Players To Watch

Three players considered future stars on the PGA Tour who aren’t Tiger Woods:

STEVE STRICKER (Age: 29, Tournaments Won: Two, 1996 Ranking: Fifth, $1,176,739)

After eight top-10 finishes in his first two full seasons on the tour, Stricker broke through this year with victories at the Kemper and the Western. . . . Selected to the U.S. team for the Dunhill Cup two weeks ago, he and teammates Mark O’Meara and Phil Mickelson won. . . . He was recruited out of high school by University of Wisconsin Coach Dennis Tiziani but chose Illinois. There apparently were no hard feelings. Stricker married Tiziani’s daughter, Nicki. She also caddies for him.

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DAVID DUVAL (Age: 25, Tournaments Won: None, 1996 Ranking: Ninth, $913,479)

Duval has not had a victory, but no one will be surprised when he does. Five times this year, he has finished second or third. . . . Along with Mickelson and Gary Hallberg, he is one of only three players named first-team All-American four straight years. While still an amateur at Georgia Tech, he led the BellSouth in Atlanta after three rounds. He finished tied for 13th. . . . His father, Bob, recently turned 50 and has received invitations to play in several Senior PGA Tour events.

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JUSTIN LEONARD (Age: 24., Tournaments Won: One, 1996 Ranking: 12th, $841,140)

The best player out of the University of Texas since Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, Leonard won the Buick Open and lost in a playoff to Mickelson at Phoenix. . . . The 1992 U.S. Amateur champion turned pro after winning the NCAA title two years later and, like Tiger Woods, earned his card without going to qualifying school. He was third in his third tournament and sixth in his fifth that summer. . . . Cosmopolitan magazine recently listed him among America’s most eligible bachelors.