Columnist Peter Benton: Woods, Fleisher pull off clean sweep

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

Tiger Woods and Bruce Fleisher swept the major awards for their respective tours at the 1999 PGA Tour Awards Dinner held recently at The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Hawaii.

It marked the first time that the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for Player of the Year, the Arnold Palmer Award for leading money winner and the Byron Nelson Award for scoring leader were won by the same players on both the PGA and Senior tours.

Woods' record-breaking year was highlighted by eight tournament victories, including wins in two World Golf Championship events and his second major championship title at the PGA Championship. His $66 million in earnings were nearly $3 million more than his nearest competitor.

In accepting his award, Fleisher, who was also named Senior PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, said he was honored to share some of the spotlight with Woods.

Fleisher won seven Senior Tour events last year and led the circuit in earnings with $2,515,705.

Earlier in the evening awards were also presented to Carl Paulson as Nike Tour Player of the Year and to Carlos Franco as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

Andrew Magee was named recipient of the first PGA Tour Citizenship Award presented by the Southern Company. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced that the award has been renamed the Payne Stewart Award and that it will be presented each year at The Tour Championship to the player who "exhibits excellence in charitable activities and general professionalism."

Brad Faxon presented the PGA Tour Volunteer of the Year Award to Steve Jacobs of the John Deere Classic, who initiated that tournament's Birdies for Charity program. This program, which raised more than $560,000 at last year's tournament, has netted Quad Cities-area charities more than $2 million in its six years of existence.

The recipient of the Card Walker Award, Rudy Duran, was honored for his work with junior golfers in Southern California.

* STATE SENIORS: The Nevada State Seniors Golf Club's first event of the year, a two-day Stableford Tournament, was played under great weather conditions at the Legacy Golf Course.

Gerald Boggess won the first flight with 40 points, followed by Jack Kilroy with 39 and Al Cibulski with 36.

Pat Lynch was the second-flight victor with 47 points. He edged Ross Deacon and Bud Corson, who shared second with 39s.

Phil Mlynek and his 41 points won the third flight, closely followed by Art Rubin with 40. Bob Flaherty and Vic Holliman tied for third with 37s.

Bill Turpen prevailed in the fourth flight, recording 46 points. Sharing second with 40 points were Danny Boggess, Dave Tilton and Dick Ertz.