Nancy Scranton 71.68 28. Hiromi Kobayashi 71.69 29. Alison Nicholas -, .71.71 30. Mayunii Hirase 71.72 31. Nancy Lopez 71.75 32. Becky Iverson 71.77 33. Akiko Fukushima 71.78 34. Betsy King 71.83 35. Tammie Green 71.83 36. Charlotte Sorenstam 71.85 37. Wendy Doolan 71.87 38. Kelly Robbins 71.88 39. Catrin Nilsmark ',71.89 40. Trish Johnson 71.91 41. Chris Johnson 71.93 Huan 8 Yu ' chen 42. Jane Geddes 71.94 43. Catriona Matthew 71.97 44. Donna Andrews 71.98 45. Kaori Higo 72.01 46. Pearl Sinn 72.05 47. Cindy Figg Currier... 48. Yuri Fudoh 72.10 49. Helen Dobson 72.14 50. Fumiko Muraguchi 72.16 51. Jill McGill 72; 16 52. Jan Stephenson 72.18 53. Michiko Hattori .72,22 54. Sherri Turner 72,25 55. Laura Philo 72.25 56. Kim Saiki 72.26 57. Barb. Mucha 72.28 58. Helen Alfredsson 72.32 59. Cindy McCurdy 72.33 60. Kristi Albers .72.38 61. Aki Takamura 72.41 62.. Gristle Kerr 72.42 63. Jane Grafter 72.44 64. Tracy Hanson 72.44 y. .-Y"' ©olfQlub Operated .Bp Thundcrbird Oolf Qlub ::5f» presents^ wsm THE VIC CLASSIC GOLF ACADEMY ■ For Every Level Of Golfer , Y 5: : ■Taught And Supervised By CPGÀ Teaching Professionals ■ Complete Golf Education. ■Adult Programs BeginTUes. May,2. ■Junior Camps Begin July 3,10 & 17. 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