Editor's Weekly Word

Only a few weeks ago, Ernie Els was lamenting what a disappointing season he had been having, narrowly missing out in all four majors, but in the last three weeks he has turned his thinking around and it shows. First he won the  WGC - American Express Championship and then last week he picked up another £1million ($1.8m) by retaining the HSBC World Matchplay Championship title at Wentworth. In doing so, he confirmed his position as winner of the 2004 Volvo Order of Merit, breaking the record for the highest single season earnings on the European Tour with over 4 million euros ($5m). Add to that the fact that he currently stands in third place on the PGA Tour money list, just $50,000 behind Phil Mickelson, and that he has won five tournaments worldwide, it is no surprise that he holds the world number two spot. I'm sure that when he looks back on 2004, it will be the achievements, not the disappointments, that stand out - not too bad a year after all.

Lee Westwood, who lost 2 & 1 to Els in the 36-hole final at Wentworth last week, and Ian Poulter have indicated that they intend to take up PGA Tour membership next year after becoming eligible by playing on the European Ryder Cup team. Poulter will be getting some extra practice for playing on US soil next season by competing in the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World this week under a foreign exemption.

Whilst I can see the attraction of playing on the US circuit, I don't see how the European players can expect the prize funds or world ranking points for European Tour events to ever be significantly increased if there is a constant migration of the top players to the other side of the Atlantic. They say that they will continue to support the European Tour but most likely they will only return for the bigger money events, meaning that more of the "minor" tournaments in Europe will lose sponsorship and disappear off the calendar for ever. Already, over one third of the events on the European Tour International Schedule, as it is now known, are played outside of Europe. I wonder how long it will be before they drop the word "European" altogether and just call it the International Tour. Hopefully it will never come to that.

Have a good week.

Regards

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

Chrysler Classic of Greensboro - Tournament Report

Brent Geiberger made history on Sunday when he won at Greensboro by becoming the first player to follow in his father's footsteps and win the same event. Back in 1976, Al "Mr. 59" Geiberger, who is now a member of the Champions Tour, won the Greater Greensboro Open by two shots from Lee Trevino. Despite battling a bad cold all last week, Brent was able to produce solid golf which included only two bogeys to claim his second title on the PGA Tour. Having entered the tournament at 144th on the Money List he has now secured his playing rights for two years with the victory.

Second and third places were enough for Michael Allen and Chris Smith to retain their cards for next season also. A birdie on the last hole secured runner-up earnings of $496,800 for Allen to move him up 84th position with $868,571, while Smith's check for $312,800 took him up from 152nd place to 110th and saved him from what would have been his 12th trip to Q-school.

For the second consecutive week, Tom Lehman failed to capitalize on holding at least a share of the third round lead and had to settle for a share of fourth place with David Toms. This was Lehman's third top ten finish of the season, with all of them coming in his last four outings.

Round of the day was Ted Purdy's 64 which took him from tied 48th at start of play into a 8-way tie for eighth place at the finish.

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Chrysler Classic of Greensboro - Results

Par 72 - 7,311 yards

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PGA Tour Money List

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Mallorca Classic - Tournament Report

Sergio Garcia added to his two PGA Tour titles from earlier this year with a four stroke victory over England's Simon Khan on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca. After starting the day as joint leaders they got off to very different starts with Khan holding a three shot lead after two holes. By the 8th they were level again and Garcia took the lead for the first time on the 9th but the real turning point came two holes later when Khan went over the green and made bogey while Garcia sank a four-footer to give him a three stroke advantage. From then on in, the outcome was never in doubt as Garcia demonstrated why he is the world number ten player and completed his fourth round in the sixties for a total of 268.

The Spaniards obviously enjoy playing on home soil as four other natives Carlos Rodiles (3rd), Santiago Luna (T4) Gonzalo Fernandez-Castan (T7) and José Maria Olazábal (10th) joined Garcia in the top ten. The European Tour stays in Spain this week for the Open de Madrid where world #16 Miguel Angel Jiménez takes over the role of local hero.

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Mallorca Classic - Results

Par 70 - 6,568 yards

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Volvo Order Of Merit

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 majors and WGC events are included in both the European & PGA Tour Money Lists.

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Samsung World Championship - Tournament Report

Sweden's LPGA world number one, Annika Sorenstam, came from behind to pass Grace Park on the back nine and win the Samsung World Championship for the fourth time in her career. This was Sorenstam's sixth win of the season and took her 2004 earnings past the $2million mark for the fourth consecutive year.

The turning point came when Sorenstam chipped in for eagle on the 15th and followed up with a birdie on the difficult 17th hole to complete a round of 67 for an 18 under par total of 270.

Runner-up Grace Park had dominated the leaderboard for most of the day but as Sorenstam's game was coming together, Park's was falling apart with three bogeys on the back nine including on the last two holes, leaving her three shots behind the winner for the second consecutive week. Clearly frustrated, Park told the post-tournament press conference "I'm the biggest loser" when asked what she would take away from the tournament.

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Samsung World Championship - Results

Par 72 - 6,462 yards

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ADT Money List

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Champions Tour - SBC Championship

Champions Tour Rookie, Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe, picked up his second win of the year having previously won the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am on his debut appearance in February. He started the final round four shots clear of the field and quickly extended his lead with four birdies on the front nine allowing him to cruise to the largest winning margin on the Champions Tour in the last three years.

Tom Kite looked like he might be mounting a challenge with five birdies in the first twelve holes but he fell out of contention when he took a seven on the par 3 thirteenth hole and had to settle for fourth place behind Gary McCord and Bobby Wadkins.

In the Charles Schwab Cup points race, Hale Irwin picked up 38 points from his T10th finish to extend his lead over Craig Stadler to 39 points. There is only this week's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship left, but with triple points on offer to the top ten finishers, it is still possible for Tom Kite or Peter Jacobsen to make up the huge deficit and win the season long challenge. The winner will pick up 1,305 points and the current standings are:-

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SBC Championship - Results

Par 71 - 6,670 yards

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Champions Tour Money List

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

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Official World Golf Rankings

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