Editor's Weekly Word

This is the final week of speculation about Ryder Cup team selection, as the European Team qualifying comes to a close on Sunday followed almost immediately by Bernhard Langer's announcement of his two selections in a press conference scheduled for 6.30pm local time (12.30pm EST). Half the team is known already, as five qualified through the World Points List and another, Thomas Levet of France, cannot be caught in the European Points List. In our current standings update section of the newsletter you can see that Paul McGinley holds the last qualifying spot going into the final event, the BMW International Open, which is being held in Germany this week. Although his position looks the most precarious on paper, he has certainly been the most vocal regarding his determination to be on the team again. In the unlikely event that he puts in a poor performance this week and gets bumped from automatic selection, his recent form must make him a front-runner in the captain's eyes. Colin Montgomerie finds himself out of the race for an automatic spot but I believe Langer would come in for a lot of criticism if he were to leave him out and his Ryder Cup experience would certainly add depth to the European side.

Whatever the eventual line-up, they will have a match on their hands against a very strong USA team which continues to show good form with five of them finishing in the top eight at last week's elite World Golf Championships event in Ohio. The winner, Stewart Cink, showed everyone why Hal Sutton was totally justified in giving him one of the wild card spots by dominating the tournament from start to finish. That's a perfect demonstration of the composure and strength of character that will be needed at Oakland Hills next month. You can read the full report below.

That's it for now. Have a good week.

Regards

Andy Smith
Founder/Editor
www.golfing-weekly.com

WGC - NEC International - Tournament Report

Cink goes wire-to-wire for second victory of 2004

After a 7 under par opening round of 63, Stewart Cink showed no sign of letting anyone even think they had a chance of taking this tournament away from him. In a field of 75 of the best players worldwide, Rory Sabattini came closest on Sunday, getting to within two strokes for a brief period, but Cink solidly continued to post pars and sealed a four stroke victory with a 15-foot birdie on the last. This was Cink's fourth career win and second of the season having won the MCI Heritage in April. His $1.2million winner's check moves him over the $3million mark for 2004 and into 5th place on the money list. He also jumps to #11 on the Official World Golf Rankings.

Sabattini held on for a share of the runner-up spot with Tiger Woods. They both birdied the last to finish with 7 under par totals of 273, one shot clear of Davis Love III and Angel Cabrera who tied for fourth place.

Woods extended his record of finishing in the top four in each of his six appearances at this event and his earnings here took him over the $4million mark for the sixth consecutive season, a PGA Tour record. Although he continues to play well by anyone else's standards, he was clearly frustrated that he was unable to at least challenge for the lead and allowed his annoyance to surface after a wild slice off the 16th tee, thrashing out at some bushes with his driver.

Love's final round 66 included birdies on all four of Firestone's par threes and earned him $282,500 which was enough to take him past $3million for the season without winning a tournament.

The only player to record all four rounds in the sixties was England's Lee Westwood with 69-69-69-69 for a four under par total of 276. His tied ninth place finish secured his berth in the European Ryder Cup Team.

Vijay Singh (T32nd - 283) and Ernie Els (T65th - 293) were both unable to capitalize on their best opportunity yet to knock Tiger Woods off the world #1 spot, only managing to post one sub-par round between the two of them all week (Singh 67 on Saturday).

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WGC - NEC Invitational - Results

Par 70 - 7,230 yards

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Reno-Tahoe Open - Results

Rookie Vaughn Taylor won the first hole of a four-way playoff to secure his first PGA Tour victory.

Par 72 - 7,473 yards

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PGA Tour Money List

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Earnings on the European Tour are paid in Euros. The equivalent value in US$ is for information purposes only and was calculated at the rate which was current at time of publishing. Earnings from the four majors and WGC events are included in both the European & PGA Tour Money Lists.

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"Off the Cart Path" - weekly cartoon strip by Roy Doty

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Ryder Cup Points

The European Team will be finalized this week. Players who are already assured of their place are marked with "*". The USA team shown is now finalized and the list below shows the 10 automatic selection through qualifying with the two Captain's picks at the end.

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Official World Golf Rankings

Tiger Woods extends his record total of weeks at #1 to 333 and re-establishes a leading margin of almost one average point after Singh closed to with one tenth of a point last week.

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