The top 20 players on the PGA TOUR money list picked up the final exemption remaining this year from the PGA TOUR to the 2007 British Open. The following players were not already exempt for next year’s Open in Carnoustie, Scotland -- Trevor Immelman (No. 7), Stuart Appleby (No. 8), Brett Wetterich (No. 10), David Toms (No. 11), Rory Sabbatini (No. 12), Joe Durant (No. 13), Chad Campbell (No. 14), Stewart Cink (No. 15), Davis Love III (No. 16), Rod Pampling (No. 17), and No. 20 Brett Quigley. • Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Award for the seventh time in his 11-year TOUR career, and the second consecutive. The award goes to the leading money winner on the PGA TOUR. Jim Furyk finished behind Woods on the list, the highest finish in his 13 years on TOUR. Furyk was one of 18 players in this week’s field to post his best-career finish on the money list. The others: Adam Scott (3rd), Geoff Ogilvy (5th), Trevor Immelman (7th), Stuart Appleby (8th), Luke Donald (9th), Brett Wetterich (10th), Rory Sabbatini (12th), Joe Durant (13th), Rod Pampling (17th), Carl Pettersson (18th), Brett Quigley (20th), Lucas Glover (21st), Dean Wilson (22nd), Arron Oberholser (23rd), Tom Pernice, Jr. (25th), J.J Henry (29th) and Ben Curtis (30th). • Jim Furyk (68.86) edged out Adam Scott (68.95) for his first Vardon Trophy Award handed out by the PGA of America for the best adjusted scoring average. Tiger Woods finished with a scoring average of 68.11 but did not play the minimum amount of 60 PGA TOUR rounds required to qualify for the award. Woods did win his seventh Byron Nelson Award, handed out by the PGA TOUR for the best adjusted scoring average. The minimum number of rounds for this award is 50.
• With top-10s this week, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh led the PGA TOUR in that category this season with 13 top-10s. The 13 was off Singh’s best of 18, which he had recorded in each of the prior three seasons, while Furyk matched the second-best output of his 13-year career. Furyk had 15 in 2003 and 13 in 1997. • Five players finished the season with double-digit, top-10 finishes: Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh -- 13, Tiger Woods -- 11, Brett Quigley and Adam Scott -- 10. Quigley’s and Scott’s were career-bests. Quigley’s previous best was six in 2001, while Scott’s was seven in 2004.
• With his runner-up finish, Jim Furyk recorded the 12th
top-five of the season, the most by any PGA TOUR player in 2006. Here’s
a look at those with five or more top-five finishes in 2006:
• Jim Furyk’s runner-up finish was the 17th of his career.
Here is a look at the most runner-up finishes by current players on
TOUR: Davis Love III 29 • Joe Durant finished the season with five consecutive top-10s, including four top-fives, one of which was a victory at the FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. Durant’s streak began with a playoff loss to D.J. Trahan at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He followed that with a tie for sixth at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, the win at Disney, a tie for fourth at the Chrysler Championship and a third at this week’s TOUR Championship. Durant and Troy Matteson, whose season ended last week at the Chrysler Championship, were the only two players to finish the season with five consecutive top-10s. • The five consecutive top-10s aided Joe Durant to his first Fall Finish presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers title. Durant took the lead last week after his tie for fourth finish at the Chrysler Championship and won by 71.666 points thanks to his third-place finish this week. Durant will earn $500,000 for his efforts, and becomes the fifth different player to win the award. Jim Furyk finished second and Troy Matteson third to earn $300,000 and $200,000, respectively. • One of the main reasons Durant was able to end the season with five consecutive top-10s was the fact that he recorded 19 of his last 20 rounds at par or better, including 17 straight. His scoring average during those five events was 68.20 and he was 64-under par. • Jim Furyk finished the season with 33 of his last 36 rounds at par or better dating back to the Cialis Western Open in July. During that time period he recorded eight top-five finishes, including a victory at the Canadian Open. Twenty-seven of the 33 rounds were in the 60s. • Among the 11 first-time players to THE TOUR Championship, Trevor Immelman and Tom Pernice, Jr. shared honors for best finish with a tie for fifth. They were the only first-timers among the top-10 finishers. • Trevor Immelman was the 15th rookie to qualify for THE TOUR Championship, and the first to crack top-10 on the final PGA TOUR Money List since Jerry Pate finished 10th in 1976. Immelman entered this week’s action seventh on the Money List and finished in the same spot after a T5 finish at East Lake Golf Club. • Although his 2005 win was unofficial, Adam Scott has now won on U.S. soil in four consecutive seasons. Here is a look at the top streaks on TOUR.
Consecutive Seasons with PGA TOUR Victory • With his tie for eighth finish, Vijay Singh recorded his 11th top-10 in 13 starts at THE TOUR Championship, four more than Davis Love III, the next player on the list. His 12 consecutive starts are the most starts among active players. Although he dropped from third to fourth on the final PGA TOUR money list, Singh finished among the top five on the list for the ninth consecutive year. Only Tiger Woods has more currently with 10 straight seasons inside the top five on the final money list. • Tom Pernice, Jr. had a career year in his 15th season on the PGA TOUR. He finished with a career-best seven top-10s, including a tie for fifth this week, and a career-best $2,396,548. His previous bests were five top-10s in 2004 and $1,608,057 in earnings in 2005. • Brett Wetterich was the only player in this week’s TOUR Championship field to not begin the 2006 season with fully-exempt status on the PGA TOUR. His previous best finish on the money list was 132 in 2005. He won’t have to say that next year if he makes it again. Among the goals Wetterich accomplished in 2006 -- won his first tournament, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, played in his first British Open (MC), made his first U.S. Ryder Cup team, made his first TOUR Championship and finished inside the top-10 on the final PGA TOUR money list for the first time. • The nine players to finish with sub-par scores at East Lake Golf Club this week were the least to finish under par in a TOUR Championship since four players finished with sub-par totals at the 1998 TOUR Championship also held at East Lake GC. • Just five players carry double-digit, consecutive cut streaks into the 2007 PGA TOUR season. Ernie Els leads the way with 42 consecutive cuts. He is followed by Fred Funk (16), Trevor Immelman (15), Jim Furyk (12) and Lucas Glover (10). • Ernie Els and Adam Scott were the only players without a three-putt at East Lake GC this week. Jim Furyk and Zach Johnson were next with just one over the 72 holes. • The most difficult hole this week was the 520-yard, par-4 fifth hole, which played to a scoring average of 4.407. There were no birdies on the hole during the second and fourth rounds and just three overall. It finished the season as the 12th most difficult hole on the PGA TOUR in 2006. The toughest hole this season was the 426-yard par-4 fifth hole at Poppy Hills GC (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am). • Adam Scott (1st) was the only player in this week’s TOUR Championship field to post four rounds in the 60s. Here is a list of players who have accomplished the feat: Year Player Course Finish
1987 Tom Watson Oak Hills CC W
1990 Jodie Mudd Champions GC W
1999 Tiger Woods Champions GC W
Brent Geiberger 3
2000 Phil Mickelson East Lake GC W
Tiger Woods 2
2001 Mike Weir Champions GC W
Ernie Els T2
Sergio Garcia T2
Chris DiMarco T10
2002 Charles Howell III East Lake GC 2
2003 Retief Goosen Champions GC 3
2005 Bart Bryant East Lake GC W
Tiger Woods 2
Scott Verplank 3
Vijay Singh T4
2006 Adam Scott East Lake GC W
• Jim Furyk was the only player in the field to go bogey-free on Sunday. The only other player to do so all week was Brett Quigley during round four. |
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