Parnevik and Ridings must wait to see if they make 2005 PGA Tour.
Vijay Singh was not the only person thrilled with the outcome at the Chrysler Championship this week. Here’s a rundown of key money list spots that were affected by this week’s play. Keep in mind that the top 30 are eligible for the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta. The top 40 get into the Masters and the top 125 get their tour card next year.
Is Vijay’s 2004 better than Tiger’s 2000? We don’t think so… and the numbers back us up.
Not to take anything away from Vijay’s amazing season, let’s take a look at a few facts and compare Vijay’s 2004 to Tiger’s 2000:
Of course, both Tiger and Vijay have nine-win seasons, something Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer never accomplished. When comparing Vijay’s season to any other 41-year-old’s in history, 2004 may be the best ever, but Tiger still holds the lead in our minds for the best season of all time.
Ernie Els – no longer a member of the PGA Tour? It could happen if Finchem and his cronies don’t back off a little.
Incoming European Tour front man George O’Grady has described the pressure being put on Ernie Els to play more events in the US as “extraordinary.” Els was clearly angered two weeks ago when he told reporters that the PGA Tour had sent him a letter demanding more appearances if he wished to retain his PGA Tour membership.
“It seems like quite an extraordinary pressure to put on a player of his level who plays usually 17 or 18 tournaments in the United States anyway,” said O’Grady. “He’s always prepared to listen if we need him to play somewhere, but he’s a very hard man to tell to do something. You do ask him, usually politely, and sometimes he says yes.”
Vijay Singh becomes the first player ever to top $10 million in a single season.
If there was any doubt earlier in the season about who should win the PGA Tour Player of the Year, it has been erased. Vijay Singh won his ninth title on tour this year at the Chrysler Championship pocketing $900,000 for the effort and becoming the first player ever to eclipse the $10 million earnings mark for a single season.
Singh’s win this week was a convincing one. After shooting a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday to take the lead (and to win the Crestor Charity Challenge for the fifth time this year), Singh birdied the first two holes on Sunday and never looked back. He poured in five more birdies and only had one bogey en route to a 65 that put him five strokes ahead of Jesper Parnevik and Tommy Armour III, his widest margin of victory since winning by six at the 2002 Houston Open.
Next week at the Tour Championship, Vijay Singh will go for his 10th win. His current nine wins ties him with Tiger Woods for the most victories in a single season since Sam Snead won 11 times in 1950. It took Singh 173 tournaments over eight years to earn $10 million for his career. He has surpassed that with one incredible season, his victory at Innisbrook pushing his total to $10,725,166. That’s more than $5 million more than Phil Mickelson, who is second on the money list and more than Tom Watson’s career earnings.
“It’s hard to swallow it right now,” said Singh “It’s incredible. I leave tomorrow to go to Atlanta so there’s no time to celebrate. I’ll get my time.”
Taking in a PGA Tour event in person is quite different from watching it on TV.
On nothing more than a whim, I decided to take in Saturday’s action at the Chrysler Championship at the Westin-Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. What follows here are merely a bunch of observations from a half day’s adventure on the course. It was only a half day because we got stuck at a car dealership in Orlando in the morning.
David and Bob Duval team up with Special Olympics athletes Kevin Erickson and Oliver Doherty in a made-for-TV match.
David Duval and father, Bob Duval, played golf at the Timuquana Country Club with Special Olympics athletes Kevin Erickson of Wisconsin and Oliver Doherty of Ireland in a made-for-TV match called “A Tee Time Like No Other” to be televised by CBS Sports on New Year’s Day. The match was set up by the Special Olympics, who wanted to feature some of their finest athletes.
During the first hole of the made-for-TV match, that paired David with Kevin and Bob with Oliver, Erickson hit a slight draw and landed in the middle of the fairway. Duval hit a slice into the trees. “At least one of us is in the fairway,” Erickson told him. Duval shot right back, “Fairways are overrated.”
PGA Tour rookie Ryan Palmer has won his first tournament: the Funai Classic.
Ryan Palmer, that is, shooting a final-round 62 to win by three shots over Vijay Singh and Briny Baird. Palmer is the fifth PGA Tour rookie to win this year.
In addition to four straight birdies down the stretch, Palmer chipped in from 40 feet on fifteen and made a 44-foot birdie on seventeen that was moving at a hearty pace when it slammed into the hole. Palmer, of no relation to Arnold, said “I knew I could play. It was a matter of proving it to myself.”
Palmer began the day in 109th place on the money list, but this win and the $756,000 that goes with it was enough to vault him to the top 40, possibly earning an invitation to next year’s Masters and locking up an invitation to play in next week’s Chrysler Championship in Tampa.
Coming in last among those who played all four rounds, Isabelle Beisiegel fails PGA Q-school.
Isabelle Beisiegel failed to qualify for the PGA Tour this weekend at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, CA. Beisiegel shot rounds of 84, 80, 80 and 79 for a 35-over-par 323 which placed her last among 78 golfers playing all four rounds. Seven golfers withdrew from the tournament.
After her relatively poor performance, however, Isabelle was disappointed, but not discouraged. “The biggest thing I am going to take away from this week is that strength and length were not a factor,” she said. “I already knew that, but now I have proof.”
Beisiegel, a native of Canada who played golf at the University of Oklahoma, said failing to qualify this year won’t stop her from trying the process next year or trying some one-day qualifying events for PGA Tour stops in 2005.
Ernie Els is upset with Tim Finchem over the “never-ending PGA Tour season.”
A good read over at GolfToday concerning the never-ending PGA Tour “season.” A juicy little tidbit from the article reports how the Tour office sent Ernie Els a letter imploring him to cease his globetrotting ways. Needless to say, The Big Easy is pretty pissed off about it.
Way to alienate one of your top draws Finchem.
