Woods, Els ‘Bridges’ Partners

One thing you can say about the four years of Tiger Woods’ prime-time golf matches in the summer: They’re evolving.

Two years ago, it was mixed teams -- Tiger-Annika Sorenstam playing David Duval-Karrie Webb. Last year, it was guys-geezers -- Tiger-Jack Nicklaus against Sergio Garcia-Lee Trevino.

And in July, it’s going to be an all-guy thing -- Tiger-Ernie Els against Phil Mickelson-Garcia.

Because the best-ball match-play event is moving to a new venue, at Rancho Santa Fe, the ABC show is now called “Battle at the Bridges” instead of “Battle at Bighorn” or “Showdown at Sherwood.”

This might turn out to be the best of the lot, because it involves the players ranked Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 8. ABC will broadcast the event from 5--8 p.m. PDT on July 28, eight days after the British Open at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England.

The national Nielsen ratings for last year’s matchup were 5.1. In 1999, Woods-Duval had a 6.9 and Woods-Garcia in 2000 had a 7.6. The matches involving the LPGA players had a 6.1 rating.

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At Nike Golf, they’re saying goodbye to general manager Chris Zimmerman, who is leaving to head up Bauer Nike Hockey. Zimmerman is a former advertising guru at Saatchi and Saatchi who worked on the campaign that came up with the famous slogan, “Where’s the beef?” This probably means Zimmerman has a head start on the next slogan at his new post: “Where’s the puck?”

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Quote of the week: From Peter Jacobsen on the potential street scene at the Masters: “It’s going to be freaks on parade. I tell you what, if you just bring out a lounge chair and camp out on the other side of Washington Road and flip up the Barcalounger, it could be something else.”

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It was a good week for David Leadbetter, the Orlando instructor who saw two players he has worked with win tournaments -- Scott Hoch at Doral and David Eger at the Champions Tour event at Mexico City. Leadbetter could have made it three winners, but Els lost by one shot at Dubai on the European Tour.

Said Leadbetter: “Ernie is supremely confident with all facets of his game, both physically and mentally, and that confidence is pulling him along.”

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Els was edged out at Dubai by the longest of longshots, 593rd-ranked Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands, who never had a top-10 finish in a European Tour event and made his card on his sixth trip to qualifying school. He closed with a 65.

Derksen, 29, hadn’t won since he was an amateur eight years ago, was the first alternate at Dubai and made it into the field when Woods pulled out.

“This is the biggest shock of my life,” Derksen said.

It probably came close to being the same for Els, who still has four victories and two seconds in six stroke-play tournaments worldwide. He lost in the first round of the match-play event at La Costa.

“What are you going to do?” Els said. “One guy comes out of the pack and beats you. He played well, so it’s one of those things.”

Meanwhile, Els continues to look strong as his showdown with Woods at Bay Hill comes next week. In his six stroke-play tournaments, Els is 117 under par. Woods has two victories in four 2003 events.

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Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus will play Bay Hill, but probably not together.