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Tiger Woods admitted his frustration with his swing this year in an e-mail newsletter sent this week, but said two late-season victories had boosted his confidence for greater success in 2005.

Woods won in Japan last month and at the World Challenge event that he hosted earlier this month. But those successes came after a PGA season in which his only victory was in the World Golf Championships Match Play event.

“It is frustrating when you can do it at home with your buddies but it
doesn’t carry over to tournaments,” Woods wrote. “Obviously there’s a lot more pressure, but you just have to keep working at it.

“I’ve been down this road before with swing changes. I did it with (swing coach) Butch Harmon and now I’m doing it with Hank Haney. The last time it took me two years to get it right. That’s just part of the process.”

Woods, whose stock answer of being “just a little off the mark” quickly became laughable as his struggles continued, said he had never sunk into despair over the reworking of his swing.

“I never really got that low, because I was proving it to myself on the range,” Woods wrote. “I knew it was in there. The key is going out and trusting your swing in competition.

“Just before I went to Japan for the Dunlop Phoenix, I was hitting balls on the range at Big Canyon Country Club and it clicked. I hit a beautiful 8-iron and finally did it right. When you do it right, you don’t feel anything.

“I closed 2004 with eight consecutive rounds in the 60s, which gives me lots of confidence for next year.

“I also won more than $7 million (R40 million) worldwide for the sixth year in a row, which is a pretty good streak - especially for someone who was tweaking his golf swing.”

Woods was able to continue his streak of events without missing a cut, but often faded from contention early, something seldom seen in past seasons.

“I think the thing I’m proudest about is being able to score when I don’t have it,” he wrote.

“People kept saying what a horrible year I had, and I finished fourth on the money list. That’s not all bad.”

But it was a step down from his PGA player-of-the-year level and major- champion status of previous seasons.

Woods lost the world number one ranking to US PGA money champion and Player of the Year Vijay Singh of Fiji.

“It wasn’t easy. I had to dig deep many times when I just didn’t have it and that takes a mental and physical toll on you,” Woods wrote.

“If you shoot 65s every day, it takes no effort and the game is pretty easy. When you’re not playing well and have to shoot 70, that’s hard.”

Woods, who won four major titles in a row after tweaking his swing to find more fairways at the expense of minimal distance, said he had gained a better understanding of stroke mechanics this time around.

“I think the biggest thing I learned this year was a better understanding of the golf swing,” he wrote.

“I always say if you’re not trying to get better, you’re standing still, and people are passing you by.

“That’s why I changed my swing. You’re always learning, tinkering around and trying new things. That’s just part of trying to become a better golfer.

“It’s frustrating at times, but we all have to go through that process. Every player who has played this sport has gone through it. You just take baby steps and play through all that.

“I reaped some rewards at the end of the year for my hard work and that was very satisfying. Hopefully, my good play will carry over to 2005.”

Woods plans to open the season in Hawaii next month, then play at San Diego in an event sponsored by one of his car sponsors.

Hal Sutton played only one PGA Tour event the final three months of the season, allowing him a taste of what life was like before he devoted two years to being Ryder Cup captain.

The biggest change might have been his appetite.

Sutton missed the cut at the Chrysler Championship in late October, no surprise given the rust. He talked that day about wanting to put the Ryder Cup behind him and get back “to what I should be doing _ playing golf.”

But with only 10 days left before 2005, he still isn’t sure what he wants to do.

“It’s tough to get back,” Sutton said. “I’ll be honest with you, I lost a little desire.”

Sutton still has plenty on his plate.

Two weeks ago, he realized a two-year dream when Christus Schumpert Health System announced plans for a children’s hospital in Shreveport, La., a five-story wing with 80 beds. Sutton came up with the idea after his agent’s 7-year-old daughter died of spiral meningitis, and he has been hosting charity events with David Toms to raise money.

A week later, county officials in Fredricksburg, Texas, approved another construction phase in the golf course Sutton is building called Boot Ranch. It is scheduled to open in September, and Sutton sounds more enthusiastic about the course than his Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing at Oakland Hills.

“Those are the two biggest things I have going on right now,” Sutton said. “I’ll play some golf, but I don’t know how much. I’ve always made my schedule as the first priority. Now I’m making my schedule with those other two things as the first priority.”

Life rarely returns to normal for a Ryder Cup captain.

Of the five U.S. captains who preceded Sutton, only Tom Watson finished in the top 150 on the PGA Tour money list the year after his captaincy _ 43rd in 1994.

Lanny Wadkins had never finished lower than 88th on the money list in his 22 years on tour before being named Ryder Cup captain. With the Ryder Cup behind him, he played 21 times in 1996 and finished 189th.

And then there’s Tom Kite.

A model of consistency his entire career, Kite nearly qualified for the ‘97 team. Some thought he should have made himself a captain’s pick. But the year after his U.S. team lost at Valderrama, Kite played 22 times and finished 159th on the money list, his lowest position ever at the time.

Some of that is by design. The PGA of America usually selects captains whose best golf is behind them.

“You’re appointed Ryder Cup captain because you’re on the downside of your career,” Curtis Strange said. “When I was doing TV, I still had a job, so things got back to normal for me.”

Sutton thought he might have a TV job waiting for him, working alongside Strange last year at ABC Sports. But then Strange resigned, and the network went with Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger as their top analysts.

There have been other things holding Sutton back.

The palm area of his left hand was nagging him all year, and he took a steady dose of cortisone to get by. He had surgery earlier this month and is waiting for the stitches to come out. And the natural letdown from his two years of being in the spotlight has allowed him to reassess how much he wants to go through the grind of a PGA Tour schedule.

Next year will be his 24th on tour.

“One thing I learned by not playing as much this year as I normally do is that I can live with that,” Sutton said. “It’s not something where I’m just hanging on every limb to get to the next tournament. I’ve done a lot of playing golf in my life, and I’m sure I’ll do more. But right now, I’m content with the things I’m working on. I’m watching my kids grow up, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with them.”

Sutton, 46, is one of the few players who earned his fame before the kids came along. Samantha turned 8 last month. His twins, Sara and Sadie, will be 6 in January. He and his wife last year adopted a son, Holt, who turns 2 in April.

“Life is good right now,” Sutton said.

He has one more year of exempt status on the PGA Tour, courtesy of his victory five years ago in The Players Championship. Sutton probably has made enough money _ $15.2 million, which puts him 19th on the career money list _ to play in 2006 with an exemption for being top 25 in career money.

Sutton already has resurrected his career once.

He was regarded as the next Jack Nicklaus when he won the PGA Championship, beating Nicklaus in a dramatic final round at Riviera in 1983 at age 25. But his game fell apart in his prime, and Sutton went eight years without winning. He had to use a one-time exemption from top 50 in career money just to keep his card.

Then came an amazing renaissance. He won six times in his 40s, beating Vijay Singh in a playoff at East Lake in the ‘98 Tour Championship, and staring down Woods in 2000 at The Players Championship. In between, he led the Americans to a rare victory in the Ryder Cup.

Whether he can compete again depends largely on his health and how much age has diminished his skills.

But it all starts with desire.

And the year after a Ryder Cup can take a lot of that away.

Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson are the top five golfers in the world in the final computerized ranking of 2004.

The Official World Golf Ranking issued Monday shows Singh with 12.79 points to 11.60 for Woods and 10.98 for Els. Goosen has 7.47 and Mickelson 7.

The ranking, which is endorsed by six professional tours, is based on how players finish in tournaments and other factors, such as strength of field. Points are accumulated over a two-year period.

Singh, who won nine tournaments this year, took the top spot from Woods in September. Woods had fallen to No. 3 behind Els before moving back up to No. 2.

Rounding out the top 10, in order, are Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Mike Weir, Davis Love III and Stewart Cink.

It is amazing how some players, with their backs to the wall, tend to play better than usual. Chandigarh’s Irina Brar showed tremendous grit to overcome back problems and a nervous play-off to win the 55th Ladies Western India Golf Championship, sponsored by WIGA, at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club course on Friday.

‘‘My back has been aching for some time and my doctor had advised rest. But I had to play so I skipped practice sessions to get rest,’’ revealed the 21-year-old later. Brar also kept her nerves during the play-off over citymate Parneeta Grewal, prevailing with a birdie on the par-5 19th hole, to lift the title.

Grewal, trailing Brar by four strokes overnight, played brilliant golf on the last day, returning a par round of 70 to tie with Brar (74) on 293, which prompted the play-off. However, Brar, the country’s top-ranked player held her nerves and sunk a birdie to emerge champion.

Brar, who had lost to Grewal by six strokes last week at Kolkata, said after her victory that she was tense during the play-off. This was also because she had lost in a play-off to Grewal four years ago. However, she managed to reverse the tables on her close rival this time around.

Grewal reserved her best for the last, playing the first nine holes in two-under 33, with birdies on the 3rd and 5th holes. Her back nine was marred a bit by bogies on the 10th and 15th holes, but her performance was the best among all the golfers over four days.