The Two Sides of Tiger
The Week: June 28-July 5
 Now is not a good time in golf to be thinking Ben Hogan, Ben Gay, hickory shafts
or hair loss. In case you hadn't grasped that point already, Sergio Garcia, 19,
Se Ri Pak, 21, and Tiger Woods, 23, drove it home with victories last
week -- flouting the speed limit all the way. Payne Stewart and Juli Inkster,
those long-toothed linksters, may still win a few majors, but considering that
Karrie Webb is 24 and David Duval 27, know this: The kids are
coming.
PGA
Woods, who in winning the Motorola Western Open at Cog Hill in
Lemont, Ill., jumped over Duval to the top of the World Ranking, is finishing
four places higher than Duval, on average, this year.... John Daly came
in 67th -- a stroke out of last -- at the Murphy's Irish Open and pulled out
of next week's British Open, citing his recent poor play.... Vijay Singh
has finished second (Memorial), tied for third (U.S. Open), tied for fifth
(Buick Classic) and fourth (Western) in his last four
starts.
LPGA
Se Ri Pak won for the second time in three weeks, in a playoff at
the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic , because she played the 1st hole at Highland
Meadows in one under par. The shortest par-4 on the course at 347 yards, the 1st
was nonetheless the toughest hole, with a 4.38 stroke average. Kelli Kuehne, one
of the six players tied for the lead at the end of regulation, at eight under,
played the 1st in four over for the week.... The six-way playoff broke a
20-year-old tour
record.
SENIOR
Christy O'Connor Jr.'s win in the State Farm Senior Classic, his
first on U.S. soil, upped the number of first-time winners on the Senior circuit
in '99 to seven, the same number as in all of
'98.
ALSO
Nineteen-year-old Irish Open winner Sergio Garcia of Spain is not
the youngest player to win a European tour event. Dale Hayes of South Africa was
18 when he won the '71 Spanish Open.... Garcia moved to 18th in the Ryder
Cup standings.... José María Olazábal , who withdrew
from last month's U.S. Open when he broke a bone in his right hand punching a
wall after shooting 75 in the first round, is planning to play in next week's
British Open.... Gary Nicklaus shot a career-low 64 in the second round
of the Nike Hershey (Pa.) Open but faded to 21st. Edward Fryatt won the
event.... Minnesota governor Jesse (the Bogey) Ventura had a three-round
total 132-over-par 348 to finish last in the American Century Celebrity
Championship at Edgewood Tahoe, in Stateline, Nev. Former major league pitcher
Rick Rhoden won the tournament for the fifth time with a four-under
212.
Issue date: July 12, 1999
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