For Tolles, Maggert's 65 Exacts a Toll

By THOMAS BONK

Aug. 18, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MAMARONECK, N.Y. —

Here’s the latest Ryder Cup news: Jeff Maggert is in, Tommy Tolles is out.

Maggert, who had to finish at least eighth in the PGA to make the team on points, shot a closing 65 and finished third in the championship. That knocked Tolles from No. 9 to No. 11, which means he isn’t going to Valderrama unless Tom Kite uses a captain’s pick on him.

Tolles didn’t exactly fold. He finished with a 66, good enough to tie for 13th.

Tolles, who has not played Ryder Cup, said he thinks he knows which way Kite is leaning and that it isn’t his way.

“He’s looking for experience,” Tolles said. “Do I deserve it? I don’t know. That’s for Tom to say. To be honest, he has to choose players with a lot of Ryder Cup experience. That was explained to me.”

If Kite doesn’t choose Tolles with one of his two picks?

“I would totally understand,” Tolles said.

Many believe Fred Couples is a cinch to be chosen, although Couples shot 73-75 over the weekend and finished tied for 29th.

Tolles said Kite canvassed many of the players about who they might choose.

“It’s not like everybody came out and said ‘Freddie,’ ” Tolles said. “A lot of guys are disappointed with Freddie’s lackadaisical attitude. But he played real well at the British and played well here.”

Speculation on Kite’s second pick centers on Lee Janzen, David Duval, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart, Hale Irwin and Kite himself.

Janzen is 15th on the points list, Duval 16th, Couples 17th, Watson 18th and Kite 19th. Irwin plays the Senior PGA Tour and does not have any Ryder Cup points.

Kite’s two captain’s picks will be announced at a news conference today.

Maggert was pleased he had played his way onto the team.

“I did everything I wanted to do today,” he said. “It’s been a tough week. Three months ago, I wanted to make the Ryder Cup team. It took until the last day to get it done.”

John Daly’s rocky return to major championship golf took another bumpy twist when he engaged in a sharp verbal exchange with a rules official in the final round.

Daly, trying to drive the 324-yard sixth green, hit an extreme hook that ended up behind a rain shelter near the seventh tee. He had an angle to the green, but his line of sight to the pin was obstructed.

A PGA Championship rules official was called in, but Daly was denied relief because the shelter was an immovable obstruction.

Daly asked to appeal to a PGA Tour official but was denied the request.

“I had something like this at Hartford and got a drop,” an angry Daly said to PGA Championship rules official Ed Hoard.

“You guys are making different rulings every day. This is ridiculous.”

Daly hit a flop shot from the rough short of the green, then chipped up and missed his putt and made a bogey. He finished with a 70 for a six-over 286.

The tense confrontation came one day after Daly tossed his driver over a fence on the 12th hole after a wild tee shot.

Five of the top eight finishers in the PGA--Love, Justin Leonard, Maggert, Furyk and Hoch--are on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Overnight ratings for Saturday’s CBS coverage of the PGA was up 59% over last year to a 4.6 and a 13 share.

It was the highest third-round overnight rating at the PGA in 11 years.

For what it’s worth, Ernie Els’ ace at the par-three, 182-yard 10th was the 28th hole in one at the PGA since 1970. The only player with two? Peter Oosterhuis had aces in 1976 and 1982.

In the Tiger Tips section of this month’s Golf Digest, Tiger Woods explained how he uses his three-wood to chip.

Woods double-bogeyed the 17th hole Saturday after he hit a chip shot with his three-wood and moved the ball only about two feet.

Woods’ final-round 75 was his worst in 62 rounds this year. He finished at six-over 286 in a 12-way tie with Couples, Daly, Stewart and Phil Mickelson, among others.

In the last three majors, Woods is 12-over par.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Ryder Cup

A look at the standings for the 1997 Ryder Cup to be played Sept. 26-28 at Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, and how the players fared in the PGA Championship. The top 10 finishers will qualify for the 12-man teams. U.S. captain Tom Kite and European captain Seve Ballesteros will select two players at large to complete each team:

UNITED STATES

Final

No. Player: Finish

1. Tiger Woods: +6 (T29)

2. Justin Leonard: -6 (2)

3. Tom Lehman: +3 (T10)

4. Davis Love III: -11 (1)

5. Jim Furyk: +1 (T6)

6. Phil Mickelson: +6 (T29)

7. Jeff Maggert: -4 (3)

8. Mark O’Meara: +4 (T13)

9. Scott Hoch: +1 (T6)