Golf becomes contact sport for Woods

Golf became a contact sport for Tiger Woods on Wednesday, possibly knocking him out of the $4 million Pebble Beach Pro-Am and definitely proving his worries about course security were well founded.s

After finishing a practice round for the tournament that starts Thursday on three Monterey Peninsula courses, the defending champion was engulfed by a group of autograph-seeking fans near the 18th green at Pebble Beach.

One man got under Woods' foot and the world number one twisted his left knee, leaving his title defence in question.

"My weight, his weight going forward coming at me, hyperextended my knee," Woods told reporters.

"I can't hit balls right now, no way," Woods added. "I tried to swing. It's not going to happen today.

"People get aggressive. It's one of the reasons we have the security we have," Woods said.

"Some people say we have too much, but it's for incidents like this. Unfortunately it happened today," he said.

Woods will test the knee early Thursday morning before deciding if he can play the tournament that began more than 50 years ago as the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, an event as famous for awful weather on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula as it is for the celebrity amateurs.

Among those entered this year are comedian Bill Murray, who played the deranged groundskeeper in the classic golf comedy "Caddy Shack", ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, baseball superstar Ken Griffey Junior, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young and his favourite receiver Jerry Rice.

Woods is paired with Jerry Chang, his onetime Stanford University teammate.

When asked the odds against his being able to play, Woods said: "They are up there."

Tiger's coach, Butch Harmon, was less pessimistic. "I think he'll play," Harmon said.

Woods won the 2000 title by overcoming a seven-shot deficit over the final seven holes to extend his PGA Tour victory streak to six titles and foreshadow greater success to come.

Four and a half months later, Woods returned to Pebble Beach and won the U.S. Open with a record 12-under par score.

NOT FAR OFF

In two events so far this season, Woods finished eighth as defending champion at the Mercedes Classic and fifth last week in Phoenix, where Mark Calcavecchia shot 256, the lowest score ever in a PGA Tour event.

"I'm not that far off," Woods said of his game. "I feel like I'm hitting good solid shots. I'm hitting good putts that are just a little off.

"Sunday (at Phoenix) I got on a little roll there. I was 7-under in seven holes, which was nice. That's kind of back to where I was last year," Woods said. "All at once I had a couple of putts go in and started to get it going."

Among those challenging for Woods's title will be Calcavecchia, coming off his record-setting performance, Mark O'Meara, looking to regain his competitive edge at 41, and David Duval, who has played well in this event in the past.

Each player in the field will play a round on the Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Poppy Hills courses before the cut is made. The final round will be contested at Pebble Beach.

The event has been battered by Pacific storms over the last half-decade. The 1996 tournament was cancelled after two rounds, the '98 tournament had to be completed in August and in 1999, Payne Stewart was declared the winner when the event was called after 54 holes.

This year, however, the weather has been perfect for practice rounds and the forecast is for dry weather through Sunday.