Red-Hot Woods Playing Off an Elevated Tee

So how good is it being Tiger Woods?

Well, it’s busy, we know that: tournaments in Houston last week, Spain this week, Taiwan the week after, Malaysia the next week and then Hawaii.

It’s also quite successful: Seven PGA Tour victories this year, the best season on the tour in 25 years.

And it’s also financially rewarding: a record $5,616,585.

This is a fairly astounding amount. It’s more than the entire prize money for all the tournaments on the PGA Tour in 1969.

Woods has earned $10.3 million in his career--No. 8 all-time--and he doesn’t turn 24 until next month.

For what it’s worth, Woods has 14 victories in his first 69 pro starts. Sam Snead had 15 in the same span, Jack Nicklaus had 11, Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer had four and Tom Watson had none.

Woods has one official PGA Tour event remaining, this week’s World Golf Championship American Express Championship at Valderrama, Spain.

As far as honors, Woods is a lock for the PGA Tour player of the year. He has also assured himself of his second PGA of America player-of-the-year award and is on track to win the PGA of America’s Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average.

He is also working on a few PGA Tour records, including one that’s sort of obscure, but telling, nonetheless: On par-five holes, Woods has made birdie or better 55.5% of the time (Fred Couples holds the record of 53.6% in 1991).

There’s more. Woods’ scoring average of 68.48 is the lowest ever (Greg Norman’s 68.81 in 1994 is the current mark). Woods’ average of 4.49 birdies per round is the best ever (David Duval’s average of 4.29 in 1998 is the current record).

TIGER GARB

You may have noticed that while many of the players in the Tour Championship wore knickers last Sunday to salute Payne Stewart, Woods did not. Neither did Duval, but everything Woods does (or does not do) is big news, so we can’t leave anything out.

For the record: Nike Golf, with whom Woods has an apparel deal, took no part in Woods’ decision to wear his regular clothes. A spokesperson for IMG, Woods’ management group, said Woods felt that wearing knickers wasn’t his style of mourning.

SHARK SWAN SONG

You can say goodbye to the Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout.

The event, which has been held at Sherwood Country Club since it began in 1989, is moving next year to Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami to be played on the Norman-designed Great White Course. The 11th and last edition at Sherwood is next week.

GOOD TO BE BRUCE

Continuing his good fortune, Bruce Fleisher will get an extra $250,000 if he wins the Senior PGA Tour money title and $100,000 if he is chosen player of the year, thanks to two brilliant clauses in his endorsement deal with Callaway Golf.

Fleisher has made $2,331,205 in his rookie year on the senior tour, with one event left. He has seven wins this year. He had one victory in 27 years on the PGA Tour.

“Honestly, I don’t understand what I’ve done,” Fleisher said.

At least he’s honest . . . also rich.

TOO HARD WITHOUT IT

Bob Murphy has had a bad year on the senior tour, but he knows why: “My brain isn’t in it.”

I’M RIGHT, YOU’RE WRONG (AGAIN)

Murphy is cutting back his schedule in 2000 so he can resume his career as a television commentator. He will do nine events for NBC and work in the booth with Johnny Miller.

Murphy, who used to partner with Jim Colbert on ESPN’s golf telecasts, said he doesn’t expect to agree with Miller all that often, but he’s used to it.

“Colbert used to disagree with me all the time,” Murphy said. “He was wrong, but he still disagreed.”

A RARE MILLER TIME

He turned 50 in 1997, but Miller hasn’t spent much time playing the senior tour--four events in all, none this year.

But Miller will play in the Sun Microsystems Par 3 Challenge at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara that’s being taped Nov. 16 for showing Thanksgiving Day on Fox Channel 11.

Miller won the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am when he was 46, but said he quit playing even semi-regularly because his putting wasn’t good enough and he didn’t think he could win.

“I don’t want to play golf for money anymore,” he said. “I’ve been there and done that. My knees and legs are hurting and hurt when I play 18 holes.”

So why is he playing this special event?

Said Miller: “I think I can handle par threes.”

SHOE NEWS

The USGA announced that all players competing in next year’s amateur championships must wear non-metal spikes.

BUSINESS NEWS

Orange County’s Kellee Booth, who won her LPGA Tour card when she was the medalist at qualifying school, signed with Signature Sports, which also represents such pros as Tom Lehman, Tommy Armour III, Tim Herron, Larry Mize and Scott Simpson. Booth used her $6,000 check from the qualifying tournament as part of a down payment on a townhouse in Rancho Santa Margarita.

British Open fabulous flameout Jean Van de Velde has signed a club deal with Cleveland.

Nike dropped its sponsorship of the Nike Tour, but picked up something else: becoming an “official sponsor” of the World Golf Championships--those mega-million-dollar events such as the World Match Play event at La Costa. Nike is not the title sponsor.

Golfsmith has canceled the production of a planned set of forged irons that Stewart designed and was going to use. Golfsmith also shelved all other Lynx-brand products Stewart was involved with.

WHEN HE’S 64

Gary Player turned 64 last week and reemphasized a career goal for 2000--he wants to win a tournament, which would mean victories in six decades.

“If I can do it, it’s a record that no one will ever break,” Player said. “Someone may equal it, but no one will break it.”

To reach his goal, Player is embarking on a training regimen that includes a strict diet. He says avoiding white bread is most important.

“Poison,” Player calls white bread.

He wants to write a book on nutrition and says he is a walking advertisement for his dietary beliefs.

“My body is a man of 40,” he said. “I have zero body fat. I’m still very supple.”

Maybe, but he also should be very tired. Player said he will pass 12 million miles in travel by the end of the year, including 20 countries this year--eight of them in a six-week period.

“That’s really seriously traveling,” Player said.

SHORT WORK

Brian Henninger has won two PGA Tour events--last week’s Southern Farm Bureau Classic and the 1994 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic. Neither one went 72 holes. Last week’s tournament was 54 holes and the 1994 event was 36 holes.

Henninger also won three Nike Tour events--all of them 54 holes, in 1992.

CHANGES

Stewart’s death meant that three off-season special events needed to make other choices.

The PGA of America announced Thursday that Davis Love III will play for Stewart in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Nov. 23-24, at Poipu Bay and the Hyatt Regency Kauai in Hawaii. The PGA also said it will make a $150,000 contribution to Stewart’s estate.

Justin Leonard is in for Stewart in the $651,000 Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge at Lake Las Vegas Resort, which airs Dec. 18-19 on ABC.

Couples is apparently the choice to replace Stewart in the $1-million Skins Game, Nov. 27-28, on ABC.

Chances are they’re going to be very busy handling Stewart’s legacy next year at Pebble Beach. Stewart was not only the defending champion at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he was the defending champion at the U.S. Open, which is at Pebble Beach in 2000.

THEY’RE IN

Couples-Mark Calcavecchia, Steve Pate-Mark Wiebe, Chris Perry-Skip Kendall and Steve Elkington-Jeff Maggert make up the PGA Tour teams for the $1.2-million Diners Club Matches at Pelican Hill, Dec. 11-12, on ABC.

Nicklaus and Watson are the marquee Senior PGA Tour team and the team of Juli Inkster-Dottie Pepper headlines the LPGA field.

HE LIGHTS UP THE PAGES

Ely Callaway is a veteran of the sports pages and the business pages, and now he has shown up some place sort of unusual--Cigar Aficionado magazine.

Callaway is profiled in the December issue, which includes the top 100 cigar smokers of all time. Winston Churchill is No. 1, Red Auerbach No. 8, Babe Ruth No. 10 and Michael Jordan No. 14, immediately following Al Capone, Groucho Marx and President Clinton.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

The second Crossroads Classic pro-am will be played Monday at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village. The event benefits Crossroads School’s financial aid program. Details: (310) 829-7391 or (310) 393-6059.

Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Woods have committed to play in Woods’ $3.5-million Williams World Challenge, Dec. 28-Jan. 2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. The 12-player field is by invitation--the top 10 players from the official world ranking and two at-large selections.