News And Notes

He certainly has the name part right. Midway through Taylor's rookie year on Tour, in 1980, Gary Adams, who was then a fledgling equipment maker, introduced himself at the Western Open. "I just started a company named Taylor Made," Adams said. "With your last name, we should get together."

At the time, Taylor Made manufactured only one club, and it was a novelty item—a driver made of metal. Taylor, who had won only $1,482 that year, realized that he would probably never earn enough on Tour to support his family, so that fall he went to work for Adams. By 1984 he had helped make the metal wood the Tour's most popular driver. In 1990 Taylor helped Adams launch Founders Club, and for the last three years Taylor has served as the director of club design and Tour promotions for Mizumo.

But he never lost the urge to play. He has entered every Q school since 1983. "Maybe the Senior tour will be my calling," says Taylor. "The guys I played on Tour with will have made their millions, and they'll want to stay home. There's still hope."

The Shag Bag

Joyce Wethered, age 96, the four-time British Amateur champion who in 1950 was voted the top woman golfer of the half century by the Associated Press, died on Nov. 18 in Devon, England. After playing an exhibition with her in 1930, Bobby Jones said, "I am doubtful if there has ever been a better player, man or woman." Said three-time British Open champion Henry Cotton, "I don't think a golf ball has been hit, except perhaps by Harry Vardon, with such a straight flight."

...Gary Nicklaus and Jeev Milkha Singh were among the 43 players who earned European tour cards last week. Nicklaus, the 28-year-old son of Jack Nicklaus, had failed earlier this fall to reach the finals of the U.S. Q school, while Singh (no relation to Vijay), 25, will be the first Indian to play the European tour....

If the newly created 64-man $4 million World Match Play tournament were held today, only 10 Europeans would qualify, compared with 36 Americans. "We have a problem with the [way the World Ranking formula rates European tour events]. It's a system that we have to change," says Colin Montgomerie....

After he was struck in the neck by a playing partner's back-swing at a Kuala Lumpur course last week, Anthony Phua, a 35-year-old lawyer and novice golfer, got to his feet and apologized for interfering. Moments later, according to the Malay Mail, he collapsed and died.

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