- Publish date:
This Week
March 11-17
PGA
Honda Classic, TPC at Herron Bay, Coral Springs, Fla.
John Daly, Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie give the Honda plenty
of horsepower
LPGA
Welch's/Circle K Championship, Randolph Park Golf Course
(North), Tucson
Defending champ Donna Andrews thirsts for another Welch's; she
also won here in '94
Senior
Toshiba Classic, Newport Beach (Calif.) Country Club
Hale Irwin may be road-weary after playing the Senior Slam on
Monday and Tuesday
Europe
Moroccan Open, Royal Links, Agadir, Morocco
At Royal Links the most famous golfing Clinton is '97 Moroccan
champ Clinton Whitelaw
PGA Tour
Now Showing: Crocodile Appleby
G'day, and welcome to Australian rules golf. The Florida stretch
of the Tour, starting last week at Doral and now continuing at
the TPC at Herron Bay (right) has a distinct Down Under accent.
Only a yobbo far from a newsagent wouldn't know all's apples for
the Aussies in March. Greg Norman and Steve Elkington won Doral
in 1996 and '97, respectively, and Elk went on to win last
year's Players Championship. The defending champ at this week's
Honda Classic is Stuart Appleby, a former Australian rules
footballer who was on a good wicket--making good money, you
Yanks would say--when he finished second at Bay Hill the week
after winning the '97 Honda. He wound up 18th on the money list
with $1,003,356, not bad considering that his '96 season, when
he finished 130th and returned to Q school, wasn't worth a
crumpet.
NBC, SATURDAY, 3:30 PM, AND SUNDAY, 3 PM
LPGA
Returning to the Site Of Sweet Victory
For Donna Andrews, 1997 was a year of grape juice and roses. Her
victory at the Welch's/Circle K ended a 2 1/2-year dry spell and
sparked a season in which she had 10 top-10 finishes and the
lowest stroke average (71.01) of her career. Annika Sorenstam
wasn't at her grapest here last year--she held a three-shot lead
on Sunday but triple-bogeyed the 9th hole when she hit into the
drink. Andrews should contend again, but the favorites, as
always, are Sorenstam and Karrie Webb, neither of whom has
fulfilled her grape expectations at the Welch's.
Senior Tour
They Keep Going and Going and Going....
The flat-bellies play 72 holes, the round-bellies go 54. Hardly
anybody stops after 63 holes. But last year Bob Murphy subdued
Jay Sigel with an 80-foot birdie putt on their ninth playoff
hole at the Toshiba Senior Classic, ending the longest Senior
playoff ever. Alas, Murphy's feat had barely hit the record
books when David Graham and Dave Stockton went 10 extra holes at
this year's Royal Caribbean Classic. The Seniors may be past
their primes, but they seem ever ready to play on into prime
time. Defending champion Murphy, '96 champ Jim Colbert and '95
winner George Archer return to the Toshiba this week along with
Hale Irwin, Gil Morgan and Lee Trevino.
ESPN, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, 5:30 PM
COLOR PHOTO: SCOTT WOHRMAN [Aerial view of Herron Bay golf course]
