Lehman inspired by the Tiger

The man inspired by the tiger aims to halt a little history in California this week. Tom Lehman, who broke a four-year drought on the US Tour by winning the Phoenix Open in his adopted town on Sunday, his first official win in 58 starts, has set his sights on the world number one.

Tiger Woods, who returns to the circuit for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, starting on Thursday, is seeking to win his sixth straight US Tour event - which would match Ben Hogan for the second-longest streak ever and move him closer to Byron Nelson's record run of 11 wins set in 1945 - is, ironically, the main reason why Lehman has re-established himself as a winner.

"I'm playing well and my whole game is better," explained Lehman, who was the US Tour's player of the year in 1996 but who had been without a win since picking up that award. "My putting is better, my chipping is better and mentally I am better than last season. I learned a lot last year, especially by watching Tiger play.

"It wasn't that he played so great all the time, because there were times he played awful for Tiger, but he managed to save himself and he didn't beat himself. He would salvage a good round, didn't throw away shots. So, during the off-season, I just thought a lot about what it is that I do.

"I figured out that I wasted too many shots. I had been beating myself for three years, throwing away shots, and once I realised that, I felt good about coming into this season."

Another player who resumes competitive golf this week is Keith Nolan, although, unlike Woods, his absence was not especially due to choice. The Bray golfer missed the cut by one shot in Hawaii and was forced to sit out the past two tournaments but is one of 180 players competing in Pebble Beach. "Of all the early tournaments, it's the one I've been most looking forward to," said Nolan.

Meanwhile, three Irishman are competing in the Greg Norman International at The Lakes in Sydney - a co-sanctioned tournament on the European and Australasian tours: Padraig Harrington, who missed the cut on his seasonal debut in Perth last week, Paul McGinley and rookie Gary Murphy are all playing in an event where New Zealander Michael Campbell will be attempting to win this third event in as many weeks.