The Week Feb. 16-22

A Toast to the Coast
In recent years, as the West Coast swing became as hopeless as the Hope, we basically agreed with those who said that the season didn't really start until Doral. Today we have a question: Does the swing have to end? From David Duval's 59 to dramatic wins by Tiger Woods and Ernie Els to the anticipation for this week's World Match Play, we're picking up good vibrations. Now if the top seeds can make it to the weekend....

PGA
Ted Tryba tied for second behind Els in the Nissan Open but has made a big move in '99, jumping to 113th in the World Ranking after starting the year 173rd.... Despite Duval's 59 at the Hope, Woods's 62 in the Buick and Tryba's 61 at Riviera, the overall scoring average of 71.26 is the highest since the introduction of adjusted scoring in 1988.

SENIOR
If Bruce Fleisher had won the GTE Classic in Tampa—he came in second to Larry Nelson—he would've become only the second Senior to win in three consecutive weeks. Chi Chi Rodriguez did it in 1987.... Hale Irwin tied for fourth and Gil Morgan finished 40th, marking the fourth straight event in which at least one of them was entered and neither won. The two had just one such streak in '98 and none in '97.

LPGA
Alison Nicholas, who shot a final-round 73 in bad weather to win the Hawaiian Ladies Open by a stroke over Moira Dunn and Annette DeLuca, hadn't won since the '97 U.S. Open—the longest dry spell after winning the national championship this side of Lauri Merten's. Merten, the '93 Open champ, hasn't won since.... Michelle McGann went from a tie for the lead to 34th after a closing 81. A diabetic, McGann was to have an insulin pump surgically inserted into her body this week.

ALSO
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Open, which Joel Edwards won by a shot, was the last Nike tour event until the March 18-21 Monterrey ( Mexico) Open.... Paul Lawrie's seven-stroke win at the Qatar Masters was the largest margin of victory on the European tour since Mathias Gronberg won the European Open by 10 shots last August.