LVI player notes

Monday, Oct. 20, 1997 | 4:17 a.m.

With Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Leonard winning the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, respectively, it marked the first time ever the first three major winners were in their 20s.

The last time there were three major winners in their 20s was 1977 when Tom Watson (27) won the Masters and the British Open and Lanny Wadkins (27) captured the PGA Championship.

Woods is one of two major winners this year who will be playing in this week's Las Vegas Invitational. Davis Love III, who won the PGA Championship, also is in the 144-player field this week.

Els originally committed to play in Las Vegas but later withdrew and Leonard passed on the LVI to play in last week's Dunhill Cup in Scotland.

* SEASON MONEY: Tiger Woods established a single-season earnings record this year when he finished tied for eighth at the Buick Open. The $43,500 check he earned there pushed him past Tom Lehman, who had set the record ($1,780,159) in 1996.

* MORE MONEY: With his 18th-place tie at this year's Freeport-McDermott Classic, the 13th tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, Steve Elkington passed the $1 million mark in earnings earlier than anyone else in PGA Tour history. The old record was held by Fred Couples, who reached $1 million at the 1992 Master Tournament in the tour's 14th week.

* MARGIN OF VICTORY: This year, for the first time since 1945, more than one PGA Tour event has been decided by more than 10 strokes. Steve Jones won the Phoenix Open by 11 strokes and Tiger Woods won the Masters Tournament by 12.

* WORLD RANKING: After Greg Norman's six-week reign atop the Official World Ranking ended in April, the honor of being the world's top-ranked player was held by four different PGA Tour members before the end of June. Tom Lehman was No. 1 for one week before Norman regained the top spot. Tiger Woods was ranked first for one week following the U.S. Open, until Ernie Els gained the top spot with his win the following week at the Buick Classic.

* WATSON'S STREAK: When Tom Watson surpassed the $100,000 mark in PGA Tour earnings for 1997 at the Masters, it marked the 24th consecutive year he has done so -- an all-time PGA Tour record.

* ALL-DECADE CLUB: By winning the 1996 Quad City Classic, Ed Fiori won for the first time in 14 years and joined the list of players with victories in three different decades. Tom Watson's victory at the Memorial Tournament gave him his first win in the 1990s. Watson also has now won in three decades. The all-time record of four decades is held by Sam Snead and Raymond Floyd.

* NORMAN CONTINUES: With his win at the 1997 FedEx St. Jude Classic, Greg Norman extended his streak of consecutive years with a win to five. His string of winning from 1992 through 1996 is the longest on the PGA Tour.

* MAKING THE CUT: Vijay Singh had made 43 consecutive cuts on the PGA Tour heading into the fall. The all-time record is 113 by Byron Nelson during the 1940s. Among active players, Hale Irwin, now on the Senior PGA Tour, made 86 straight cuts from February of 1975 through the conclusion of 1978.

* TIGER'S START: With his season-opening victory at the Mercedes Championships, Tiger Woods rewrote a sizeable portion of the PGA Tour record book. He reached $1 million in earnings at a younger age (21 years, 14 days) and in fewer tournaments (nine) than any other player in history. He also became the third-youngest player to win three times on tour; only Gene Sarazen and Horton Smith were younger.

* ALL FOUR SONS: The membership of the PGA Tour now includes three sons of past tournament winners. Dave Stockton Jr. (son of the 11-time tour winner) and Hugh Royer III (son of the 1970 Western Open champion) were members a year ago. They are joined by Brent Geiberger, whose father Al also won 11 times on the PGA Tour. Last year, Guy Boros (whose father Julius won 18 times, including two U.S. Opens) became the first son of a former PGA Tour winner to capture a tour event in 16 years when he won the Greater Vancouver Open.

* CONSISTENCY: Craig Stadler opened the 1997 season with 28 consecutive rounds of par or better, matching the longest such streak since the PGA Tour began tracking the stat in 1980. In 1992, Mark O'Meara also opened the year with 28 consecutive rounds of par or better. Stadler's string ended at The Players Championship.