Category: PGA

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.”

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.

Continue reading “Fun at the Chrysler Championship”

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.”

Continue reading “Duval Has Best Round of the Year”

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.

Continue reading “Palmer Wins Funai Classic”

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.

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.

For the first time since turning pro, Tiger Woods will miss the Funai Classic at Disney. According to Disney officials, Tiger missed the 5pm deadline for entering the tournament. It appears that life cruising around the Caribbean on a multi-million dollar yacht is much more important than his streak at the Funai Classic. But, can you blame him? I don’t.

Ernie Els carded a final round 69 to complete a one stroke victory over Thomas Bjorn in the WGC American Express Championship in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The win sees him replace Tiger Woods as World No. 2, and consolidates his position at the top of the European Order of Merit.

In an interview earlier in the week, Els said he had put the disappointments of this year’s Majors behind him, and was looking forward confidently to the year’s remaining tournaments. His confidence clearly showed, completing four rounds in the 60s for an 18-under par total.

Despite playing with a shoulder injury, Woods finished ninth at ten under par after a third consecutive 70. However, he has now seen his World Ranking position slip from first, to second, and now third in the space of a month, and remains without a strokeplay victory in 2004. A week or two in Barbados should cheer him up though, especially if the rumours of his impending marriage to to Elin Nordegren are to be believed.

Vijay Singh withdrew from the American Express Championship to be played in Ireland this weekend after Hurricane Jeanne, the 4th hurricane to pound the state of Florida in the past two months, caused damage to his home in Ponte Vedra Beach. Singh felt it was time to spend some time with his family. He is still scheduled to play three more tournaments this year including next week’s Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, a European tour event. Other notables who have already withdrawn from the American Express Championship include Mike Weir, John Daly, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, and Nick Price. The tournament will still include 44 of the world’s top-50 players.