Tour Talent Runs Deep, Not All of It Is Tiger’s

Write down these names: Mark O’Meara, Steve Jones and John Cook. They are the “other” winners on the PGA Tour this year--the “non-Tiger” winners. And they have 80% of the victories in 1997.

Write down these names: Nick Faldo, Tom Lehman, Nick Price, Mark Brooks, Paul Azinger, Fred Couples, Jesper Parnevik and Steve Stricker. They will win this year.

Write down this prediction: Tiger Woods will not win 10 PGA Tour events this year. Or eight. Or even six. There are too many other great players.

In the eyes of some, the PGA Tour has become two tours--those tournaments with Tiger Woods and those without him. But that perception does a disservice to everyone who makes a living playing golf.

The talent level on the PGA Tour goes a lot deeper than Woods.

Still, Woods’ victory in a meaningless tournament in Thailand over the weekend drew more attention than O’Meara’s second straight tour win.

Certainly it is an overpowering statement of Woods’ greatness to even speculate that he could win 10 times in a year.

Only three players have had double-figure victory seasons in the history of the PGA Tour--Ben Hogan twice, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead once each. And no one has done it since Snead in 1950.

A first at the Mercedes and a second at Pebble Beach were compelling achievements for Woods. Sandwiched in between was an 18th-place finish at the Phoenix Open.

But don’t forget that O’Meara has a 14th, a fourth and two firsts. Or that Parnevik has two seconds and a third.

And don’t forget that in winning the Asian Honda Classic in Thailand all Woods had for competition was Frank Nobilo, Steve Elkington and Curtis Strange--three good players, but only three.

Woods’ greatness will not be determined by how many Asian Honda Classics he wins, or how many Australian Masters he wins. He will make his mark on the game in the four major championships and on the PGA Tour.

The 21-year-old is bringing a lot a new fans to golf, particularly young people who suddenly see the game as cool. This new interest will be dangerous if it is single-minded.

“I would hope not,” O’Meara said Tuesday from his home in Orlando, Fla., when asked about the possibility of a Woods-only focus among golf fans. “I think that would be very bad for the game.”

O’Meara, a close friend who lives near Woods in Orlando, knows what his neighbor has brought to golf, but offers a word of caution.

“He has been a blessing for the game,” O’Meara said. “I would hope that the people he brings to the game can appreciate the game of golf.”

Pebble Beach had record crowds. The TV ratings were up sharply with CBS getting a 5.8 overnight rating on Sunday, the best for a regular tour event since 1989.

This past weekend at the Buick Invitational the Sunday round received a 4.6 overnight rating, a 15% improvement over a year earlier.

“What it may do is get more people under the tent,” NBC Sports spokesman Ed Markey said about the Tiger impact. “It gets more peripheral fans into the game.”

It--the Tiger Factor--has also gotten the Juices flowing in a lot of very good players, both when Woods is there and when he is absent.

O’Meara has been in both situations.

“Last week the fans were really behind me.” O’Meara said about the Buick Invitational. “They were saying: ‘You’re the best’ and things like that. But there were some on Saturday who said things like: ‘Next time Tiger’s gonna clip you.’ ”

The players hear those comments. They hear the roars when Woods is in an event with them and they see the headlines when he is playing elsewhere.

At Pebble Beach, O’Meara was in the group behind Woods on Sunday and could feel the rumble of the cheers as Woods made birdies on Nos. 16 and 17. But O’Meara won it with birdies of his own on those two holes.

“I love competition,” O’Meara said. “I love feeling that little bit of tingling going on inside. When you have a guy like Tiger Woods coming on and the yelling, it’s the best.”

That attitude by guys like O’Meara--great players burning with competitive fire--is why Woods won’t walk away with every event on the PGA tour--or even most of them.

And it’s why no one should forget there are other players out there beside Tiger Woods.