GOLF NOTEBOOK

The Players Championship has expanded its commitment for admission to the tournament May 4-10 by allowing active duty and retired military personnel to have free admission to competitive rounds after 3 p.m., plus their own hospitality tent, the "Birdies for the Brave Patriots Outpost," which will be on a hill between the 16th green and the 18th tee. The tournament originally had offered free admission to active duty and retired military, plus their families, for practice rounds Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Players week. The Patriots Outpost will include refreshments, TVs tuned to the telecast of the tournament on either The Golf Channel or NBC and game systems on which they can play the TPC at Sawgrass Players Stadium Course. The Tour is encouraging competitors in the tournament to visit the Patriots Outpost. Wednesday of tournament week will be military appreciation day, with a tribute to former President George H.W. Bush at 5 p.m. on the 18th green. The former president will receive the PGA Tour's Lifetime Achievement Award, with Navy personnel lining the 18th fairway. The activities also will include the Navy Band, a joint color guard and an F-16 flyover. KLAUK GETTING CLOSER With three tournaments remaining before The Players Championship, continued good performances by rookie Jeff Klauk of St. Augustine could get him into the field at the Stadium Course without having to win a tournament. If the Players field size does not reach 144 by using other criteria through the Quail Holloway Championship on April 30-May 3, the FedEx Cup points list will be used to slot players not otherwise qualified. The Tour communications department estimated that between two-to-four pros not otherwise eligible could join The Players field off the FedEx Cup points list. According to this week's points, the highest-ranked players not yet qualified for the tournament are David Toms (22nd), Klauk (36th), Scott Piercey (44th), Webb Simpson (49th) and James Nitties (59th). Klauk would qualify for The Players by winning this week, at next week's Zurich Classic or at Quail Hollow. MASTERS RATINGS MIXED The good news is that 42 million people watched all or part of the final round of the Masters Tournament on Sunday, the most since Tiger Woods won his fourth green jacket in 2001. But overall, Masters ratings for the final round were down a bit from 2008. The Sunday battle, which ended with Angel Cabrera winning a playoff against Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell, drew an 8.3 rating and a 20 share. Last year's tournament had an 8.6 rating and an 18 share. At the time Woods and Phil Mickelson finished their final round, the rating was 9.4, with a 23 share. When the two-hole playoff began, it was a 10.0 rating and a 21 share. CROWDED SCHEDULE IN GEORGIA The next two Nationwide Tour events and next week's Champions Tour stop will be in Georgia, giving the state four tournaments in three weeks, counting last week's Masters . The Nationwide Tour will be in Athens, Ga., for the Athens Regional Foundation Classic, at the Jennings Mill Country Club. Golf Channel analyst Andrew Magee will play his first Nationwide Tour event, and area players Len Mattiace, Bubba Dickerson, Matt Every, Frank Lickliter and Steve Wheatcroft are in the field. The Nationwide Tour then goes to Valdosta, Ga., next week for the South Georgia Classic, at the Davis Love III-designed Kinderlou Golf Club. The Champions Tour's Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf also will be next week, at the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort. RARE HAT TRICK Boo Weekley is the defending champion this week in Hilton Head, S.C., where he's won the past two years. They are his only Tour victories, and if he wins a third, he would accomplish a rare feat. Dave Lancer, the Tour's statistics guru, found the last player who got his first three Tour victories at the same event: Leonard Gullett, who won the Wisconsin PGA in 1929, 1933 and 1934. ... World Golf Village resident, Hall of Fame member and LPGA Founding member Louise Suggs will be honored by the New York Metropolitan Golf Writers Association with its Golf Tee Award, which is for career achievement. She will be honored June 16. garry.smits@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4362