So, really, why do we care about Tiger?

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Kathy Whitworth set a benchmark in golf no one has ever touched, whether it was Sam Snead or Tiger Woods, Mickey Wright or Annika Sorenstam. Her 88 victories are the most by any player on a single professional tour. Whitworth, whose LPGA Tour victories spanned nearly a quarter-century and who became the first woman to earn $1 million for her career on the LPGA, died on Christmas Eve, her longtime partner said. She was 83. Bettye Odle did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that Whitworth died suddenly Saturday night while celebrating with family and friends. “Kathy left this world the way she lived her life — loving, laugh and creating memories,” Odle said in a statement released by the LPGA Tour. Whitworth won the first of her 88 titles in the Kelly Girls Opens in July 1962. She won six majors during her career and broke Mickey Wright’s record of 82 career wins when Whitworth captured the Lady Michelob in the summer of 1982. Her final victory came in 1985 at the United Virginia Bank Classic. “Winning never got old,” Whitworth once said. All that was missing from her career was the U.S. Women’s Open, the biggest of the women’s majors. Upon being the first woman to surpass $1 million in career earnings in 1981, she said, “I would have swapped being the first to make a million for winning the Open, but it was a consolation which took some of the sting out of not winning.” Sorenstam referred to her on Twitter as the LPGA’s all-time victory leader and a “total class act” who will be dearly missed. “Thanks for setting the bar so high, Kathy,” she wrote. Whitworth was the AP Female Athlete of the Year in 1965 and in 1967, when she easily beat out Wimbledon singles champion Billie Jean King. Whitworth was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982. She was the LPGA player of the year seven times in an eight-year span (1966 through 1973). She won the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average seven times and she was the leading money winner in eight seasons. But she was identified by one number — 88. Snead was credited with a record 82 wins on the PGA TOUR, a total Woods has since matched. Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour, while Sorenstam had 72 wins when she retired after the 2006 season at age 36. “I think Mickey had the best swing, and was probably the greatest golfer,” Betsy Rawls once told Golf Digest. “But Kathy was the best player of the game that I have ever seen.” Whitworth was born in Monahans, a small West Texas town, and learned to play golf in New Mexico. She started at age 15 in Jal, New Mexico, on the nine-hole course built for the El Paso Natural Gas employees. She soon was a two-time winner of the New Mexico State Amateur. After briefly attending Odessa (Texas) College, she turned pro at age 19 and joined the LPGA Tour in December 1958. “I was really fortunate in that I knew what I wanted to do,” Whitworth once told Golf Digest. “Golf just grabbed me by the throat. I can’t tell you how much I loved it. I used to think everyone knew what they wanted to do when they were 15 years old.” Wright had the more aesthetically pleasing swing. Whitworth was all about grinding, and about winning. Whitworth won eight times in 1963 and 1965, and she had 11 victories in 1968. In none of those years did she earn more than $50,000. All these years later, the LPGA Tour total prize fund for 2023 will top $100 million. Whitworth continued to conduct junior clinics and stay active in the game. “I don’t think about the legacy of 88 tournaments,” she once said. “I did it because I wanted to win, not to set a record or a goal that no one else could surpass. I’m not some great oddity. I was just fortunate to be so successful. What I did in being a better player does not make me a better person. “When I’m asked how I would like to be remembered, I feel that if people remember me at all, it will be good enough.”

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Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa are among several PGA TOUR players trying to unseat Europe's top stars as the 2020 season-long Race To Dubai champion on the European Tour this week. Reed, an eight-time PGA TOUR winner, leads the European Tour's Race to Dubai standings heading into this week's DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates. He leads the way in Europe's season-long race thanks to his victory in the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and top-15 finishes in this year's three majors. He is trying to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai. His closest competitors are a pair of familiar faces. Reed's fellow American, Collin Morikawa, is third in the standings with the knowledge that regardless of what Reed, or current second-place holder Tommy Fleetwood, do in Dubai, he can also take it all with a win. The 23-year-old is in great shape after his PGA Championship triumph in August, his third PGA TOUR win, and is also the main contender for the European Tour Rookie of the Year. Veteran Englishman Lee Westwood is playing in his 12th consecutive DP World Tour Championship, and at fourth in the standings is the only other player guaranteed to become Europe's No. 1 player should he win this week's tournament. The 47-year-old won the inaugural tournament in 2009 and is the only player to feature in each edition since. The 65-player field is composed of the leading 60 members available on the Race to Dubai, plus 2019 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im, who is an affiliate member) and four other members inside the top 75 in the world ranking who were not otherwise exempt. Viktor Hovland, winner of last week's Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN, is among that group. Hovland, who like Morikawa turned pro just last year, rose to No. 15 in the world after his win in Mexico. Hovland joined legends Rory McIlroy, Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm as the only Europeans in the last 75 years to win multiple PGA TOUR titles before turning 24. Hovland also joined the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jerry Pate and Lanny Wadkins as the only players in the last 75 years to win the U.S. Amateur and multiple PGA TOUR titles before turning 24. Everyone else on that list won at least one major and a PLAYERS Championship. While the top four have their destiny in their own hands, the 2,000 points available to the winner means mathematically any player could become Race to Dubai Champion with victory in the DP World Tour Championship. Fleetwood and Westwood have both won the Race to Dubai before, in 2017 and in 2009 respectively, with Westwood also winning the former Order of Merit in 2000. Christian Bezuidenhout, who is coming off back-to-back victories in South Africa, Victor Perez, Aaron Rai and Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard champion Tyrrell Hatton would be Race to Dubai Champion with victory provided Reed doesn't finish second alone. The DP World Tour Championship winner receives $3 million while a bonus pool will be awarded to those members finishing within the top 5 on the final 2020 Race to Dubai Rankings, starting at $500,000 for the winner.

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