Southern tastes

DIVOTS

According to tradition, the defending champion at the Masters decides on the gifts the players should get at the Champions Dinner at Augusta National.

This year, the reigning champion Shaun Micheel had Rendezvous Ribs brought in from his home townMemphis to give the 17 former champions a taste of the South. Micheel also got each of them a Gibson electric guitar and they all posed with them afterwards for a photo-op.

Ryder hopeful

Colin Montgomerie seems to be what European Ryder Cup captain, Bernhard Langer, is looking for as one of his two picks for the Ryder Cup in September. Monty wants to play his way into the team but the experienced Scot has also emerged as a favourite of captain Langer's two wild-card selections.

Langer said his choice would ideally be someone who has a good short game but at the same time can hit straight if the fairways are narrow. "If there are two or three players who have the same qualities, I'd prefer the guy who has experience," he said.

Gift of the champion

PGA champions have been gathering for pre-tournament dinners for years, but the US PGA decided to change things a bit by fixing a budget for a dinner and gift for which the Masters champion shells out.

Steve Elkington, for instance, served lamb chops and gave everyone a Gerrard's bracelet for their wives. Vijay Singh chose a miniature Wanamaker Trophy on a mahogany base. Tomas gave the champions an alligator belt while two-time winner Tiger Woods gave a four-image clock from the time zones where each of the Majors were played one year, and a humidor in his next win.

For juniors' advantage

Karen Stupples, who recently joined the elite group of three British women to have captured a golf championship with an incredible final round of 64 in the British Women's Open at Sunningdale, England, plans to give some of her £160,000 prize money to the Kent juniors.

Stupples, 31, said she still has vivid memories of applying for grants from the local authority which got her nowhere. She even had worked as a cleaner in a cloakroom to fund her amateur career in which she played in two Curtis Cups.

Bogeyman