Columnist Peter Benton: Some numbers to chew on from the Masters

Peter Benton

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 | 9:22 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The 2005 Masters is now, of course, history, but to those who enjoy statistics, following are the players who led the various categories:

Luke List, the young amateur who finished in a tie for 33rd, led in driving distance with an average of 305.9 yards. Vijay Singh followed at 292.9.

Tiger Woods, who picked up his fourth green jacket, led in birdies for the event with 24. Runner-up Chris DiMarco recorded 19 to place second.

Sharing first with the number of eagles recorded (two apiece) were the young Brit Luke Donald, who was tied for third, and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, who ultimately tied for 25th.

Registering the most pars during the tournament with 55 was Stewart Cink. He finished tied for 20th. Jonathon Kaye followed with 52.

To nobody's surprise, Singh led the greens in regulation statistic, hitting 58 of the 72. Woods was second, hitting 54.

DiMarco, along with Kirk Triplett, were the top putters for the week, both recording 110. Ian Poulter followed with 111, and Woods had 115. Surprisingly, Singh was dead last, taking a total of 129 putts.

Among other stats that one does not like having is bogeys. Here Jay Haas led the field with 22.

David Howell, Chris Riley, UNLV's Ryan Moore (the top amateur after finishing tied for 13th), K.J. Choi, Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman led the double bogey parade with three apiece, and the dreaded "other," (anything worse than a double), saw Stuart Appleby come in with two.

First in the fairways hit was Nick O'Hern (47), but he only placed tied for 37th in putting, 36th in driving distance and tied for 38th in greens in regulation. He wound up in a tie for 45th.

READERS ASK: One reader asked how the fields are made up on the Champions tour, so here's the nitty gritty:

The majority of the 2005 Champions tour events consist of a 78-player field. Basically these fields are made up of (1) the top 30 available players from the 2004 Official Money List; (2) top 30 available players from the all-time list; (3) four players from the PGA tour career victory category; (4) top-seven available players from the 2004 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament; (5) five sponsor's exemptions, and (6) two spots from the Monday open-qualifying.

AWARD WINNERS: PGA players Hubert Green and Jay Haas, along with sports writer Dan Jenkins, were honored by the Golf Writers Association of America.

Green, a former U.S. Open and PGA Championship winner, who recently underwent treatment to remove cancerous growths from his tonsils and tongue, won this year's Ben Hogan Award, which is given annually to an individual who continues to be active in golf despite a physical handicap or serious illness.

Haas, 51, received the ASAP/Jim Murray Award for his co-operation, quotability and for accommodation to the media. Jenkins won the William D. Richardson Award given for consistent outstanding contributions to golf.