United Turf Industries - developer of SofTrak Synthetic Putting Greens, the low-maintenance, high-performance synthetic turf that closely simulates the look and feel of natural turf for residential and commercial use - signs an international agreement with Torben Pedersen of Virklund Sport in Denmark to be the exclusive distributor of SofTrak in Denmark and Sweden. ...

Mitchell Golf Equipment Company debuts its first-ever milled putter, the Brass Cup. Milled from a solid one-piece 6061 aluminum block, the body of the Brass Cup offers a unique alignment system and center of gravity placement. ...

Marriott Golf announces that the total rebuilding of The International Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., will be completed by the end of the year and is on schedule to re-open January 3, 2004. The club, redesigned by Steve Smyers, will also be re-named The Grande Pines Golf Club. ...

The North Florida Section of the PGA adopts the AlmostGolf Ball as part of its Swing-Into-School junior golf program for public schools in its area. The AlmostGolf Ball, a limited-distance practice ball, was chosen for its safe attributes in a learning environment and its "real ball" response. ...

Golf bag manufacturer X-Sports names industry veteran Jim Vincent, Jr. its Manager of OEM Sales, domestic and international. ...

Fueled by his strong performances during the 2003 campaign, Martinsville's Keith Decker holds a commanding lead atop the regular division with 619 points in the latest Virginia State Golf Association player rankings. ...

Tee Ball Golf Enterprises will host its eighth golf symposium in Hyannis on November 19, with a luncheon included. This year's symposium is sponsored by International Golf Maintenance. ...

Most of the weight of the Aserta putter is located on the top of the club head, so at contact with the ball, most of the weight is above the equator of the ball. The result is that a perfect over spin is imparted on the ball. Consumers are buying the concept and the putter is selling through successfully in retail stores, green grass and online. ...

The GolfGym Power Swing Trainer brings pro-training and fitness techniques to amateur and recreational golfers in an easy-to-use, compact and affordable product. GolfGym promises that your game will improve after just 30 days of using the program or you will receive a full refund on the $34.95 purchase price. ...

Antler Creek Golf Course, which is expected to become the longest course in Colorado, is on schedule to open early next summer. Grow-in of the new turfgrass is well underway and lines between native and turfed areas are being finalized at the 8,100-yard, high-prairie layout crafted by Phelps Golf Design. ...

The Southwest Golf Reps Association, on the heels of their first annual regional golf show, develop a Web site at www.sgra.info. The site includes a complete listing of Arizona/Southwest reps and their customers.

The question of which player most deserves to be voted Player of the Year was on the minds of several players at last week's Tour Championship. On Sunday, a few of those golfers shared their thoughts with the press.

VIJAY SINGH: It's nobody's goal to win the money title when you start off. But as the year got long and I started playing better and better, that was my goal. And I have accomplished that. Hopefully I can get voted for the Player of the Year. But if I don't, in my mind I've done what I wanted to do. And we'll see what happens after this.

TIGER WOODS: I think number of wins (counts most). Not only the quality of tournaments that I won, but percentage of tournaments that I played in versus anybody, and my winning percentage, as well as my stroke average. I think going into this week I was second lowest of all time.

If I would have won (The Tour Championship), Weir would have won, Vijay would have won, Davis would have won, any of us four would have won the tournament, it would have been -- they would have been Player of the Year, whoever won the tournament. But since we didn't, then it goes up in the air.

MIKE WEIR: I don't know. It's up in the air. It's up in the air. Depends what guys value as -- what they see as valuable. A lot of the media has been talked up about Vijay and Tiger. I think that that's big time, which is deservedly so. But I think that I have as much right to it as anybody else. That's the way I see it. But it doesn't mean that 160-some guys will see it that way. I don't know. I haven't played that great at the end of the year. I haven't played poorly, but I haven't played the greatest at the end of the year. Obviously I think that momentum is on Vijay's side. He's got more attention about his season.

ERNIE ELS: I need to think about it. It's between Tiger and Vijay, obviously. I got to take a couple of things into my reckoning. I know Tiger played less events, won more events. Vijay played more, one win less. I want to look at the Majors, other players in that. What happens today really doesn't mean too much. Vijay looks like he's going to have another Top 5. So that's a good finish. But it's a tough decision.

It is close. If you just look at guys winning, you got to go with Tiger. He won (two) World Championship event(s). I'm probably leaning towards Vijay. Because if you look at players on this Tour, you got to play consistently to win the Order of Merit, the money title. And he's done that. He's played very consistently. He had six weeks off there with an injury and still managed to play about 26 or 27 events. So you've got to look at that strongly. Then you look at Tiger. He has five wins. Five wins out of 15 events. That's pretty strong. So at the moment I'm on the fence.

CHARLES HOWELL III: You know, it's hard to say. Because Tiger, he didn't play that many events. You've got to remember too, he started the year off, he couldn't play Mercedes, which is guaranteed money there. You've got to figure that he's going to at least finish first, second or third at that event because the course is so great for him. Then he comes out and he wins his first event after having some time off and stuff. It's a tough call. I'll be very interested to see how it ends up.

I would say that the sense is it's split a lot. I think that a lot of people are still wondering how many votes Vijay will get, and that relates to what people think of him. Which I hope they vote strictly off what he did on the golf course. After all this is a Player of the Year award. This isn't a popularity contest. This isn't the Payne Stewart Award, this isn't another award, Mr. Congeniality or so to speak has to play into it. This is just Player of the Year. So it will be interesting. I would say that the guys are pretty split.

CHAD CAMPBELL: I need to see all the stats first.