Golf: On the Green

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Once it was a baseball glove. Then it was a football. Now the first present an ambitious father gives his boy is likely to be a matched set of woods and irons.

Five years ago, the total prize money on the pro golf tour amounted to $ 1,791,816. Next year it will hit $5,000,000—which works out to $25,000 a head for the 200 pros on the tour. A fellow could put himself into a way-up tax bracket merely by winning one tournament: the $250,000 Westchester Classic, whose first prize will be $50,000. Or he could try to win them all—in which case his gross would be $1,000,000. Or he could just plug along, enjoying the exercise. If he finished no better than 15th in every tournament, his income would be $90,000.