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As you're following Tiger, don't forget the other guys

Ron Kroichick

The sight of Tiger Woods strolling Harding Park in an actual PGA Tour event -- a once-laughable image now seven days from becoming reality -- will be difficult to resist. If you have a ticket to next week's American Express Championship, absolutely follow Woods for a few holes, as long as you don't mind joining a roving pack of thousands.

After all, watching Woods play golf in his prime is akin to seeing Willie Mays play baseball in the 1950s, Joe Montana fling passes in the 1980s or Michael Jordan drive to the hoop in the 1990s. Transcendent athletes, all. The sound Woods' driver makes upon impact with the ball will resonate in your head for weeks.

Bed and BathBut the AMEX offers a diverse showcase stretching beyond the game's biggest star. Not many major sporting events feature a 49-year-old player (Fred Funk) competing on the same stage as a 23-year-old (Sean O'Hair), each with a reasonable chance to win.

There will be players who launch the ball a country mile (Woods, averaging 315 yards per measured drive, or John Daly at 309) and those who do not hit the ball relatively far at all (Gavin Coles, at 268).

There will be players who can hit the fairway at 3 a.m. with their eyes closed (Funk, at more than 75 percent) and those who will spend plenty of time chatting with Harding's charming cypress trees (the irrepressible Daly, at 49 percent).

There will be players who routinely drop precise iron shots onto the green (Chris DiMarco) and those who flop creative shots near the pin (Phil Mickelson).

There will be players whose ... pace ... is ... painfully ... slow (Ben Crane) and those who navigate 18 holes as if they have an imminent dinner reservation to keep (Daly or Mark Calcavecchia).

There will be players who relentlessly roll the ball into the hole (Crane, a tour-best 1.70 putts per green in regulation) and those who might hurl their putter into Lake Merced (Sergio Garcia, who stands 201st on tour at 1.84).

There will be players from distant lands, from New Zealand (Michael Campbell) and Trinidad & Tobago (Stephen Ames) to Argentina (Angel Cabrera) and Denmark (Thomas Bjorn). Twenty countries, in all, are represented by the 72 players eligible for the tournament.

So keep one eye on Tiger, no question. But expand your field of vision, too.

AMEX quotes of the week: Adam Scott, No. 7 in the world rankings, when told that Harding Park is not especially long but will require accuracy off the tee: "Well, then, I'll keep that 2-iron nice and warm."

Woods on Harding: "I've played the old Harding Park a few times. I played there when I was a little kid. I played there in college, but I haven't played the redesign, so it'll be totally different than what I'm accustomed to."

LPGA on tap: Meantime, near Sacramento ...

Next week's Longs Drugs Challenge in Auburn (Placer County) will become lost in the AMEX tumult, at least in the Bay Area. But the tournament merits mention for three reasons: Annika Sorenstam will be there, effervescent San Jose native Christina Kim will try to defend her title, and the event moves to Blackhawk CC in Danville next year.

Kim, 21, is having another strong season (four top-10 finishes, $421,000 in earnings), though she did not play well in the majors (no finish better than 28th). Even so, Kim left her charismatic stamp on the Solheim Cup, where she won 21/2 points and came to personify the U.S. team's patriotic exuberance under captain Nancy Lopez.

"There was an over-under bet on how many times Nancy would cry during the week," Kim said. "I think I beat her. I was weeping all week."

All three Solheim rookies have Northern California roots (Kim, Paula Creamer from Pleasanton and Natalie Gulbis from Sacramento). Two veterans on the team, Juli Inkster (Los Altos) and Pat Hurst (San Leandro), also grew up in the Bay Area.

Gulbis, Inkster and Hurst will join Kim in the Longs next week, as will San Francisco's Dorothy Delasin. Creamer is not in the field.

Briefly: Before coming to Auburn, the LPGA stops this week in Rancho Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County) for a tournament at Trump National GC, the Oceanside course extravagantly rebuilt by Donald Trump (for a mere $264 million). Trump, the master of hyperbole, incessantly bills his latest layout as "better than Pebble Beach." Easy now. ... Woods, at the Presidents Cup, on the curious quilt of bleach-like spots in his hair: "Just having fun. Got to do it while I've still got hair." ... Seve Ballesteros, who has not played competitive golf in nearly two years, has said he will play in the Madrid Open in mid-October. Ballesteros, 48, has endured back and weight problems for much of the past decade. ... Michelle Wie has agreed to play in the Casio World Open, one of the richest events on the Japan men's tour, in late November. ... Sorry, no Jason Gore quips this week. Gore withdrew from the Greensboro event, citing fatigue. Rest up, man.