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Tiger Woods isn't just chasing Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories. He also is going after Sam Snead's mark for career wins.

Tiger has 59 PGA Tour victories when he begins play Thursday in the BMW Championship at Cog Hill. At his current pace of between five and six titles per year, he conceivably could catch Snead in several years. The PGA Tour record book says Snead leads with 82 victories. But a group of Snead's friends contends that Woods actually has more work to do than that.

According to Jerry Rich, the owner of Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., and Jack Vardaman, Snead's longtime friend and lawyer, Snead should be credited with 90 victories.

"Something needs to be done," Rich said. "Sam had (victories) taken away from him. He won those (first-place) medals. Those tournaments are his for life."

Here's what happened:

Up through 1985, the PGA Tour listed Snead as having 84 titles. But in 1986, the tour did a historical review and readjusted Snead's total to 81. The number rose to 82 in 2002 when the tour added his 1946 British Open title.

The review gave Snead credit for six victories that never had been included in his 84 victories, including four Bing Crosby Pro-Ams. However, it also took away eight titles that had been listed in his original total.

Snead was livid over the tour's decision. He carried the bitterness with him until he died in 2002 at 89.

"He once said to me if I was young, I'd go after them," said Rich, who played hundreds of rounds of golf with Snead. "We promised him that we would try to do something about it."

In 1996, Vardaman sent a letter to PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem detailing Snead's case.

Vardaman wrote that the tour took away Snead's three victories in the Greenbriar Invitational and his two in the Sam Snead Festival because it said the purses weren't big enough. Vardaman counters that they were 72-hole events that featured top fields that included Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer.

"What could be more revealing than determining a champion over 72 holes?" Vardaman said in an interview last week.

The tour also wiped away Snead's titles in the 1939 Ontario Open and 1942 Cordoba Open apparently because they were held outside the United States.

However, Vardaman pointed out that Byron Nelson's 11-tournament winning streak in 1945 includes his title in the Montreal Open.

"Once you give Nelson Montreal, how do you take away Sam's in Ontario?" Vardaman said. "It's frustrating." The PGA Tour took no action in 1996, and according to a spokesman, is comfortable with Snead's victory total as it stands.

Rich and Vardaman are trying to reopen their campaign because Woods is inching closer to Snead. Rich stressed that he is all for Woods breaking Snead's record, but that it should be the right one.

"Our feeling is that this is no different than going to Babe Ruth and saying we're going to take away 30 homers because they were hit over the short wall in Boston," Rich said. "A lot of people say how would Tiger Woods feel if he knew Sam lost some of his tournaments? I think he would say, 'That's not fair.'

"It has to get out there again. We're just trying to see if we can shake something loose."

Not a sellout

Tournament director John Kaczkowski said that since the BMW Championship is a FedEx Cup playoff event, fans have called the Western Golf Association's office thinking it is sold out. Kaczkowski said there are still plenty of tickets available.

With 70 in the field, play will be in threesomes beginning Thursday at 10:15am and Friday at 11:15am

Woods' tee times likely will be just before or just after noon. In the Western Open, one of his tee times was usually between 7:30 and 8.

"It helps that Tiger tees off later in the day," Kaczkowski said. "In the past, if he teed off at 7:30 on Friday, everyone would be out of here by noon. Now people can work, come out here for a half day and still see Tiger."

Defending

Trevor Immelman has the distinction of being the winner of the final Western Open. When he returns to Cog Hill this week, will he be the defending champion or not?

The event has been renamed the BMW Championship and has been moved from July to September.

"I definitely feel like a defending champion and I'm excited to be coming back," he said.[[In-content Ad]]

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