Long-Hitting Daly One of the Variables in Masters Equation

The Masters is still, what, a week away, but it’s never too early to pull our heads out of the azaleas and try to figure out who’s going to win the thing. It’s a tough job, but we’re just the people to do it.

Right now, about the only thing that seems certain is that Tiger Woods is the favorite. Big surprise here. After all, he only shot a record 18 under par and won by a record 12 shots last year at Augusta National, where the only thing longer than his tee shots was the line of cars down Washington Road just outside the front gates.

In his last two events, Woods tied for 13th at Bay Hill, where he finished with a 77, then tied for 35th at The Players Championship, where he finished two over. After six events, Woods ranks No. 2 in driving distance on the PGA Tour, and he’s tied for 95th in putting.

None of this probably matters, because it’s generally agreed that Augusta National--with no rough and short enough to be overpowered by someone with Woods’ length--was made for the defending champion.

We’ll see about that, but there are more than a few contenders, even a couple of dark horses, who promise to make things interesting by the back nine on Sunday.

John Daly: Don’t laugh. He’s No. 1 in driving distance (301.4 yards), but he’s also No. 1 in putting and regarded as having one of the best touches around the greens. Daly didn’t play last year because he was in alcohol rehabilitation. His best finish at Augusta National was third in 1993.

Justin Leonard: His victory on Sunday at The Players Championship was his third come-from-behind, including the Kemper Open and the British Open. He can putt, which we saw at Troon. He has played three previous Masters and tied for seventh last year.

Davis Love III: Now that he has won a major, can he win the Masters? He finished second to Ben Crenshaw in 1995 and tied for seventh last year, so you’d have to say he’s going to be in the hunt.

Ernie Els: He’s going to be watched very closely at Augusta National, where he tied for 17th last year. Els is strong, he hits it a mile and he has patience--witness his two U.S. Open titles. Els has nine top 10s in the 22 majors he has played.

Phil Mickelson: He finished third in 1996 but missed the cut last year. The talk is how Mickelson hasn’t proved himself in a major championship. That has to end sometime.

Colin Montgomerie: He tied for 30th last year and was swamped by Woods, but Montgomerie is hitting more right-to-left balls than ever, playing more on the PGA Tour than ever and might have more of a chance this year than ever.

There are many others, including Nick Faldo, who hasn’t putted worth a darn (No. 135 on the PGA Tour), but might actually be able to will a ball into the hole. Long shots include Lee Westwood, a long-hitter from England; John Huston, Tom Lehman, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jim Furyk and, yes, Greg Norman.

The runner-up to Faldo in 1996, Norman missed the cut last year. This year, he finished 27th in a 30-player field at La Costa, missed the cut at Doral and withdrew from The Players Championship.

TIGER UPDATE

Stop me if this sounds familiar. . . . Woods leaves a bunch of putts short at The Players Championship, finishes back in the pack, goes back home to Isleworth near Orlando, Fla., to work on his game, says he’s not that far off. . . .

You saw the same series of events last year, just before Woods torched Augusta National at the Masters. About the only scenario missing in this year’s Masters preparation is shooting 59 at Isleworth while playing with buddy Mark O’Meara.

Woods has been working on his game with his coach, Butch Harmon, and that has led to some favorable speculation on the part of another part of Team Tiger--his agent, Hughes Norton of IMG.

“We all feel he’s just as well prepared, if not more so, than at this time last year,” Norton said. “He’s really worked hard, even if his scores recently don’t reflect that.”

Woods tied for 35th at Sawgrass with ho-hum rounds of 72-73-73-72, 12 shots behind Leonard. However, Woods seemed to spend the week preparing himself for Augusta, as he did last year when he tied for 31st, but kept leaving his putts short to get him accustomed to the pace of the greens at Augusta National.

Tiger watchers will be interested to know that’s not all Woods was doing at Sawgrass.

“He also was hitting a lot of draws off the tee,” Norton said. “Basically, he’s doing everything which he did last year. The majors are really all that matters to him. I mean, you’ve got a tournament with a $720,000 first prize and he’s content to use it as a tuneup. I don’t mean that to sound arrogant.”

SIX MINUS ONE DOES EQUAL FIVE

As part of an article in this week’s Golf World, Dan Jenkins was one of 20 people, from George Wallace to Jim Brown to Maya Angelou to Dan Quayle to David Halberstam, who were asked to comment on Woods’ victory at Augusta National last year.

While 19 others had only favorable comments, Jenkins was his typical gruff self, saying in part: “If you want to quote me, say it puts him five behind Nicklaus. He’s got a lot more to do. He destroyed the golf course: It was an amazing sight in that sense, but it was four days.”

Anyway, it’s going to be very interesting when Woods accepts his player-of-the-year award at the Golf Writers Assn. of America banquet Wednesday night in Augusta. Jenkins is introducing Woods.

THESE ODDS AREN’T ODD

For what it’s worth, the Masters favorites according to Golf Digest look this way: Woods is 5-1, Els is 15-1, Fred Couples, David Duval, Love, Mickelson and Norman are 20-1, and Faldo, Lehman and Montgomerie are 22-1. Daly is 100-1.

HANDS OFF MY DOG

The LPGA Tour clearly is going to the dogs. There are almost as many pet dogs on tour as caddies. Liselotte Neumann has Pee Wee. Colleen Walker has Hershey, Dottie Pepper has Furman, Emilee Klein has Callie, Donna Andrews has Zoe and Derby, Annika Sorenstam has Nelson . . . sorry, my mistake, that’s her cat.

And Rosie Jones has, well, dare we reveal the dog’s name?

Now, Jones is a terrific golfer, but she doesn’t seem to have a complete grasp of this pet thing yet. At the Nabisco Dinah Shore, Jones said, yes, she has a dog, but no, she didn’t want to tell anybody his name. Jones eventually relented--his name is Judd--but not before explaining her no-name tactic.

“If people know his name, somebody might steal him,” Jones said.

Makes perfect sense. Nobody steals a dog unless they know its name.

CADDIE SUIT

This isn’t going to make the PGA Tour very happy: In November, the PGA Tour Championship is going to be held at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta, where two former caddies have filed a lawsuit accusing the country club of discrimination.

East Lake, the former home club of Bobby Jones, has played a huge role in efforts to turn a nearby poverty-ridden housing project into a mixed-income community. The two ex-caddies--one Latino and one black--allege they were paid less by the club and referred to as “you people” by white supervisors. They also allege they were forced to take drug tests that others were not and denied promotions and educational opportunities between 1995-97 because of their race.

A spokesman for the East Lake Community Foundation, which operates the club, called the allegations “preposterous.”

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Mark Pfeil and Jeff Hart are among local pros who will play in a pro-am event May 4 at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. The event benefits the Little Company of Mary Hospital Foundation. Details: (310) 543-6901. . . . The Crean Classic tournament will be played April 20 at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel. The event benefits the Orange County Alzheimer Assn. Details: (714) 283-1111.