- October 15, 2002
PGA TOUR
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There are 58 players who have won $1 million or more this season,
breaking the old record of 56 set last year. In addition, there are 18
players at $2 million or more, breaking the old mark of 16 also set last
year.
- Following his T2 last week at the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas,
45-year-old Jeff Sluman's season earnings top $2 million. It's the first
time in his career that he's topped the $2 million mark.
- This is a tough league. Defending Las Vegas champion Bob Estes missed
the cut last week despite posting a 62 in one of his three rounds. His
70-75-62--207 missed the 54-hole cut by one stroke.
- Phil Tataurangi's victory last week made him the 15th first-time winner
on the PGA TOUR this season, breaking the old mark of 14 set in 1991.
Here's the 15 in order of their wins: Jerry Kelly, Matt Gogel, Len
Mattiace, Kevin Sutherland, Ian Leggatt, Matt Kuchar, Craig Perks, K.J.
Choi, Chris Smith, Spike McRoy, Craig Parry, Chris Riley, John Rollins,
Charles Howell III and Tataurangi. Of those 15, 11 played on the BUY.COM
TOUR previously.
- Robert Allenby might be a player to watch this week at the Disney Golf
Classic. The Australian has not won yet this season, but has been hot
lately. He enters the tournament with 22 consecutive rounds of par or
better (the longest current streak on TOUR) and has four Top-10 finishes in
his last six starts.
- Even without his recent victory at the Bell Canadian Open, John Rollins
has put together a very good season. He leads the TOUR in sub-par rounds
(66), is tied for first in rounds in the 60s (46) and is third in total
birdies with 402. He's made the cut in 24 of 31 starts and has five Top-10
finishes. He starts this week just one spot out of a place in THE TOUR
Championship presented by Coca-Cola, standing 31st on the money list with
$1,670,078.
SENIOR PGA TOUR
- This week's SBC Championship in San Antonio will be Dana Quigley's 200th
consecutive tournament start. The streak began in 1997 at the BankBoston
Classic.
- The SBC Championship has moved this year to Oak Hills CC in San Antonio,
long the site of the PGA TOUR's Valero Texas Open. The change in venue
will make this the second course on the SENIOR TOUR to end on a par-3. The
Lightpath Long Island Classic also ends with a short hole.
- The move to Oak Hills should be a popular one with a number of players.
Six players in this week's field won at Oak Hills during their PGA TOUR
careers -- Hale Irwin, Lee Trevino, Bill Rogers, John Mahaffey, Ben Crenshaw
and Tom Watson.
- In case you missed it, Arnold Palmer shot his age (73) in the final
round of last week's Napa Valley Championship presented by Beringer
Vineyards.
BUY.COM TOUR
- Victor Schwamkrug smashed his old one-tournament record for Driving
Distance last week at the Gila River Golf Classic at Wild Horse Pass
Resort. His drives AVERAGED 358.5 yards for the tournament, beating his
old mark of 351.3 set earlier this year. His eight measured drives
traveled 347, 372, 369, 361, 350, 341, 355 and 373. His season average is
now at 328.5 yards.
- Phil Tataurangi's PGA TOUR victory in Las Vegas was the 121st by a
former BUY.COM TOUR player on the PGA TOUR and the 19th this year, tying
the record first set in 1999.
- The last two BUY.COM TOUR winners have been real Cinderella stories.
First, Roland Thatcher won at the Bank of America Monterey Peninsula
Classic after entering 112th on the money list and missing six consecutive
cuts. Last week, it was David Branshaw who won in Arizona after missing
six of his last seven cuts and standing 137th on the money list.
- Kevin Stadler, son of PGA TOUR star Craig, made his BUY.COM TOUR debut
last week in Arizona and finished in a very respectable T19 after rounds of
66-67-67-71--271. He earned $4,796 for his efforts.
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