Out of the Woods

By THOMAS BONK

Oct. 30, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

How to get younger in a hurry: Tiger Woods, 21, wins the Masters. Ernie Els, 27, wins the U.S. Open. Justin Leonard, 25, wins the British Open.

It’s the first time the winners of the first three major championships were in their 20s. And that’s just the way it’s going into the record books for 1997, for sure--the big story on the PGA Tour is players in their 20s shooting in the 60s.

In fact, the only guy to ruin the curve in the majors this year was PGA champion Davis Love III, who is 33, or III-III, if you prefer.

The youngest champion of them all is Woods, the multimillion-dollar, swoosh-buckling megawatt superstar, multinational marketing device and birdie machine, who has won four times--all by the first week in July--and set a PGA Tour record for earnings while he was at it. And because last place at this weekend’s Tour Championship pays $64,000, he is guaranteed to go over the $2-million mark.

Nobody had ever won more than $1.78 million on the tour, which is what Tom Lehman did last year. Woods passed Lehman the first week of September.

Come to think of it, that’s about the way the year began . . . with Woods passing Lehman. It happened in January at the season-opening Mercedes Championships at La Costa, where rain washed out the final round. Since television had to be happy, a sudden-death playoff was arranged between Woods and Lehman.

On the par-three playoff hole, Lehman hit his ball into the water. Woods’ tee shot split the raindrops and landed a couple of inches from the hole. See ya.

From that moment, Woods was off and winning. It has turned out to be a familiar sight on the PGA Tour, although he has had some company in the winner’s circle.

* David Duval. The 25-year-old from Florida had finished second seven times and played his first 92 events without a victory . . . then won twice in a row this month, at the Michelob Classic and the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic.

“I don’t know what to say,” Duval said.

He might have been speechless, but at least he no longer was winless.

* Mark O’Meara. Three years without a victory, then he wins back-to-back, at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines in February.

Besides that, O’Meara managed to earn some distinction as Woods’ older-brother figure and golf-playing buddy, since they are neighbors at Isleworth, an exclusive retreat for the economically enhanced near Orlando, Fla.

O’Meara also became Woods’ partner at the ill-fated Ryder Cup and, even more important, advised him on what color clothes to wear to match the rest of the team. Rendered swooshless at Valderrama, Woods must have felt nearly unclothed. That could explain his less-than-soaring play.

* Steve Jones. The 1996 U.S. Open champion had sort of disappeared since his triumph at Oakland Hills, but he managed to show up again, winning at Phoenix in January and at the Canadian Open in September.

* Greg Norman. So how much did his historic collapse at the 1996 Masters affect him? Maybe not all that much, at least in regular tour events, since Norman won at Memphis and again at the World Series of Golf.

The 42-year-old warrior has won at least once each year for the last six years. He may be past his prime, but no one has played fewer tournaments and won more money than Norman, who is in the top 10 in earnings for the ninth time in his last 13 years.

* Other multiple winners were Steve Elkington, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Leonard, Love and Els.

The Big Three of the so-called next generation of U.S. golfers--Woods, Mickelson and Leonard--have won 20 tournaments among them. Mickelson, the oldest at 27, has the most victories, 11. But he is also the only one of the three without a major title.

Maybe it’s because he’s left-handed. Maybe not, said Mickelson, who had the year’s best answer when asked whether it’s tougher to play golf left-handed.

“The course doesn’t care which side of the ball you stand on,” he said.

And whether it has been a newsy year, well, it depends what side of the ball you’re standing on.

There seems to have been quite a lot of news generated on and off the course. John Daly quit the Players Championship, checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, came back, walked off the course at the U.S. Open, pulled himself together again and even tied for the first-round lead at the PGA. Oh, he also became the first player to lead the PGA Tour driving statistics while averaging more than 300 yards.

Payne Stewart has come back from elbow surgery, Paul Azinger has heard fewer questions about his 1994 cancer surgery, former major champions Corey Pavin and Mark Brooks have slumped all year, first John Cook and then Jones took turns devastating par in consecutive weeks at the Bob Hope and at Phoenix and Norman vaulted over the $11-million mark in career earnings.

At the Masters, Woods set records for his score and for his 12-shot margin of victory, which will be remembered long after Fuzzy Zoeller’s ill-chosen comments are forgotten.

There also is a chance the Ryder Cup in Sotogrande, Spain, will be replayed for a long while, especially since the U.S. team was so heavily favored and wound up losing, 14 1/2-13 1/2, and the combination of Woods-Love-Leonard went 1-9-3.

Another way to look at it is there’s room for improvement. In the 1999 Ryder Cup at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., we’ll find out if they’ve done it. As far as timing goes, this sounds about right. By then, 1997 will have sunk in.

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PGA at a Glance 1997 RESULTS

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Date Tournament Winner Jan. 9-12 Mercedes Championships Tiger Woods Jan. 15-19 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic John Cook Jan. 23-26 Phoenix Open Steve Jones Jan. 30-Feb. 2 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Mark O’Meara Feb. 6-9 Buick Invitational Mark O’Meara Feb. 13-16 United Airlines Hawaiian Open Paul Stankowski Feb. 20-23 Tucson Chrysler Classic Jeff Sluman Feb. 27-March 2 Nissan Open Nick Faldo March 6-9 Doral-Ryder Open Steve Elkington March 13-16 Honda Classic Stuart Appleby March 20-23 Bay Hill Invitational Phil Mickelson March 27-30 Players Championship Steve Elkington April 3-6 Freeport-McDermott Classic Brad Faxon April 10-13 Masters Tiger Woods April 17-20 MCI Classic Nick Price April 24-27 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic Frank Nobilo May 1-4 Shell Houston Open Phil Blackmar May 8-11 BellSouth Classic Scott McCarron May 15-18 Byron Nelson Classic Tiger Woods May 22-25 MasterCard Colonial David Frost May 29-June 1 Memorial Vijay Singh June 5-8 Kemper Open Justin Leonard June 12-15 U.S. Open Ernie Els June 19-22 Buick Classic Ernie Els June 26-29 FedEx St. Jude Classic Greg Norman July 3-6 Motorola Western Open Tiger Woods July 10-13 Quad City Classic David Toms July 17-20 British Open Justin Leonard July 17-20 Deposit Guaranty Classic Billy Ray Brown July 24-27 Canon Greater Hartford Open Stewart Cink July 31-Aug. 3 Sprint International Phil Mickelson Aug. 7-10 Buick Open Vijay Singh Aug. 14-17 PGA Championship Davis Love III Aug. 21-24 NEC World Series of Golf Greg Norman Aug. 21-24 Greater Vancouver Open Mark Calcavecchia Aug. 28-31 Greater Milwaukee Open Scott Hoch Sept. 4-7 Bell Canadian Open Steve Jones Sept. 11-14 CVS Charity Classic Loren Roberts Sept. 18-21 LaCantera Texas Open Tim Herron Sept. 26-28 Ryder Cup Europe Sept. 26-28 B.C. Open Gabriel Hjertstedt Oct. 2-5 Buick Challenge Davis Love III Oct. 9-12 Michelob Championship David Duval Oct. 16-19 Disney Classic David Duval Oct. 22-26 Las Vegas Invitational Bill Glasson

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1997 SCHEDULE

Date: Tournament

Oct. 30-Nov. 2: The Tour Championship, Champions G.C., Houston

Nov. 6-9: Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International, Lahaina, Hawaii*

Nov. 6-9: Sarazen World Open Championship, Braselton, Ga.*

Nov. 14-16: Franklin Funds Shark Shootout, Thousand Oaks*

Nov. 20-23: World Cup of Golf, Kiawah Island, S.C.*

Nov. 29-30: Skins Game, La Quinta*

Dec. 4-7: JCPenney Classic, Palm Harbor, Fla.*

Dec. 12-14: Diners Club Matches, La Quinta*

Dec. 20-21: Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge, Henderson, Nev.*

* unofficial event.

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1997 MONEY LEADERS

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PLAYER EVENTS EARNINGS 1. Tiger Woods 20 $1,969,233 2. Justin Leonard 28 $1,463,531 3. Davis Love III 24 $1,359,953 4. Scott Hoch 21 $1,282,988 5. Greg Norman 14 $1,248,256 6. Steve Elkington 16 $1,240,411 7. Jim Furyk 26 $1,187,480 8. Ernie Els 18 $1,176,608 9. David Duval 28 $1,165,308 10. Phil Mickelson 20 $1,152,590 11. Brad Faxon 22 $1,093,505 12. Jesper Parnevik 18 $1,077,587 13. Mark O’Meara 21 $1,044,560 14. Nick Price 15 $987,445 15. Loren Roberts 23 $965,140 16. Vijay Singh 20 $948,436 17. Mark Calcavecchia 26 $941,365 18. Stuart Appleby 22 $930,556 19. Steve Jones 23 $890,308 20. Tom Lehman 20 $874,184 21. Paul Stankowski 28 $849,405 22. Frank Nobilo 18 $815,315 23. Lee Janzen 26 $811,432 24. Jeff Maggert 26 $771,084 25. Tommy Tolles 24 $761,793 26. Scott McCarron 25 $754,859 27. Bill Glasson 18 $750,552 28. John Cook 27 $739,903 29. Stewart Cink 30 $739,180 30. Andrew Magee 28 $665,607 31. Billy Andrade 28 $665,602 32. Phil Blackmar 27 $642,400 33. Tim Herron 31 $640,997 34. Jeff Sluman 29 $634,203 35. Tom Kite 22 $631,252 36. David Ogrin 27 $593,683 37. Colin Montgomerie 9 $578,991 38. Fred Funk 33 $544,419 39. Kirk Triplett 26 $541,023 40. Payne Stewart 23 $538,289 41. Craig Stadler 21 $525,304 42. Tom Byrum 27 $525,161 43. Bob Tway 26 $507,523 44. Steve Lowery 30 $480,467 45. Tom Watson 16 479,146 46. Russ Cochran 29 $470,929 47. Michael Bradley 28 $465,887 48. Chris Perry 32 $460,984 49. David Toms 27 $460,355 50. David Frost 24 $458,700 51. Duffy Waldorf 26 $458,074 52. Kevin Sutherland 27 $455,860 53. Robert Damron 32 $455,604 54. Hal Sutton 29 $453,928 55. Fred Couples 15 $448,385 56. Dan Forsman 27 $443,034 57. Jay Haas 24 $437,895 58. Nick Faldo 15 $431,326 59. Lee Rinker 31 $415,442 60. Dudley Hart 28 $410,188 61. Paul Goydos 30 $396,241 62. Brent Geiberger 29 $395,472 63. Craig Parry 20 $387,603 64. Doug Martin 30 $383,593 65. Jay Don Blake 28 $378,484 66. Brad Fabel 30 $375,122 67. Mike Brisky 30 $367,112 68. Grant Waite 31 $362,320 69. Bob Estes 19 $340,057 70. Brandel Chamblee 26 $334,664 71. Brian Henninger 25 $329,864 72. Rick Fehr 22 $327,204 73. Mike Reid 25 $325,551 74. Skip Kendall 31 $320,800 75. Mike Standly 28 $318,939 76. Mike Hulbert 30 $317,247 77. Len Mattiace 35 $315,656 78. Don Pooley 19 $312,660 79. Billy Mayfair 30 $304,083 80. Ted Tryba 34 $303,399 81. Brad Bryant 24 $295,365 82. Peter Jacobsen 25 $294,931 83. David Edwards 23 $292,096 84. David Sutherland 28 $288,663 85. Mark Wiebe 25 $285,139 86. Robert Gamez 28 $283,434 87. Darren Clarke 4 $282,816 88. Jim Carter 29 $279,834 89. Gabriel Hjertstedt 23 $279,624 90. Kenny Perry 26 $270,081 91. Billy Ray Brown 24 $268,709 92. Kelly Gibson 36 $267,230 93. Paul Azinger 20 $262,045 94. Olin Browne 33 $261,810 95. Steve Pate 28 $261,436 96. Phil Tataurangi 26 $256,930 97. Clarence Rose 32 $256,481 98. Glen Day 29 $248,323 99. Larry Mize 21 $246,773 100. Joe Durant 31 $240,936

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Career Comparison

Tiger Woods

* Joined Tour: 1996

* Victories: 6 (1996 Las Vegas Invitational, 1996 Disney Classic, 1997 Mercedes Championship, 1997 Masters, 1997 Byron Nelson, 1997 Western Open)

* Top 10 Finishes: 14

* Scoring Avg.: 69.64

* Career Money: $2,759,827 (86th)

Phil Mickelson

* Joined Tour: 1992

* Victories: 1 in 1991; 2 in 1993; 1 in 1994; 1 in 1995; 4 in 1996; 2 in 1997