- March 16, 2004
PGA TOUR
- At 38 years, five months and 25 days, Todd Hamilton is the oldest
rookie to win since the TOUR started keeping track in 1970.
- Three different players recorded their first-ever PGA TOUR Top-10
finishes last week -- Hamilton, Brian Bateman (3rd) and Kevin Na (T8).
- One more on Hamilton: He's had his career-best finish in each of
the past two weeks. He started the stretch with a T15 at the Ford Championship at Doral before winning last week's Honda Classic.
- Having the 54-hole lead has been the key to victory on TOUR this
year. Through the first 10 stroke play events on TOUR in 2004, nine have been won by the 54-hole leader.
- Tiger Woods has not only won the last four consecutive Bay Hill
Invitationals, but he's done so by a collective margin of 20 strokes. In only one of his four wins has his final margin of victory been less than three strokes.
- While the Bay Hill Invitational has always been a tournament to
have a strong international presence, only one non-American has won the event -- Ernie Els in 1998.
- Skip Kendall has 3-putted the least of anyone on TOUR this
year -- 0.8% of the time. He's 3-putted only three times in 378 holes this season.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
- Gil Morgan's victory last week at the SBC Classic in Los Angeles
was his fifth career win in the city. He's won the SBC Classic three times (1996, 1997 and 2004) and the Nissan Open twice on the PGA TOUR (1978, 1983). The five wins have come on four different golf courses, too.
- More on Morgan: He's had five Top-10 finishes in his first five
starts of the year and has 15 consecutive rounds of par-or-better to his credit.
- One more: He has six Top-10 finishes in a row dating back to last
year. His career-best on the Champions Tour occured in 1997 when he ran off 11 consecutive Top-10s.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
- Nationwide Tour alums make up 29% of the Top 100 players in the
Official World Golf Ranking, including four of the Top 10.
- Alums have already recorded 56 Top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR
this season, including four victories -- Stuart Appleby (Mercedes Championships), Ernie Els (Sony Open), John Daly (Buick Invitational) and Heath Slocum (Chrysler Classic of Tucson) -- and six runner-up finishes.
- The Nationwide Tour will return to action next week with the first
domestic event of the season, the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. Brett Wetterich will be the first player this year to return to defend his title and will be bidding to be the first in the Tour's history to win the same event in consecutive seasons.
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