Associated Press
Wednesday, November 8

SOTOGRANDE, Spain -- One of the most frequently redesigned holes in golf has been tweaked again: the 17th at Valderrama.

A year ago in the final round of the American Express Championship, Tiger Woods hit a 9-iron approach that landed just beyond the pin on the par-5. The ball nearly stopped, then gained speed down the sloping green and dropped into the pond guarding the front edge.

Woods took a triple-bogey and was forced into a playoff, beating Miguel Angel Jimenez on the first hole.

Valderrama was designed by Robert Trent Jones, but No. 17 was redone several times since then by Seve Ballesteros. The Spaniard added the pond, changed the green several times, shaved mounds around the green -- and was generally criticized for the remake.

Now there's been another change, and it doesn't involve Ballesteros. The front of the green has been raised by about 1½ inches and generally flattened.

"Well, that's good I guess," Woods said.

Darren Clarke didn't even notice the tinkering.

"It is still the same, I won't say whether that's good or bad," Clarke said.

A par-71 for the 1997 Ryder Cup and last year's tournament, Valderrama has been upped to a par-72. The tee at No. 7 was pushed back 75 yards, converting the hole from a long par 4 to a moderate-length par 5.

"If the hole turns out to be too easy, we may revert to a par 4," course owner Jaime Ortiz-Patino said.

Ortiz-Patino also has added 24 yards to No. 3, pushing both the tee and green back 12 yards on the par-3. The par-5 fourth has also picked up 25 yards, with a tee relocation.

The course still measures only 6,974 yards. Its defense lies in narrow, cork tree-lined fairways, small rolling greens, and changing winds that blow off the Mediterranean or sweep in over the foothills.

A vote for Scotland
Woods is supporting the 2009 Scottish Ryder Cup bid with Gleneagles and St. Andrews as possible venues.

"I would love to play in a Ryder Cup in Scotland. That would be a fantastic thing to do," Woods told The Scotsman newspaper. "Most of all, I would really like to take part in a Ryder Cup on a links course. Links golf is one of the aspects of the game I enjoy most.

"I know that they used to play the Ryder Cup on links courses all the time. It would be terrific if that could happen again."

Bjorn again
Thomas Bjorn gets another shot at Woods in Thursday's first round. Five months ago in the third round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Woods hammered Bjorn by 11 shots as the Dane slumped to an 82. Nos. 1-2 at the halfway stage, Bjorn eventually finished 27 strokes behind the winning American.

Bjorn is one of six players with a chance to claim the European money title. Others are Clarke, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Michael Campbell and seven-time defending champion Colin Montgomerie.

Montgomerie has to win the $1 million first prize to have any chance of claiming his eighth straight. Clarke, the Euro money leader, is ahead of Westwood by $75,000. Els, Campbell and Bjorn also need to win the $1 million to have any chance of taking Montgomerie's title.