- Publish date:
This Week
May 13-19
PGA
Byron Nelson Classic, TPC at Las Colinas (below) and Cottonwood
Valley, Irving, Texas
The Nelson champ has gone on to win the money title seven times,
as Tiger Woods did in '97
LPGA
LPGA Championship, DuPont Country Club, Wilmington, Del.
This event usually has the strongest field on the schedule, and
the '98 edition is no exception
Senior
Saint Luke's Classic, Loch Lloyd Country Club, Belton, Mo.
The dates were moved from August, a boon given Loch Lloyd's
cool-weather bluegrass
Europe
Benson & Hedges International, Oxfordshire Golf Club, Thame,
England
Bernhard Langer defends one of the four titles he claimed on the
Euro tour last season
PGA Tour
THE WEEK HURRICANE ELDRICK HIT TEXAS
Tiger Woods made 100-point headlines at last year's Masters,
then solidified his prodigy status by winning the Byron Nelson
Classic, jewel of the Tour's Texas swing, and its $324,000 top
prize. Yet for all that the Nelson has done for Woods, he has
done plenty in return. Thanks to Tigermania, the event sold out
for the first time in 1997. Tickets for the '98 tournament were
gone by the end of April. Woods's effect on Tour purses can be
seen in a 40% boost in prize money at the Nelson, from $1.8
million to $2.5 million. Only the majors and the Players and
Tour championships pay more. Now Woods, coming off a
drought-ending triumph at the BellSouth, duels Fred Couples,
David Duval, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson and Mark O'Meara for
a $450,000 first prize.
--ABC, SATURDAY, 2 PM; SUNDAY, 3 PM
LPGA
NOT A WHOLE LOTTA LETTUCE FOR LETA
With the world's best players returning to Delaware for the
second women's major of 1998, we have to ask, Whatever happened
to Leta Lindley, the Arizona All-America who lost last year's
McDonald's LPGA Championship to Chris Johnson in a playoff?
Lindley, 25, finished in the top 90 on the money list in her
first three seasons on tour, but this year she is languishing in
166th place, far behind her fellow alliteratives Meg Mallon
(9th), Dana Dormann (12th), Wendy Ward (15th) and Brandie Burton
(28th), all of whom will join her for a $1.3 million Mac attack.
--CBS, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, 4 PM
Senior Tour
MAKE WAY FOR THE THREE FRESHMEN
John Mahaffey, Peter Oosterhuis and Ed Dougherty, the three
newest Seniors, make their maiden appearances at the Saint
Luke's Classic while Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan take the week off
to administer CPR to their accountants. None of the new kids
tore it up last year on the diaper circuit. Mahaffey earned
$2,850 to rank 333rd on the PGA Tour money list; Dougherty made
$65,552 but lost his card; and Oosterhuis took refuge in the
Golf Channel's broadcast booth. The tyro trio will take on Isao
Aoki, Jim Colbert, defending champ Bruce Summerhays and 70 other
elders.
--ESPN, SATURDAY, 5:30 PM; SUNDAY, 3 PM
COLOR PHOTO: TPC AT LAS COLINAS [Las Colinas golf course]
