Publicly traded golf-related companies include Ashworth, Callaway and E-Z Go, are ht commoditiesa among investors and financially savvy golf enthusiasts. Like any stock, the golf industry the golf industry is subject to subpar performances.

Golf pros available online

Game allows fans to trade players as if they were stocks; portfolios fall with every bogey

Web posted April 4, 2000

 Have a thought? Go to the @ugusta Forums.

By Frank Witsil
Staff Writer

There are two Internet games that will let you sell shares of professional golfers as if they were companies on the New York Stock Exchange: golfinvestors.com and golfstockmarket.com.

The rules vary for each game, but the objective is the same: assemble a portfolio of pros and watch it grow.

Golfinvestors is free to play, but golfstockmarket charges $10 a round.

Depending on which site you log on to, you begin the game with imaginary money or 100 shares of each pro being traded. As on the real exchanges, the worth of your portfolio is determined by skill and luck.

Do your research and you might beat market expectations. Buy the winner of the Masters Tournament today and your portfolio might skyrocket.

Golfstockmarket tracks companies with ticker symbols. It also offers biographic and statistical information on each player.

It's hard to draw exact parallels between the fantasy golf market and the real one.

But, it's fun to try.

Tiger Woods, WOODTIGE, might be considered an America Online -- a young and increasingly powerful company. Hal Sutton, SUTTHAL, might be a General Motors -- a steady, old economy stock with a strong market capitalization. And Justin Leonard, LEONJUST, might be an IBM -- a blue chip in transition.

As with the stock market, clever trading can't always compensate for bad luck. An errant tee shot or a bad putt can wreck earnings.

Fantasy stock market players who earn the most by the game's end win prizes. But the Web masters of both games note that this, technically, is not gambling.

To win, you just have to follow the old trader's adage: buy low, sell high.

Reach Frank Witsil at 823-3352.