Pga, Stars At Pro-Am

A whopping 180 professionals - 36 more than at a normal PGA Tour event - will play with 180 amateurs over three courses in an event that has more the feel of a Hollywood party than a PGA Tour stop.

“You just need to have a little different mindset,” said Tom Lehman Wednesday on the eve of the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, Calif. “You have Bill Murray clowning in the bunker or Jack Lemmon joking with the gallery.”

And as bizarre as it has been in the past at Pebble, it should be even weirder this week when Tiger Woods, the hottest player on the planet, is paired with Kevin Costner, the heartthrob who scored big as a golfer in the hit film “Tin Cup.”

Woods will be offered Thai citizenship when he visits his mother’s homeland next month, the Bangkok Post reported.

The newspaper said Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasarn made the proposal at a cabinet meeting and it was endorsed by the government.

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, who clinched his 100th golf tournament title last season, was awarded the 39th Prime Minister’s Cup Japanese Professional Sports Grand Prix Award for 1996. Ozaki was presented with the trophy that goes to the outstanding professional athlete of the year, together with a check for 1 million yen ($8,200).