The Week June 29-July 5
You Gotta Be Kidding
Now is not a good time in golf to be thinking Ben Hogan, Ben
Gay, hickory shafts or hair loss. In case you hadn't grasped
that point already, Sergio Garcia, 19, Se Ri Pak, 21, and Tiger
Woods, 23, drove it home with victories last week--flouting the
speed limit all the way. Payne Stewart and Juli Inkster, those
long-toothed linksters, may still win a few majors, but
considering that Karrie Webb is 24 and David Duval 27, know
this: The kids are coming.
PGA Woods, who in winning the Motorola Western Open at Cog Hill
in Lemont, Ill., jumped over Duval to the top of the World
Ranking, is finishing four places higher than Duval, on average,
this year.... John Daly came in 67th--a stroke out of last--at
the Murphy's Irish Open and pulled out of next week's British
Open, citing his recent poor play.... Vijay Singh has finished
second (Memorial), tied for third (U.S. Open), tied for fifth
(Buick Classic) and fourth (Western) in his last four starts.
LPGA Se Ri Pak won for the second time in three weeks, in a
playoff at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, because she played the
1st hole at Highland Meadows in one under par. The shortest
par-4 on the course at 347 yards, the 1st was nonetheless the
toughest hole, with a 4.38 stroke average. Kelli Kuehne, one of
the six players tied for the lead at the end of regulation, at
eight under, played the 1st in four over for the week.... The
six-way playoff broke a 20-year-old tour record.
SENIOR Christy O'Connor Jr.'s win in the State Farm Senior
Classic, his first on U.S. soil, upped the number of first-time
winners on the Senior circuit in '99 to seven, the same number
as in all of '98.
ALSO Nineteen-year-old Irish Open winner Sergio Garcia of Spain
is not the youngest player to win a European tour event. Dale
Hayes of South Africa was 18 when he won the '71 Spanish
Open.... Garcia moved to 18th in the Ryder Cup standings....
Jose Maria Olazabal, who withdrew from last month's U.S. Open
when he broke a bone in his right hand punching a wall after
shooting 75 in the first round, is planning to play in next
week's British Open.... Gary Nicklaus shot a career-low 64 in
the second round of the Nike Hershey (Pa.) Open but faded to
21st. Edward Fryatt won the event.... Minnesota governor Jesse
(the Bogey) Ventura had a three-round total 132-over-par 348 to
finish last in the American Century Celebrity Championship at
Edgewood Tahoe, in Stateline, Nev. Former major league pitcher
Rick Rhoden won the tournament for the fifth time with a
four-under 212.
COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW REDINGTON/ALLSPORT Surging Sergio A win in just his sixth pro start put Garcia (in Titleist cap) into the British Open.
UP and Down
Tiger Woods David Duval
Sergio Garcia John Daly
Christy O'Connor Jr. Christy O'Connor Sr.
Se Ri Pak Carin Koch
Garland Dempsey ABC
