Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.
Tiger Woods is likely coming to Las Vegas next month, but not necessarily to play golf.
On Oct. 8, the Las Vegas Invitational PGA event tees off on three local courses -- Southern Highlands, Tournament Players Club at Summerlin and TPC at The Canyons. Woods has not committed to compete, and the deadline to enter is Oct. 3.
But on the week of the LVI, Woods is expected at an event at Madame Tussaud's Interactive Wax Museum at The Venetian, where museum officials will unveil a wax likeness of the world's greatest golfer.
Similar to figures at other Tussaud museums -- such as a Jennifer Lopez figure that blushes when you blow into its ear -- it is expected that the wax Woods will not be totally lifeless.
A promotional stuffed tiger sent out this week advertises that Woods is "waiting to putt a round with you." And a museum staffer hinted that the display would allow visitors to putt head-to-head against the champ's statue.
Calls to IMG, Woods' management group, were not returned Thursday.
Last year Woods was also in Vegas for the local PGA Tour stop, but did not compete. Instead he spent time hanging out with his girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, and gambling with pal Charles Barkley.
New role
It's Winnie the Pooh -- and Oscar, too!
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman makes his local theatrical debut Oct. 3 in the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre production of the A.A. Milne classic "Winnie the Pooh."
Goodman will also be the first guest through the gallery door at Unlock The Secret -- a retrospective exhibit of the company's 27-year history.
It all takes place at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center on Las Vegas Boulevard North.
New lounge
Real estate magnate Ed Roski Jr., whose Majestic Realty owns millions of square feet of office space in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver and elsewhere, is on the cusp of becoming a Vegas entertainment player.
Next week he officially opens the Shady Grove Lounge inside the Las Vegas casino he owns, the Silverton. And, since he also is a minority owner of the NBA's Lakers and the NHL's Kings, lots of jocks are expected to attend the opening parties.
He also has plans to book major music acts at the Blue Diamond Road property.
New book
Celebrity Chef Daniel Boulud, who is going to open a restaurant at Wynn Las Vegas when the megaresort opens in 2005, came out this week with "Letters to a Young Chef" (Basic Books, $22.50).
It is part memoir, part advice book and part cookbook.
Julia Child's old TV partner Jacques Pepin calls the book a "priceless manual for anyone seriously interested in the restaurant world."
New guests
There was an interesting mix of folks the other night at a private cocktail party at Risque, the trendy Paris Las Vegas nightspot.
Celebs included "The Exorcist's" Linda Blair, comics Jimmie "J.J." Walker and Marty Allen, Eddie Mekka (Carmine, the Big Ragu on "Laverne & Shirley") and Murray Langston, aka "The Unknown Comic."
New time
Entertainer Tony Sacca's long-running local television show, "Entertainment Las Vegas Style," moves into a prime Saturday-night slot Oct. 4, when it will be aired starting at 11:30 on KTNV Channel 13.
The show had been broadcast locally at various odd hours, usually in the early morning.
"I have waited 10 years for this opportunity," Sacca said.
This fall, the show, which is shot entirely on location in Las Vegas, introduces a new segment called "A Look Back," where Vegas vets will share stories from the good old days.
VegasBits
Schooled: The public is invited to WritersFest 2003, a presentation of the National League of American Pen Women, which takes place at the Spring Valley Library at 1 p.m. Saturday. Speakers at the free event include Los Angeles Times contributor Lorraine Zenka, Las Vegas magazine editor David Tyda and fiction writer Todd Moffett ...
Happy: Rotating Paris Las Vegas headliner Olivia Newton-John is 55 today. She performs at Le Theatre des Arts the weekend of Oct. 10 ...
Square: Resident Monte Carlo illusionist Lance Burton travels to L.A. this week to tape a few episodes of "Hollywood Squares." He tells us the shows are expected to air the first week of December ...
Psychic: Mystic Mona has a new radio show on KSFN 1140 AM. She takes questions on the air for an hour every Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
From Sun wires
Movie star Bruce Willis brought a rock concert to a desert airfield in Telefar, Iraq, with his band entertaining hundreds of soldiers about 35 miles from the Syrian border.
Hundreds of soldiers -- some sitting atop helicopters, others lounging in Humvees -- sent cheers and whistles into the night air Thursday.
Zeta-Jones sues: Has a French makeup company smeared Catherine Zeta-Jones?
The actress filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles that seeks $15 million from Caudalie for running an ad campaign that says she "was spotted buying the complete Caudalie range of skincare" and had used the company's anti-aging spa in Las Vegas.
Her lawsuit states that she has never purchased such products, nor did she receive services from the spa and claims the company had no right to use her name in promotions.
Zeta-Jones, who has an exclusive deal to promote Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, also named as defendants Neiman Marcus Group Inc., for spreading the promos on its website, and Turnberry Place, the location of Caudalie's Las Vegas spa.
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