Love set to defend Buick Challenge title
Posted: Thursday October 01, 1998 01:20 AM
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Love has seven top-10 finishes this year Jon Ferrey/Allsport |
PINE MOUNTAIN, Georgia (Ticker) -- Davis Love III, who has been idle since the World Series of Golf, returns to action this weekend to defend his title at the $1.5 million Buick Challenge at the Callaway Gardens Resort.
Love put aside the disappointment of losing four Ryder Cup matches in Spain last year to win this event by four strokes. It was his 12th PGA Tour title, a number he has added to only once this year with a victory at the MCI Classic in April. Love is 13th on the money list with $1,099,869 through 17 events.
With only four events until the season-ending Tour Championship, which is restricted to the top 30 money winners of the calendar year, some of the upper-echelon golfers are beginning to make their way back to the links. In addition to Love, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Scott Hoch and Tom Watson are entered.
Six of the golfers ranked 32nd through 40th -- Stewart Cink, Steve Flesch, Skip Kendall, Steve Pate, Chris Perry and Brandel Chamblee -- are all entered this week with the hope of a strong showing that can draw them closer to the top 30. Fred Funk, who also is entered, holds the last spot at $825,458, while Cink is more than $41,000 behind Funk. Chamblee, who is 40th on the money list, has $668,986.
Duval, the only three-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, leads the money list with $2,070,283. He is making his first start since winning the World Series of Golf, which helped ease the disappointment of missing the cut at the PGA Championship and Sprint International.
Singh won both those events as Duval faltered and is second on the money list. But the native of Fiji is still more than $300,000 behind Duval despite playing 23 events to Duval's 19. Since winning the Sprint International, Singh has not finished better than 14th in three appearances.
Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, uncharacteristically faltered last week at the Texas Open, bogeying the last two holes to finish second to Hal Sutton. Despite the second-place finish, Leonard almost certainly will be participating in the Tour Championship, entering play eighth on the money list with $1,428,563. More than half his winnings came at the Players Championship, where he won the $720,000 first prize.
Furyk and Hoch are both winless on the Tour this year but have combined for almost $2.6 million in winnings, placing seventh and 11th on the money list, respectively. Watson, who won The Colonial for his 34th career PGA Tour victory, is enjoying his best year on the tour financially at $897,385, which is good for 25th. But Watson has played only 13 events, the fewest amount of appearances by anyone in the top 40.
Sutton, whose win last week was just his second since 1986, is entered. He surpassed $1 million in winnings for the first time in his career and is 15th on the money list with $1,079,740.
The Mountain View Golf Course at Callaway Gardens Resort is a par-72 that measures 7,057 yards. First prize is $270,000.
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