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Perfecting par 5s Woods’ dominance starts on longest holes
Posted: Monday May 15, 2000 12:34 PM
If you had to pick just one reason for Tiger Woods' dominance this year, it would be his incredible play on the par 5s. Out of the 109 he played going into the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, Woods is 75-under-par. Put another way, he has a 4.31 stroke average on par 5 holes, a 3-wood ahead of the next best 4.50 average by Phil Mickelson, Robert Gamez and Robert Allenby. If Woods can sustain his pace, he would break the previous season-long low of 4.44 strokes on the par 5s, a mark he set last year. Fleisher on fireBruce Fleisher's 10th career Senior Tour victory last week at the Home Depot Invitational came in his 44th start, making him the fifth fastest player to reach that threshold. Don January won his 10th senior event in his 26th start, Miller Barber in his 31st, Jack Nicklaus in 35 tries, and Gil Morgan in 37. Slow startIf you're searching for a reason Hale Irwin hasn't won yet this year, look no further than his opening round scoring average, which so far is 70.33. By contrast, Irwin's 69.26 average in 1997 put him first on the tour, as did his 68.45 average in 1998. He dropped to second last year with 69.62, but so far this season, he stands 18th in the category. Lovin' the Lone Star StateWith the PGA Tour in Texas for the next two weeks, Austin native Ben Crenshaw has the most career victories in the Lone Star state with five, followed by Bruce Lietzke, Corey Pavin and Curtis Strange with four each.
Speaking of Texas, Laura Davies' victory in Austin was her 19th LPGA title, but her 60th official victory worldwide since she turned professional in 1985. That means that in terms total professional victories by women, Davies trails only Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright and Patty Berg.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jaime Diaz covers the golf beat and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's Pro Golf Weekly.
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