Woods and Singh in battle for overall money lead

Trying to keep track of all the dough they’re raking in is an entirely different problem. When Woods won last week’s World Golf Championship-NEC Invitational on Sunday, Singh tied for third, which put them in exclusive company — their own.

They’ve both earned more than $7 million this year and that’s the first time that has happened on the PGA Tour. Woods has $8.6 million, Singh $7.3 million.

Those $7.5-million World Golf Championship events have been kind to Woods, who has won 10 of the 20 he has played and earned $12 million playing them.

If you counted only his winnings from the World Golf Championship tournaments, Woods would be 45th on the PGA Tour’s career money list.

Believe it or not, his $1.3-million check at Firestone was the highest of Woods’ career. And for his pro career, now in its ninth full year, Woods has made $53,735,410.

Woods has won 45 times in 181 PGA Tour events, meaning he has won 24.86% of the tournaments he has entered. Woods is going to the bullpen for some help starting with the Presidents Cup next month, getting Darren Clarke’s caddie, Bill Foster, to carry his bag. Foster, who also has worked with Thomas Bjorn, is replacing Woods’ regular caddie Steve Williams, who is due to be blessed with a daughter.

Williams will be with Woods at the Deutsche Bank next week in Boston and won’t return until the American Express at Harding Park in San Francisco in early October.

Oh, yes, that’s another World Golf Championship event. There are hints that the USGA is monitoring what happens at Merion Golf Club during this week’s U.S. Amateur, with an eye on perhaps holding a U.S. Open there.

Considered short (6,846) and without much room for all the trappings of an Open, Merion may be a longshot, but it has history — Bobby Jones completed his Grand Slam there in 1930 and Ben Hogan’s famous one-iron shot in the 1950 U.S. Open.

Merion hasn’t played host to a U.S. Open since 1981, and the Open is tied up through 2012.

Los Angeles Times