Golfing Weekly Newsletter

Volume 37

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October 25, 2004

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Table of Contents
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-- Editors Comments --
1. PGA Tour - Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Report and Results
2. PGA Tour Money List - end of season extra coverage
3. European Tour - Open de Madrid Report and Results
4. Volvo Order Of Merit
5. Champions Tour - Charles Schwab Cup Championship Report and Results
6. Champions Tour Final Money List
7. "Off the Cart Path" - weekly cartoon strip by Roy Doty
8. Official World Golf Rankings

Editor's Weekly Word

Well, the Champions Tour official season has come to an end and what a nail-biting finish it was. With Mark McNulty in the clubhouse leading the field on 11 under par, and the two leaders in the Charles Schwab Cup points race also finished in tied seventh place, Tom Kite stood one birdie away from a playoff which would not only have been for the Cup but for the $1million annuity, had he won. In the end he could only manage to par his way in and had to settle for second place in the tournament and third place in both the season-long points race and the money list.

Mark McNulty lifted the third title of his Champions Tour rookie year to follow on from his second victory just a week before. Craig Stadler ended the year on top of the money list with $2.3million and picked up a $500,000 annuity for coming runner-up in the Schwab points table. Hale Irwin took the $1million annuity and finished runner-up on the money list having broken the $2million mark for the seventh time in eight seasons. It was a season in which Tom Kite came so close on so many occasions and ONLY had one title and almost $2million to show for a what was nearly a remarkable year. Clearly he is disappointed with the way 2004 has turned out, but let's face it, he could have done a lot worse and at age 54 he's still just a youngster on the Champions Tour.

Someone who is sure to be a star on the Champions Tour in a couple of years time is Mark O'Meara, who turns 48 in January, but he currently finds himself in possible danger of losing his playing privileges on the PGA Tour. Currently in 132nd place on the money list and not entered for this week's tournament, O'Meara has been playing this year under an exemption based on the fact that he is in the top 25 on the PGA Tour career money list. He currently stands in 24th position for career earnings and whether he retains this exemption will depend on how much money is earned by Chris DiMarco (25th, $176,568 behind), Jay Haas (26th, $187,486 behind) and Scott Verplank (27th, 238,694 behind) in the THE TOUR Championship, for which they are all currently qualified. Haas is also scheduled to play this week in the Chrysler Championship. O'Meara's five year exemption for winning the Masters & British Open titles in 1998 ran out last year and although he won a tournament this year on the European Tour International Schedule (Dubai Desert Classic in March 2004) he could find himself back at Q-school at age 47. Personally, I hope he manages to retain his card for the next couple of years before he graduates to the Champions Tour in January 2007 and I have no doubt that one way or another he will manage to do so.

Have a good week.

Regards

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

Funai Classic at Walt Disney World - Tournament Report

An excellent final round of 10 under par 62 was sufficient to secure a PGA Tour debut victory for Ryan Palmer in Orlando last weekend. World number one, Vijay Singh, had his chance to catch the clubhouse leader, Palmer, but a bogey on the 16th put paid to his hopes. He admitted in the post tournament interview that playing a 3-wood instead of a driver off the 16th tee would have taken the fairway bunker, which he landed in, out of play. 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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Funai Classic at Walt Disney World - Results

Par 72 - 6,967 yards

Pos.	Player	Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Ryan Palmer	-22	68	68	68	62	266
T2	Vijay Singh	-19	66	71	65	67	269
T2	Briny Baird	-19	65	66	68	70	269
T4	Joey Sindelar	-18	66	70	67	67	270
T4	Cameron Beckman	-18	68	65	68	69	270
T6	Mark Hensby	-17	64	71	68	68	271
T6	Tim Clark	-17	69	69	64	69	271
T6	Mark Calcavecchia	-17	71	66	65	69	271
T6	Tom Lehman	-17	66	66	67	72	271
T10	Carl Pettersson	-16	70	70	68	64	272
T10	Vaughn Taylor	-16	68	66	72	66	272
T10	Neal Lancaster	-16	69	69	67	67	272
T10	John Huston	-16	64	71	69	68	272
T10	Lucas Glover	-16	68	68	68	68	272
T10	Geoff Ogilvy	-16	68	67	67	70	272

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PGA Tour Money List

Pos.	Last Week	Player	# of Events	Prize Money
1	1	Vijay Singh	27	$9,825,166
2	2	Phil Mickelson	20	$5,672,323
3	3	Ernie Els	15	$5,629,025
4	4	Tiger Woods	18	$4,717,472
5	5	Stewart Cink	26	$4,344,670
6	6	Adam Scott	15	$3,619,384
7	7	Sergio Garcia	17	$3,115,415
8	8	Davis Love III	22	$3,075,092
9	9	Stephen Ames	25	$3,043,239
10	10	Todd Hamilton	26	$2,970,178
The final event on the official PGA calendar is THE TOUR Championship (Nov. 4-7) which is only open to the top 30 on the Money List. The field looks likely to be extended to 31 to include Padraig Harrington unless the earnings of the top thirty each exceed $2,199,866, which is the amount Harrington has earned at PGA Tour events as a non-member together with his earnings from WGC events. Last week's winner at the Funai Classic, Ryan Palmer, moved up from 91st place to 37th and could get into the field for THE TOUR Championship with a top five finish at this week's Chrysler Championship, the last full-field event of the season. Here is how it stands around the cut-off.
25	26	Fred Funk	27	$1,990,214
26	25	K.J. Choi	22	$1,982,975
27	27	Darren Clarke	15	$1,886,019
28	28	Carlos Franco	25	$1,847,045
29	29	Jay Haas	21	$1,779,876
30	30	Rod Pampling	25	$1,727,125
31	31	Kenny Perry	21	$1,714,643
32	32	Jonathan Kaye	24	$1,695,332
33	34	Charles Howell III	29	$1,691,518
34	33	Tim Herron	25	$1,687,077
35	35	Luke Donald	21	$1,646,268
36	36	Ted Purdy	34	$1,636,876
37	91	Ryan Palmer	32	$1,581,294
38	37	Bo Van Pelt	29	$1,543,225
39	46	Joey Sindelar	30	$1,536,881
40	38	Jeff Maggert	20	$1,527,884
On Sunday October 31st, after this week's Chrysler Championship, the top 125 players on the money list will retain their PGA Tour card for next season. Last week, the players who moved from being "on the bubble" to safety were Cameron Beckman (from 123rd to 103rd), Mark Calcavecchia (129th to 111th) and Neal Lancaster (121st to 115th). Billy Andrade moved from 126th to 121st. The two players who dropped below the 125 cut-off line as Calcavecchia and Andrade moved above were Craig Barlow and Notah Begay III. Begay is not listed in the field for this week's event so it looks like he'll be going to Q-school if he wants to play on Tour next year. Here is how they stand with one event to go.
120	118	Brian Gay	31	$633,228
121	126	Billy Andrade	30	$631,143
122	117	Aaron Baddeley	26	$622,576
123	119	Paul Azinger	22	$601,438
124	124	Kent Jones	31	$599,909
125	120	Olin Browne	29	$597,034
126	122	Craig Barlow	24	$595,820
127	125	Notah Begay III	23	$583,537
128	127	Bob Burns	29	$581,421
129	128	Jason Bohn	29	$567,930
130	130	Mathias Gronberg	31	$565,014
131	143	Lucas Glover	29	$557,454
132	131	Mark O'Meara	17	$543,866
133	133	Dean Wilson	32	$532,277
134	132	Scott Hend	29	$531,263
135	136	Brenden Pappas	33	$513,855

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Open de Madrid - Tournament Report

Richard Sterne of South Africa won his first European Tour event on Sunday when he beat Anders Hansen of Denmark by two strokes in the Open de Madrid. Not only did his final round 65 earn him the victory but his win saved him the anticipated trip to Q-school finals next month.

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Open de Madrid - Results

Par 71 - 6,967 yards

Pos.	Player	Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Richard STERNE (SA)	-18	70	65	66	65	266
2	Anders HANSEN (Den)	-16	68	66	68	66	268
3	Terry PRICE (Aus)	-15	66	71	65	67	269
T4	Rapha�l JACQUELIN (Fr)	-14	74	64	64	68	270
T4	Paul BROADHURST (Eng)	-14	67	65	68	70	270
T6	Darren FICHARDT (SA)	-13	67	66	67	71	271
T6	Ivo GINER (Sp)	-13	68	69	64	70	271
T6	Wade ORMSBY (Aus)	-13	72	66	67	66	271
T9	Trevor IMMELMAN (SA)	-12	67	68	69	68	272
T9	Henrik STENSON (Swe)	-12	69	71	64	68	272
T9	Johan EDFORS (Swe)	-12	66	67	69	70	272
T9	Raymond RUSSELL (Scot)	-12	71	69	68	64	272
T9	Brett RUMFORD (Aus)	-12	70	65	66	71	272

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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.

Pos.	Player	Ctry.	# of Events	Prize Money (Euros)	US$ (approx.)
1	Ernie ELS	SA	15	4,061,904.80	$5,077,381
2	Retief GOOSEN	SA	13	2,325,202.47	$2,906,503
3	Padraig HARRINGTON	IRE	19	1,864,793.88	$2,330,992
4	Miguel Angel JIM�NEZ	SP	26	1,852,503.29	$2,315,629
5	Thomas LEVET	FR	27	1,708,344.92	$2,135,431
6	Graeme MCDOWELL	N.IRE	30	1,595,862.38	$1,994,828
7	Darren CLARKE	N.IRE	18	1,500,455.06	$1,875,569
8	Lee WESTWOOD	ENG	20	1,489,640.67	$1,862,051
9	Angel CABRERA	ARG	15	1,399,584.34	$1,749,480
10	Nick O'HERN	AUS	22	1,368,424.96	$1,710,531
11	David HOWELL	ENG	25	1,356,376.93	$1,695,471
12	Paul CASEY	ENG	20	1,143,064.97	$1,428,831
13	Stephen GALLACHER	SCOT	27	1,122,157.93	$1,402,697
14	Joakim HAEGGMAN	SWE	28	1,078,356.40	$1,347,946
15	Richard GREEN	AUS	23	1,071,239.81	$1,339,050
16	Jean-Francois REMESY	FR	27	1,066,159.82	$1,332,700
17	Trevor IMMELMAN	SA	21	1,059,478.34	$1,324,348
18	Luke DONALD	ENG	10	991,678.57	$1,239,598
19	Paul MCGINLEY	IRE	25	942,060.27	$1,177,575
20	Thomas BJ�RN	DEN	17	930,695.64	$1,163,370

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Champions Tour - Charles Schwab Cup Championship

In the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship which was open to only the top thirty players on the Champions Tour money list, Tom Kite looked to have one hand on the trophy after finishing the third round with a two stroke lead. However, four bogeys on the front nine on Sunday meant that he was soon the one doing the chasing. Despite an eagle on the 13th and two birdies in the three following holes he was unable to recover enough ground to catch Mark McNulty who was already in the clubhouse with a 277 total having carded a 6 under par round of 66.

This was the perfect end to McNulty's rookie year, having won on his first outing and then finished the season by winning the last two events for total earnings of over $1.4million and seventh place on the money list.

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Charles Schwab Cup Championship - Results

Par 72 - 7,012 yards

Pos.	Player	Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Mark McNulty	-11	69	74	68	66	277
2	Tom Kite	-10	64	70	72	72	278
3	Allen Doyle	-8	71	73	67	69	280
4	Peter Jacobsen	-6	69	70	76	67	282
T5	David Eger	-5	74	67	73	69	283
T5	Jose Maria Canizares	-5	68	70	70	75	283
T7	D.A. Weibring	-4	71	75	73	65	284
T7	Jim Thorpe	-4	76	67	72	69	284
T7	Craig Stadler	-4	68	73	73	70	284
T7	Morris Hatalsky	-4	68	67	77	72	284
T7	Hale Irwin	-4	66	69	74	75	284

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Champions Tour Money List

Pos.	Last week	Player	# of Events	Prize Money
1	1	Craig Stadler	21	$2,306,066
2	2	Hale Irwin	23	$2,035,397
3	3	Tom Kite	27	$1,831,211
4	4	Gil Morgan	26	$1,606,453
5	5	Bruce Fleisher	28	$1,537,571
6	6	Larry Nelson	25	$1,428,224
7	14	Mark McNulty	20	$1,423,048
8	7	D.A. Weibring	25	$1,413,795
9	8	Jim Thorpe	26	$1,378,343
10	12	Allen Doyle	27	$1,298,555

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Charles Schwab Cup - Final Points

Pos.	Player	Events	Points	Wins	Top 10s
1	Hale Irwin	23	3427	2	14
2	Craig Stadler	21	3388	5	12
3	Tom Kite	27	2981	1	13
4	Peter Jacobsen	9	2471	1	6
5	Mark McNulty	20	2417	3	7

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

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Official World Golf Rankings

Rank	Last Week	Player	Points Avge.	# of Events	Total Points
1	1	Vijay Singh	13.48	59	795.30
2	2	Ernie Els	12.12	52	630.28
3	3	Tiger Woods	11.53	40	461.37
4	4	Phil Mickelson	7.88	48	378.17
5	5	Retief Goosen	7.01	54	378.52
6	6	Davis Love III	6.60	47	310.29
7	7	Mike Weir	6.53	42	274.34
8	8	Padraig Harrington	6.04	51	308.09
9	9	Stewart Cink	5.31	57	302.92
10	11	Sergio Garcia	5.31	49	260.24
11	10	Adam Scott	5.01	54	270.43
12	12	Jim Furyk	4.56	40	182.57
13	15	Chad Campbell	4.48	55	246.42
14	13	Chris DiMarco	4.45	54	240.30
15	14	Darren Clarke	4.43	57	252.44
16	19	Miguel A. Jimenez	4.28	51	218.53
17	17	Stuart Appleby	4.21	56	235.50
18	18	Kenny Perry	4.19	49	205.06
19	16	Todd Hamilton	4.01	51	204.65
20	22	David Toms	3.91	50	195.35

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