Tiger Woods can do pretty much what he wants when it comes to picking and choosing when and where he plays. Not so Richie Coughlan. Up to last week, it had seemed as if the 26year-old Irishman would get into the Phoenix Open - but a spate of late entries, including that of world number one Woods, means that Coughlan, among others, must sit out this week's US Tour event.
Citing a desire to overcome some perceived early-season rustiness, Woods - who normally maps out his tour itinerary months in advance - finally made his decision to play only last Friday.
A number of other leading players also made late entry decisions. The field now boasts last year's top 16 money-winners on the US Tour, as well as European Ryder Cup hopefuls Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jesper Parnevik (who has dumped his regular caddie after a poor start to the season), Sergio Garcia and Jean Van de Velde.
At this stage, however, Coughlan seems assured of starting places in next week's Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the following week's Buick Invitational. His poor final round in the Sony Open in Hawaii - shooting 74 for a level par total 280, all of 20 shots behind winner Brad Faxon - also proved to be expensive. From a finalday starting position which promised a good cheque to kick start the campaign to retain his card, Coughlan's reward for tied-51st was $9,413 which puts him into tied-119th place on the money list.
Faxon, meanwhile, has no such financial concerns. His eighth US Tour win of his career at Waialae Country Club earned him a top prize of $720,000. And, perhaps just as importantly, it moved him back into the top-50 in the world rankings and the probability of a place in the US Masters.
His latest tour win also ensured him of a berth in this year's US Open field and moved him up to eighth place in the American Ryder Cup table. Faxon, who has led the US Tour putting statistics for three of the last five years, even held a putting clinic for his fellow-professionals during the tournament and prompted runner-up Tom Lehman, who finished four shots behind him, to remark: "I don't want to see his short game play again until the Belfry."
