Columnist Adam Candee: Dimpled ball is in Michelin’s court

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

Charlie Baron spends his life organizing and promoting sporting events, but there is one game that the tournament director of Las Vegas' PGA tour stop will never like: the waiting game.

He's become quite good at it, though, after two years of trying to attract a sponsor to the event. For the final month of that, Baron enjoyed seeing the name "Michelin Championship at Las Vegas" branded across every imaginable sign, shirt and cocktail napkin that could fit 30 letters.

And now, two days after an exciting finish at the Michelin Championship, Baron sat Tuesday amidst the last of the cleanup effort at TPC at Summerlin again waiting to see if Michelin will park its tires or hit the road.

"We don't have any indication or any feel," Baron said.

Hey, at least the PGA tour gave Las Vegas' usual October tournament dates better than a "TBD" on its 2005 schedule. Released Tuesday, the schedule lists the Las Vegas event as "The Championship at Las Vegas." Infer meaning from that at your own risk, though, as Baron said he and the Las Vegas Founders -- who operate the event -- did not expect a quick rubber stamp (sorry) from Michelin.

"We knew Michelin was not going to make a final decision until they went home and sat down to do a thorough evaluation," Baron said.

Michelin agreed in September to attach its name to the tournament this year, but declined to commit any longer until seeing how its first foray into golf sponsorship played out. The company holds a two-year option to extend its sponsorship through 2006, and Baron expects a decision before Thanksgiving.

The three main components in Michelin's decision will be TV ratings, advertising value and satisfaction for guests and clients at the event.

Don't expect much from the all-important TV ratings. The field was largely anonymous and the tournament spent three days on cable, the first two in obscurity in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday and Friday. And Sunday's money day on ABC bumped heads with both pro football and baseball playoffs. Yikes.

The Michelin brand certainly made a presence both throughout the tournament grounds at all three courses and in quickly assembled radio and TV spots. Despite the absence of golf's top names, the final round still entertained those in attendance as it came down to Andre Stolz's winning two-putt at No. 18 to decide the tournament.

Moore tees it up Thursday morning with Roger Tambellini and Hirofumi Miyase in North Carolina. UNLV coach Dwaine Knight said Tuesday that given the way Moore is continuing to perform at the high level he maintained all summer, the coach would not be surprised if Moore makes some noise in the event. Stay tuned ...

"We're getting better scores," Knight said. "That's what I really believe is going to happen with this group; the competition at home is going to really drive our scores down."

UNLV is ranked No. 15 in the nation by Golfweek.

Heading into their third event of the year, the Rebels are still looking for some harmony in their lineup. The comfortable energy that concluded last season -- Sunny Oh at the top with four effective and interchangeable parts behind her -- is gone as UNLV tries to find a new top gun.

"The biggest challenge right now is seeing who's going to be that No. 1 player all the time," Ringler said.

Ringler's lineup will look different at Stanford, as senior Hwanhee Lee is out for the first time in quite a while and senior Tina Mabanta steps in. Freshman Alison Chell, who ended up posting the team's top score last week in Washington, teams with sophomore Seema Sadekar, junior Elena Kurokawa and senior Young Pak.

"Hopefully we'll have a little bit of a revived energy," Ringler said.

The Rebels are down to 38th in Golfweek's national rankings after finishing no higher than sixth in their first two events. They began the season ranked No. 16.

Oh, an All-American for the Rebels, turned professional in June after completing her sophomore year at UNLV.