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Woods’ wallet gets thicker Tiger on pace to break his own earnings record
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 04:57 PM
Tiger Woods set a PGA Tour single-season record for earnings last year with $6,616,585. As remarkable as that was, he is far ahead of that pace this year. Through the end of May, Woods earned $4,149,731. At this same time last year, Woods had won only $1,440,198. Woods' Tour-leading adjusted stroke average of 68.00 also surpasses his 1999 record of 68.43. Tiger topping the BearWhen Jack Nicklaus said that Woods was playing better than he ever did, it sounded like a slightly over-percolated compliment. After all, Nicklaus has won 18 professional majors, Woods has won two. But consider the way Woods can go low for not just one round, but back-to-back. With his middle rounds of 63-65 in winning the Memorial, Woods has now totaled 130 strokes or better over consecutive rounds on the PGA Tour on eight occasions. Since turning professional in 1962, Nicklaus has accomplished the feat on the regular tour only twice. Accelerated Amateurs?Watching former US. Women's amateur champions Kelli Kuehne and Vicki Goetze Ackerman lose in a playoff Sunday at the Corning Classic brings up an interesting fact. Male U.S. Amateur champions have fared much better as professionals than their female counterparts.Since 1970, the male champions have won 129 times on the PGA Tour. In that same time span, women amateur champions have posted only 68 victories on the LPGA Tour. Take away the career victories of Beth Daniel and Juli Inkster, and that number drops all the way to 13. Fleisher facing challengeFor the first time in 14 weeks, 1999 Senior Tour money leader Bruce Fleisher is not atop the money list. The new No. 1 is Larry Nelson, who for the first time since becoming a Senior in 1997 is the tour's earnings leader. Barely $3000 separate the two, and their battle resumes this week in Nashville. Stars shining brightIf you like star power, the PGA Tour is having a memorable year. Of the 22 events held so far, 12 have been won by five players perched in the top 10 of the World Rankings -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Jesper Parnevik and Vijay Singh -- while only (six) by players ranked lower than 17th have won. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jaime Diaz covers the golf beat for the magazine and appears regularly on CNN's "Sports Illustrated Golf Plus" show.
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