Columnist Peter Benton: O'Meara solidifies spot on Presidents Cup team

PETER BENTON is a local golfer. His column appears Wednesdays.

THE 1998 PRESIDENTS Cup, which will match a United States team against a squad of non-European international stars, will be played Dec. 11-13 at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

Mark O'Meara, who defeated fellow American Brian Watts to win the British Open and earn his second major for the year, moved from seventh to fourth position on the U.S. team to virtually guarantee his spot.

The first ten members of the U.S. team will be determined by their official PGA Tour earnings for 1997 and 1998, with this year's earnings being multiplied by 2. U.S. team captain Jack Nicklaus will select the final two members of the 12-man U.S. team.

The U.S. team as it stands today: David Duval, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Mark O'Meara, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III, Scott Hoch, Lee Janzen and Phil Mickelson. Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman and John Cook are waiting in the wings.

The International team presently consists of Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Jumbo Ozaki, Vijay Singh, Steve Elkington, Shigeki Maruyama, Stuart Appleby, Frank Nobilo, and Mark McNulty.

Child Seekers results

Last week's annual Nevada Child Seekers Bob Dickinson Memorial Golf Tournament was played under idyllic weather conditions at Las Vegas Country Club.

Winning this fun-filled, four-person scramble with a remarkable score of 33-under-par 39 was the team of Larry West, Gino Pachino, George Duncan and Allan Karp. (Twenty percent of the combined team handicap was used for scoring purposes).

Larry Holden, Steve Bellew, Dave Rice and Craig Willis placed second at 45. In third spot with 45.6 was Rusty Durante's team of Bob Henderson, Pat Laverty and Rick Kramer.

Individual low gross went to Cory Morley and his 65. Low net went to Gerry Zawisza and his 69.6.

Hale yes

With his victory in the recent U.S. Senior Open, Hale Irwin has finished in the top three in 40 of his 71 Senior PGA Tour events and in the top 10 in 64 of his 71 Senior career starts.

His Senior Tour career earnings total is $6,761,058 -- or $95,226 per tournament. Irwin's all-time earnings total (PGA and Senior Tour combined) is $12,668,609, which leads all PGA players.

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