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Purses fatten during Tiger's era
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
10/26/2007
THOSE WHO
WATCHED Tiger
Woods win the 2007
PGA Championship at
Southern Hills can attest that
he is a "money" player. Spot
him a lead heading into the
final round of a major, and he's
invincible.
But Woods is also a money
player from a financial
standpoint.
Because of the attention
Woods has brought to the
PGA Tour, purses have gotten
fatter and everyone's a winner
when checks are handed out.
A total of 93 golfers earned
at least $1 million this year,
tying a record set one year
ago. Brian Gay needs to
pocket only $649 the rest of
the year to become millionaire
No. 94.
Here's how much the
money has changed from the
pre-Tiger era. Jack Nicklaus
won more golf majors than
any human. This year, Bixby
resident and former
Oklahoma State golfer Bo Van
Pelt, who has never finished
better than third in a PGA
Tour event, passed Nicklaus
on the career money list.
Don't interpret that as a
knock on Van Pelt, a nice
enough dude that he showed
up Thursday at Cherokee
Hills Golf Club to play in a
charity tournament to benefit
the Oklahoma-Arkansas
chapter of the Alzheimer's
Association and the Barbara
Broyles Foundation.
Do interpret the numbers as
evidence of the new reality.
Van Pelt ($6,318,451) ranks
133rd on the career money
list, making him more golden
bank-wise than the Golden
Bear ($5,743,031), who ranks
147th.
Van Pelt said money has
changed "dramatically" in the
less-than-10 years that he has
been on the PGA Tour. He
believes Woods is 99 percent
responsible.
"It's not 100 percent, but
he's probably the biggest star
in any sport in the world," Van
Pelt said. "I think you could
make a pretty good argument
for that. I'm fortunate from a
professional standpoint that
we are about the same age and I came along at the same time.
"I think that we also had
other sports having strikes or
different issues, and there are
only so many corporate
dollars to go around. I think
some corporations decided to
shift more money into golf
because of Tiger and the
image of golf, and they saw
there was some potential
there. Hopefully it just keeps
on growing and getting bigger
and bigger."
Van Pelt said he would
never needle Nicklaus about
passing him on the money list.
"Growing up in Indiana, Mr.
Nicklaus was definitely my
idol and my hero, and his
tournament was my favorite
one to play in every year," Van
Pelt said. "It's by where I grew
up, and you can't say enough
about him."
Body of work: Arkansas
athletic director Frank
Broyles and former Oklahoma
football coach Barry Switzer
served as honorary
co-chairmen at Thursday's
Forget Me Not Classic.
Broyles will complete a half
century of service at Arkansas
when he gives up the athletic
director's reins on Dec. 31.
"There is going to be some
pain in leaving," he said.
"There is no question about it.
I have had a year to get ready
for it ... but my love and my
passion is for the Razorbacks
to win."
Broyles said he is not the
kind of person who can spend
every day playing golf. He
wants to stay active. He said
he signed a seven-year
contract to raise money for the
Razorback Foundation, and he
will also serve as a consultant.
He also wants to continue to
be prominent in a campaign to
fight Alzheimer's disease,
which affected his late wife,
Barbara.
Broyles, who helped
Arkansas build top-flight facilities and who shepherded
the Razorbacks into the
Southeastern Conference,
said there isn't really anything
on his to-do list before turning
over the athletic department
to successor Jeff Long,
formerly of Pitt.
"We are moving along fine,"
Broyles said. "Every job, every
opportunity, is a work in
progress. We are having
success, but we can have more
success. And the new AD is
coming in with the idea of
keep improving and going to
the next level and the next
level and the next level."
Cool tribute: Aaron Stewart,
son of late pro golfer Payne
Stewart, decided to play
college golf at his dad's alma
mater, SMU. Payne was 42
when he died in a 1999 airplane accident. Aaron is an
SMU freshman.
Once upon a time: This is
postseason awards time in
baseball. It was 25 years ago
that Chouteau's Johnny Ray
was named NL Rookie of the
Year by The Sporting News.
That year baseball writers, in a
close and controversial vote,
chose Steve Sax for NL Rookie
of the Year. The Sporting
News got it right. It was
alleged by others that Sax won
the writers' award because he
was a big-market media
darling.
Ray, who played with the
Pittsburgh Pirates and
California Angels from
1981-90, retired to his home
state and still resides in the
Chouteau area.
TV BEST BETS
Tulsa World sports writer
Matt Doyle lists this weekend’s
five must-see televised
sporting events.
1. World Series: Boston
at Colorado, KOKI cable
5/channel 23, 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: The
series shifts to Denver,
where the Rockies hope to
swing the Fall Classic in
their favor.
2. College football: Ohio
State at Penn State, KTUL
channel 8, 7 p.m. Saturday:
The top-ranked Buckeyes
face a tough challenge in
Happy Valley.
3. College football: USC
at Oregon, FSN cable 27, 2
p.m. Saturday: One of OU’s
BCS challengers will be
eliminated from the title
chase following this clash of
Pac-10 powers.
4. Auto racing: Pep
Boys Auto 500, KTUL
channel 8, 1 p.m. Sunday:
The chase for the NASCAR
Nextel Cup now enters the
final month.
5. Horse racing:
Breeders’ Cup, ESPN cable
25, 11 a.m. Saturday: Horse
racing’s richest day.
Weekend highlights
World Series
SATURDAY
Boston at Colorado, KOKI-5/23, 7 p.m.
SUNDAY
Boston at Colorado, KOKI-5/23, 7 p.m.
MONDAY
Boston at Colorado (if necessary),
KOKI-5/23, 7 p.m.
College football
FRIDAY
Boise State at Fresno State, ESPN2-26, 8
p.m.
SATURDAY
Colorado at Texas Tech, KTUL-8, 11 a.m.
Michigan State at Iowa, ESPN2-26, 11 a.m.
Delaware at Navy, CSTV-249, noon
SMU at Tulsa, Cox-3, 2 p.m.
USC at Oregon, FSN-27, 2 p.m.
Florida vs. Georgia, KOTV-6, 2:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Texas, KTUL-8, 2:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Michigan, ESPN Classic-255,
2:30 p.m.
Virginia at N.C. State, ESPNU-253, 3:30 p.m.
Rice at Marshall, CSTV-249, 3:30 p.m.
UCLA at Washington State, FSN-27, 5:30
p.m.
Kansas at Texas A&M, ESPN2-26, 6 p.m.
South Carolina at Tennessee, ESPN-25, 6:45
p.m.
Ohio State at Penn State, KTUL-8, 7 p.m.
Duke at Florida State, ESPNU-253, 7 p.m.
Cal at Arizona State, FSN-27, 9 p.m.
SUNDAY
Central Florida at Southern Miss, ESPN-25,
7 p.m.
Pro football
SUNDAY
Philadelphia at Minnesota, KOKI-5/23, noon
Indianapolis at Carolina, KOTV-6, noon
Washington at New England, KOKI-5/23,
3:15 p.m.
MONDAY
Green Bay at Denver, ESPN-25, 7 p.m. (7:30
p.m. if no Game 5 of World Series)
Horse racing
FRIDAY
Breeders’ Cup, ESPN2-26, 3 p.m.
SATURDAY
Breeders’ Cup, ESPN-25, 11 a.m.
Auto racing
SUNDAY
NASCAR Pep Boys Auto 500, KTUL-8, 1
p.m.
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