The Week Jan. 11-17
--A Zinger at Waialae
Two weeks into the season, Paul Azinger owns comeback player of
the year.
--Webb's Walkover
Same as Azinger, Karrie Webb led the LPGA lid-lifter, the Office
Depot, from the start.
--PGA Embarrassed Tour officials say that next season data from
the first 34 years of the Hawaiian Open will again be included in
the official record book. The Tour had taken the unprecedented
step of expunging the tournament's history at the request of the
event's current sponsor, Sony.... Good news and bad news for Gary
Nicklaus, Jack's 31-year-old son, who was playing at Waialae in
his first tournament as a Tour member. Nicklaus made the cut for
only the third time in 27 Tour starts but on Sunday made a
septuple-bogey 12 on the par-5 9th hole, shot 79 and finished
next to last, 29 shots behind Azinger.
--LPGA Webb, who entered the Office Depot in West Palm Beach,
Fla., only because 14 family members had been planning for
months to make the trip there from Australia, isn't expected to
play again in the U.S. until the March 2-4 Takefuji Classic in
Hawaii.... After a seven-over 79 last Saturday left her 21 over
through three rounds, Se Ri Pak forgot to sign her scorecard and
was disqualified.... Louise Suggs, one of the LPGA's founders,
has established a $1 million trust with the tour as the major
beneficiary.
--SENIOR This week's MasterCard Championship does not bode well
for 1999 player of the year Bruce Fleisher. No player holding
that title has opened the next season with a victory in the
limited-field event.
--ALSO Anthony Wall of England opened the far-flung European
tour's season with a two-shot victory over Gary Orr and Phillip
Price in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg.... The
Buy.com, ne Nike, tour has jacked up its total purse 67.2%, to
$12.75 million.... Snaggletooth, an eight-foot-long crocodile
that had terrified players at Deering Bay Golf Club in Miami for
years before being banished last February to a state park on
Florida's west coast, is back at the club. Amazed biologists say
the 150-pound croc swam 140 miles around the southern tip of the
state to get back home.
COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT BECK TROUBLE IN PARADISE Jim Furyk, winner of the 1996 Hawaiian Open, was a shadow of himself last week at Honolulu's Waialae Country Club, coming in 39th.
UP and Down
Paul Azinger Gary Nicklaus
Meaningful stats Smash factor
Louise Suggs Mickey Wright
Tiger tour PGA Tour
Snaggletooth Lassie