Woods seeking 10th win of lucrative season

Having conquered Europe's elite and matched one of the great Ben Hogan's achievements last Sunday, Tiger Woods turns democrat for his latest golfing challenge. It comes in his defence of the $800,000 Johnnie Walker Classic, starting on Thursday at Ta Shee GC, Taiwan.

There, the world's number one will be rubbing shoulders with modest practitioners such as Hennie Otto, Eric Carlberg and Elliot Boult from the European Challenge Tour. As you may have gathered, there is a shortage of bodies from further up the order, though Ireland's Paul McGinley is competing.

Padraig Harrington's withdrawal may not hurt him as much as was originally feared, where world ranking points are concerned. Harrington slipped back from 49th to 50th after Valderrama, but Tony Greer, the IMG official in charge of the ranking list, said yesterday: "Indications are that Padraig will hold that position until the end of the year."

In the event, there will be quite a contrast in quality in Taiwan, given that Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Nick Faldo and Frank Nobilo are also in action in a tournament that is actually part of next year's European Schedule. That's the sort of crazy world tournament golf is inhabiting these days.

But Woods will hardly worry as he pursues his 10th win of the season. And he has already done rather well in the ones that really matter. For instance, he has won two - the NEC Invitational and American Express Championship - out of three inaugural World Golf Championship events, while being a beaten quarter-finalist in the other, the Andersen Consulting Matchplay.

Meanwhile, his record in the season's four "majors" has been: US Masters - tied 18th; US Open - tied third; British Open - tied seventh; USPGA - winner.

His latest win, at Valderrama, was quite remarkable for the fact that he shot a final round of 68 in really difficult conditions, despite a triple-bogey eight at the 17th. That was where numerous balls found a watery grave on a day when pin placements were set in anticipation of a 15 m.p.h. easterly wind, whereas the wind actually came out of the west, at double that strength.

In the process, Valderrama came in for justifiable criticism as a leading tournament venue. For a start, the 17th hole was clearly unfair on Sunday, despite the major facelift it has received since Seve Ballesteros got $1 million for a highly controversial design in preparation for the 1997 Ryder Cup.

Then there were the inevitable Spanish traffic problems, like the fact that it took up to two hours to drive about 20 miles towards Marbella on Friday evening. And Thursday wasn't much better. And neither delay could be blamed on attendances at the tournament, which were decidedly modest throughout the four days.

The reaction from American competitors, with the notable exception of Woods, was one of bemusement. They found it difficult to understand how an event they perceived as an American concept, financed by an American sponsor, should be played in the south of Spain a week after the completion of their own Tour Championship.

Even Europe's perennial number one, Colin Montgomerie, expressed bafflement at the potentially distorting effect on the Order of Merit of such a large, £3 million prize fund. Yet Ken Schofield, executive director of the European Tour, argued: "Some of them (the leading Europeans) might have done what Jeff Maggert did by winning the first World Championship event last February."

He went on: "As it was, Sergio Garcia was second in the USPGA Championship and was in the top half dozen at Akron. And yes, he has won the Irish Open and yes, he has run second to Colin (Montgomerie) at Loch Lomond and he has won the German Masters."

Schofield concluded that if the Spanish teenager had won on Sunday, he would have been a "phenomenal" first-year European number one money winner. Instead, he was named yesterday as the highly predictable "Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year."

Meanwhile, eight players from an elite field shooting final rounds in the eighties on Sunday, could have been viewed as further evidence that cash doesn't seem to be all that important in tournament golf these days, when it's not in the six-figure category. What did it matter to wealthy American challengers whether they ultimately made up the numbers for a minimum reward of £15,235 or battled hard for £32,177 in a share of 20th place?

But that's not for Woods. Supreme competitive instincts push him to the limit of his capabilities wherever he plays. And though he wouldn't dare admit it, he is undoubtedly aware of the all-time records which have dominated the American game for decades. Like Byron Nelson winning 18 times in 1945, including 11 in a row. And Hogan's 13 wins in 1946; Sam Snead's 11 in 1950 and Paul Runyon's nine in 1933).

And the lad's still only 23.

As for Montgomerie: He didn't seem to be bothered at having an eighth Order of Merit title overshadowed by Woods's triumph on Sunday. "It will take a while for the accomplishment to sink in," he said.

The Scot went on: "When I won it for three years in a row, it wasn't a record so it didn't mean as much," he said. "But when I got to six, I wanted seven and when I got to seven I wanted eight. Hopefully, next year I'll be less stressed out, but it's getting harder. I feel I've had to improve every year to keep winning it. That's what means most to me."