By Hank Gola
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
CHARLOTTE - Quail Hollow Tournament Director Kym Hougham isn't expecting any rowdier a reception for Tiger Woods at this week's tournament than he was given at Augusta for the Masters.
Woods tees off in today's Pro Am at 7:30a.m. and has a 7:40 a.m. first-round tee time tomorrow, with 35,000 expected on the golf course each day.
"I think the crowd in Charlotte is really going to come out and be receptive," Hougham said Tuesday. "Is there going to be a bad apple? We don't know. That's the reason we've been working so hard to put together a plan. This is a very golf-savvy community and a very respectful community. We're hoping things go off without a hitch."
The only incident at the Masters was a plane flying overhead on the first day carrying a message about Woods practicing "Booty-ism." The plane was curiously grounded the rest of the week. Other than that, the disgraced golfer was practically treated like a conquering hero as he finished in a tie for fourth.
The Masters, however, is the most controlled tournament in golf. Quail Hollow is Woods' first PGA Tour stop with a general admission crowd that doesn't face the threat of losing its tickets for upcoming years. The course sits on a spacious piece of property with expensive homes lining fairways. It's conceivable, therefore, that outside agencies could rent one of those homes. Tournament media director Lee Patterson said a total of 353 credentials, including TV, have been issued, with an April 2 cutoff. From the looks of the media center, it's mostly the regular golf media.
Security here has been beefed up, although Hougham didn't get into specifics.
"I wouldn't say we're doing anything out of the ordinary," he said. "We've altered what we're going to have around him because of the increase in the number of people who are going to be in that group (he will play with '09 major winners Stewart Cink and Angel Cabrera). We're doing it for a lot of reasons. We're going to act swiftly and decisively if there is an issue but also to protect the people who are out there in that crowd.
"They're out there to have a good day and a fun experience. We're going to have people watching and we're going to react if we have to."