Woods on course for player of year award

Tiger Woods will be defending the Mercedes Championship, the opening event of the 1998 American season, at La Costa, California, later this week. But the first round on Thursday is also notable for being followed by the annual USPGA Tour awards dinner, at which outstanding performances from the 1997 season will be honoured.

Presentations are to be made in three main categories. Leading candidates for the "Player of the Year" award are David Duval, Ernie Els, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III and Woods. There would appear to be no serious rival to Woods, though Duval became the only player in the history of the tour to gain his first three victories in successive starts last October.

In securing four US wins during 1997, however, Woods achieved the greatest increase in tournament earnings. After taking $790,594 from eight events as a professional in 1996, he boosted his earnings to $2,066,833 last year - an increase of $1,276,239.

This was a considerable achievement given that his season effectively fizzled out after the Western Open in early July. Indeed Woods (294.8 yards) was passed by John Daly (302.0 yards) in the battle for driving distance on the tour and he slipped to 60th in the putting averages, 96th in driving accuracy and 180th in sand saves.

Eventually, the strength of his game lay in greens hit in regulation. With a success rate of 70.3, Woods ended the season tied fourth behind Tom Lehman, John Cook and Hal Sutton.

The nominees for the title of "Rookie of the Year" are Stewart Cink, Robert Damron, Brent Geiberger and the Swedish player, Gabriel Hjerstedt, who captured the BC Open last September, only 10 months after gaining his player's card.

Stuart Appleby, Frank Nobilo, David Toms, Cink Hjerstedt and Duval all had their first US tour victories during 1997. Jim Furyk, meanwhile, established a record for most money won - £1,619,480 (dollars) - without a victory. Furyk had no fewer than 13 top-10 finishes.

The other award is for the "Comeback Player" and the candidates here are Billy Ray Brown, Tom Byrum and Bill Glasson. It will be a major upset if Glasson fails to capture this award.

The 37-year-old native of Stillwater, Oklahoma, underwent surgery in 1996 to repair a forearm muscle. This limited his playing activities to eight events in which he earned a modest $50,000. In acknowledging these problems, however, the tour gave him a special medical extension to play in 1997 and he responded admirably. After a victory in Las Vegas last October, Glasson eventually ended the season with $926,552 from 19 events to claim 22nd place in the final money list.

Needless to remark, there was no threat to the legendary players who amassed the most USPGA Tour victories in their illustrious careers. The list continues to be dominated by: 1 Sam Snead (81 victories since 1937); 2 Jack Nicklaus (70 since 1962); 3 Ben Hogan (63 since 1938); 4 Arnold Palmer (60 since 1955); 5 Byron Nelson (52 since 1933); 6 Billy Casper (51 since 1955); 7 Walter Hagen (40 since 1914) and Cary Middlecoff (40 since 1947); 9 Gene Sarazen (38 since 1920); 10 Lloyd Mangrum (36 since 1929).

The significant contribution of Tom Watson, however, is reflected in the fact that he claims 11th position in the list with 33 tour victories since 1971. The only other current, regular tour competitors in the top-40 are Lanny Wadkins (21 since 1971), Tom Kite (19 since 1972) and Ben Crenshaw (19 since 1973).

Significantly, Watson and Kite also made an impact on another notable list during 1997. With three top-10 finishes in the major championships - second in the Masters, tied 10th in British Open and fifth in the USPGA Championship - Kite moved up to 13th place on 26, among the list of players with the most top-10 finishes in the majors.

Watson - fourth in the Masters and tied 10th at Royal Troon - brought his total to 44 to tie Gary Player in third position. Interestingly, both of them have 15 top-10 finishes in the Masters in which Player had three wins to Watson's two. Leaders in the overall list are: 1 Nicklaus (72 top-10 finishes from 1960 to 1990); 2 Snead (46 - 1937 to 1974); 3 Player (44 - 1956 to 1984) and Watson (44 - 1974 to 1997); 5 Hogan (39 - 1939 to 1967); 6 Palmer (38 - 1955 to 1977); 7 Sarazen (36 (1921 to 1950); 8 Hagen (32 - 1913 to 1935); 9 Raymond Floyd (28 - 1965 to 1994) and Nelson (28 - 1935 to 1955). Greg Norman is tied 11th with 27; Nick Faldo is tied 17th with 23 and Seve Ballesteros and Peter Thomson are tied 22nd with 20.

Meanwhile, European players continued to make a major impact on the LPGA Tour, with England's Alison Nicholas capturing the US Women's Open at Pumpkin Ridge and Italy's Silvia Cavalleri winning the US Women's Amateur at Brae Burn. Predictably, Sweden's Annika Sorenstam led the money list with earnings of $1,076,789.

Indeed with five victories, Sorenstam gained the Mickey Wright Award for a second time in three years. In the process, the sensational Swede set a record by reaching $2 million in career earnings in the shortest time - three years, one month and 18 days.

England's Lisa Hackney was named Rolex Rookie of the Year, largely for her performances in the majors. The 30-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent was tied fifth behind compatriot Nicholas in the US Women's Open; was tied fifth behind Karrie Webb in the Weetabix British Women's Open and was also tied fifth in the Nabisco Dinah Shore, apart from being runner-up to Chris Johnson in the Safeway Challenge in Portland.

There was also a notable achievement from the irrepressible Laura Davies. By beating Kelly Robbins in a play-off for the Standard Register Ping tournament, Davies joined Walter Hagen (USPGA Championship) and Gene Sarazen (Miami Open) as one of only three players to win the same US event for four successive years.

Hale Irwin swept all before him on the US Seniors' Tour with nine victories, three seconds and one third-place in 23 events. Remarkably, his tournament haul only equalled the record set by Peter Thomson, but Irwin set all-time figures for earnings on any tour, with a season's haul of $2,343,364.

The astonishing consistency of the 52-year-old from Missouri, is reflected in average earnings of $101,885 per tournament. And his combined career earnings from both the regular and Senior tours now amounts to $10,655,646.