Money May Not Be Everything for Singh

It is a question that makes no economic sense. When is $6.67 million more than $7.57 million?

Answer: When Tiger Woods has it.

Vijay Singh made $900,494 more this year than Woods, but he played nine more tournaments than Woods, won one fewer tournament than Woods, didn’t score as well and missed a cut, which Woods didn’t.

Now, it’s on to the ballot box from the golf course. It’s a two-player race between Woods and Singh, who finished better than Woods on Sunday in the Tour Championship, but now must wait to see if Woods can win a popularity contest for player of the year.

There was supposed to be a laundry list of issues settled over the weekend at Champions Golf Club in Houston, where Woods, Singh, Mike Weir or Davis Love III could have swung the player-of-the-year-award momentum with a victory, but all that we know now is that Singh made the most money. Whether Singh will wind up with the most votes remains to be seen; the ballots go out today and the results will be announced Dec. 8.

Woods, who has won the player-of-the-year voting the last four years, sees no reason Singh should interrupt his streak.

“It would be a little bit surprising,” Woods said Sunday. “Considering the way I’ve played, consistently, with two World Golf Championships in there, with my stroke average being as low as it is, and on top of that, never missing a cut.”

Singh’s qualifications speak volumes, which is fortunate for him because Singh kept himself at arm’s length from reporters all week at Champions.

Singh closed with a 68 Sunday and tied for fifth at the $6-million season-ending tournament, where Chad Campbell shot 68, beat Charles Howell by three shots, won the first tournament of his career, made $1.08 million and was as good as lost in the Woods-Singh player-of-the-year drama.

Woods slumped to a three-over 74 and was 26th in a 31-player field. It was his second-worst result of the year; he tied for 39th at the PGA Championship.

Now, it’s up to the PGA Tour pros to vote. There will be other choices besides Woods and Singh, a list that probably will include Masters champion and three-time winner Weir, U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and Love, who was third behind Singh and Woods on the money list and won four times.

“You take things into consideration more on a year-long basis rather than we know who is playing the best right now,” Love said. “That’s Vijay.”

One postseason player-of-the-year award was locked up Sunday. Woods won his fifth consecutive PGA player-of-the-year award, the one controlled by the PGA of America. It is not decided by votes, but by points awarded for victories, earnings and scoring average.

The only way Woods could have lost it was if Singh or Weir won the Tour Championship.

When the pros vote, Woods and Singh will certainly draw the most attention.

Woods won five times -- at Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, the Western Open, plus World Golf Championship events at La Costa and Atlanta. He won 27.7% of the tournaments he played (five victories, 18 tournaments). He won the Vardon Trophy for the fifth consecutive year with an adjusted scoring average of 68.41 that is the second-lowest of all time, bettered only by his 67.79 in 2000.

Woods established a PGA Tour record for consecutive tournaments making the cut -- 114 -- breaking Byron Nelson’s record. Woods had 12 top-10 finishes and only twice failed to finish in the top 20 -- at the PGA Championship and the Tour Championship.

Singh won the money title, won at Phoenix, the Byron Nelson, the John Deere and the Disney, ended the season with eight consecutive top-six finishes and was out of the top 20 only three times in 27 tournaments. He missed one cut, at the Players Championship, and his scoring average of 68.65 was his best.

Based on average earnings per tournament, Woods made about $370,745 each time out and Singh made $280,515.

But the bottom line belonged to Singh alone.

“I’m very proud of it, especially with my age,” he said Sunday. “I never really thought that I would accomplish this. It’s a big thing. Being No. 1 on the money list on the U.S. tour, it’s more than a dream for me.”

The money title was something Singh was aiming for when he altered his schedule to play the last eight tournaments of the year. He was second to David Duval in 1998 and stayed in the top five in earnings the last five years.

Singh, who turned 40 in February, is the second player to win the money title after his 40th birthday. Greg Norman was 12 days older than Singh is now when he led the money list with $1.6 million in 1995.

The player Singh had to beat, of course, was Woods, who is also the player most responsible for the increase in tournament purses from when Norman led the money list eight years ago.

In 1998, the total prize money was $96 million. The pot was about $235 million this year.