In 1999, Nobody Could Stay Away From Woods

Now that the pro golf season is winding down and we’re getting a lot closer to those wonderfully entertaining special events-- the combination corporate schoomze-offs and scoop-up- the-money, made-for-television free-for-alls, this is as good a time as any to take a look back to the highs and lows of what we have already witnessed.

What follows is a totally subjective list, by the way.

Feel free to insert your own favorite categories and memories.

* Best shot: Sergio Garcia’s six-iron to the 16th green from a lie behind a tree on the last day of the PGA. Yes, it was treemendous.

* Worst shot: Any of the first six by Jean Van de Velde on the 72nd hole of the British Open.

* Best putt: Justin Leonard’s 45-foot uphill Ryder Cup masterpiece at the Country Club was a real surprise--not that he made it, but that he didn’t need a Thomas Guide to find the hole.

* Best major: Had to be the PGA, where Tiger Woods squared off down the stretch against Garcia, a potential career-long protagonist and a possible equal in talent, charisma and ego.

* Worst major: British Open. Why? Paul Lawrie won it. Van de Velde nearly did.

* Best move: Tom Watson turned 50, joined the senior tour, won his second time out.

* Worst move: John Daly drove away from a $3-million endorsement deal with Callaway Golf so he could drink beer and gamble instead.

* Most expensive beer: See Daly.

* Best potential for disaster: Daly playing in this week’s Las Vegas Invitational.

* Worst monthly nut: Daly’s monthly financial obligations estimated at $40,000 by GolfWeek. He supposedly dropped $350,000 in the casinos in Las Vegas in the incident that caused his flap with Callaway.

* Best finish: David Duval’s 59 (he eagled the last hole Sunday) that won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

* Second-best finish: Steve Pate’s 66 on Sunday that put him at 25 under--one shot behind Duval at the Hope.

* Top LPGA player: Juli Inkster, who won two majors and made the LPGA Hall of Fame.

* Worst timing: Inkster, whose Hall-securing victory came the same weekend as the Ryder Cup and nearly was overlooked.

* Top senior player: Bruce Fleisher. Yes, that Bruce Fleisher.

* Top PGA Tour player: Woods. He has 4,266,585 reasons to prove it.

* Horse of the year: Hal Sutton, who hoisted the U.S. team up on his back and carried it for the first two days of the Ryder Cup.

* Rookie of the year: Carlos Franco, who grew up in a house with a dirt floor in Paraguay, got his PGA Tour card at Q School, won twice and made $1.7 million without a single visit to the range during tournaments.

* Luckiest: See Lawrie.

* Unluckiest: See Van de Velde.

* Least Masterful: Greg Norman, who experienced yet another Masters fade when, tied for the lead with five holes to go, he promptly bogeyed the next two holes and was sent off again without a green jacket.

* Least likely to be found in tae-bo class: (Tie) Colin Montgomerie and Tim Herron.

* Best shirts dissed by fashion police: The U.S. Ryder Cup team shirts on Sunday, the ones with the pictures of the other U.S. Ryder Cup teams.

* Worst name-dropper: Nabisco dumps Dinah Shore.

* Worst grandstand: Had to be the one at the 18th hole at Carnoustie. If it hadn’t been there, Van de Velde’s ball would have wound up somewhere near the green--instead of bouncing back on the other side of the creek--and he could have chipped on for bogey.

* Best match-play player: Uh, Jeff Maggert? The Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship told us so.

* Best course: Pinehurst No. 2 got rave reviews from everybody (with the exception of Daly) and turned the U.S. Open into a major to remember--especially for Payne Stewart.

* Worst course: Carnoustie. This place gave hay a bad name. There had not been an Open Championship there since 1975, and now we know why.

* Best name for golf course: The Country Club. Snootyville was already taken.

IN AND OUT

Hale Irwin has entered the Pacific Bell Senior Classic and so has Fleisher, one of the big stories on the Senior PGA Tour. The $1.2- million event will be played Oct. 29-31 at Wilshire Country Club.

Fleisher, a six-time winner in his rookie year on the senior tour, is the ninth player in the top 10 on the money list to enter the event. Still missing: Allen Doyle.

Also, Watson is not entered.

Fleisher won $1.5 million in 27 years on the PGA Tour and has made $2.1 million this year on the senior tour.

BUT HE TALKS MORE

Irwin on Gary Player, who turns 64 in three weeks: “Gary’s been around longer than dirt.”

CASEY MARTIN UPDATE

He’s virtually certain to be playing on the PGA Tour next year after he finished tied for second last week in the Nike Tour event in New Mexico and moved up to 12th on the money list. The top 15 earn tour cards.

So what’s the tour going to do? Nothing. What the tour is waiting for is the ruling on its appeal of the federal court decision in Oregon that allowed Martin to ride a cart while he plays.

If the appeal is denied or delayed until after the start of the 2000 golf season, the tour’s stance is that it won’t interfere with Martin’s use of a cart.

IT BETTER GO STRAIGHT

Callaway Golf has spent four years and $140 million developing its new golf ball. It makes its debut in January.

IT’S A LONG STORY

In case you missed the official announcement, the long-handled putter isn’t going anywhere. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club made public its new edition of its rules and said last week that the club isn’t going to be outlawed. That is good news to players such as Bernhard Langer, Scott McCarron and Sam Torrance.

The R&A; and the U.S. Golf Assn. are golf’s two rules-making organizations, and the latest edition of rules is the result of a four-year collaboration.

For what it’s worth, McCarron is No. 7 in putting on the PGA Tour and could be the first player using a long-handled putter to finish in the top 10.

CUBIC ZIRCONIUM NEXT

And now, for the golfer who has everything: a putter with a five-carat diamond crystal face insert. The putters are made by PureSpin to increase feel and improve accuracy. There is no word whether it can double as a ring.

BRING ON ‘CADDYSHACK III’

Movies with golf themes usually aren’t that hot (see Kevin Costner and “Tin Cup,” Adam Sandler and “Happy Gilmore”), but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone from making them.

The latest planning to tee it up on the big screen is Robert Redford, whose company is filming “The Legend of Bagger Vance” in South Carolina. The flick stars Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting”) and Will Smith (“Wild Wild West”).

Both stars were obviously prepping for their golf roles in their latest outings.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

A tournament to benefit Su Casa Family Crisis and Support Center will be played Monday at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress. Details: (562) 402-7081.

A tournament benefiting Project Cuddle, a crisis rescue program that assists women considering abandoning their babies, will be played Monday at Los Verdes Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. Details: (310) 316-5821.

Phil Mickelson and Vince Neil of Motley Crue? Jim Colbert and Dweezil Zappa? Catrin Nilsmark and Steve Harwell of Smashmouth? Celebrities from golf, music, television and film get together on the golf course Monday at the Las Vegas Country Club for the VH1 celebrity pro-am “Fairway to Heaven.” The event benefits VH1 Save the Music, a program to support music programs in public schools. Details: (310) 752-8079.

The Orange County Bar Foundation’s Shortstop Celebrity tournament will be played Oct. 20 at Strawberry Farms in Irvine. Details: (760) 632-7770.

Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez will represent the senior tour, and Fred Couples, Jesper Parnevik and Sutton will represent the PGA Tour in the $540,000 Sun Microsystems Par 3 Challenge, Nov. 16 at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad. The event benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego. Details: (619) 281-4653.

Brandon Christianson, 13, of Valencia shot a four-under 56 and won the Glendale City Championships at Scholl Canyon. Christianson, who plays at Vista Valencia, has a 0.2 index, the lowest handicap to enter, and he beat seven others with handicaps of less than 1.0.

Christianson is ranked No. 2 on some world junior lists. The Glendale event benefits Club Maple, a program for developmentally challenged adults.