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All hail Hale Consistent Irwin still the class of the Senior Tour
In a Senior Tour season seemingly dominated by Larry Nelson and Bruce Fleisher, Hale Irwin rolls on. The 55-year-old Irwin's victory last week in Hawaii tied Lee Trevino's record for career Senior Tour wins with 29. His fourth victory of the year extended his streak of consecutive seasons with at least four wins to four, two more than anyone else has achieved. Irwin has also passed $2 million in season earnings for the fourth consecutive year, yet another record. There's no question that the level of play on the Senior Tour is improving. Nine players currently have scoring averages of less than 70. That's the most ever, bettering the total of six in the 1994 season. Making the case stronger is that officials are setting up the tour's courses with more rough, firmer greens and tougher pin positions than ever.
Tiger never ceases to amazeYet another clear indicator of Tiger Woods raising the bar is the fact that he is poised to set new standards in an amazing six of the PGA Tour's 10 regular statistical categories. Woods is currently ahead of the existing Tour records in scoring average, greens in regulation, birdies per round, eagles per round, and all-around. He also has a shot at breaking the record for putting. Most impressive of all, Woods has an outside chance to finish a full two strokes ahead of the next best player -- currently Ernie Els -- in scoring average.
Huston at home in FloridaJohn Huston obviously plays his best on the Bermuda grass of his adopted home state of Florida. All but one of his six PGA Tour victories have come in the state, with his win last week in Tampa the latest. Huston also took other unofficial titles in Florida, pairing with Amy Benz at the 1988 official J.C. Penney Classic, and leading the Tour's qualifying tournament in 1987.
Webb can become first $2 million womanBy the way, if Karrie Webb can win the season-ending Arch Wireless Championship next month for her eighth official victory of the year, she will become the first LPGA player to win $2 million in a season.
Couples' alligator taleLast week at Tampa, a Fred Couples drive settled about 20 feet from a sunbathing alligator. After his caddie unsuccessfully tried to get the reptile to move by throwing a golf ball at him, an outwardly cool Couples tiptoed to his ball and managed to get a slapdash iron shot on the green. The alligator stayed still, and Couples made par, but not without a jolt to his seemingly unflappable nervous system. "On that shot," he admitted, "I definitely flinched."Sports Illustrated senior writer Jaime Diaz covers the golf beat for the magazine and appears each Saturday on CNN's "Sports Illustrated Golf Plus" show.
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