Randhawa is No. 90

DIVOTS

Jyoti Randhawa, who cracked 100 in world rankings has improved from No. 98 to No. 90 without playing last week.

With ranking being calculated on the basis of a two-year cycle, Randhawa's not-too-good week at the same time in 2002 dropped off his tally and his average improved.

Tiger Woods, who skipped last week's PGA Tour event for the second year in a row, extended his run at number one for a record 235th consecutive week.

Vijay Singh, winner of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday, remained at two, although he inched to within 3.08 points of Tiger.

Europe has no player in the world's top 10 this week (ending February 9, 2004) for the first time since the official rankings were introduced in 1986.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, Europe's sole representative a week ago, dropped out after being a regular since he broke into the top 10 in November 2001.

Garcia moves on

Sergio Garcia is confident he will qualify for Europe's Ryder Cup team to take on the US in September. The 24-year-old, who switched his focus from Europe to the PGA Tour in 2002, was selected as a wildcard for the last Ryder Cup.

Recent changes in qualification system are now fairer to European players based in the US. Five players will automatically qualify for the 2004 European team via world rankings points accumulated over a 12-month period ending with the WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club from August 19-22.

A further five spots will be decided by the five players who've earned the most European Ryder Cup points over the same period. It will be held in Oakland Hills Country Club in Detroit from September 26-28.

European tour in china

China will figure twice on the European Tour this year with the China Open making its first appearance on the schedule this November.

The 10th China Open will be played at Shanghai Silport Golf Club from November 25-28 as the opening event of the 2005 European Tour.

Already in the calendar on the 2004 European Tour schedule is the Asian Open, to be staged at Tomson Golf Club in Shanghai from May 13-16.

Though the China Open will be held in 2004, it will count as the opening event to the 2005 European season. Both the Chinese events are also part of the Asian PGA calendar for 2004.

Bogeyman