The Week June 13-19
Move Over, Old Tom
Forget mere mortals. Tiger's only real rivals are the guys in
the record book.
Majorette
Annika Sorenstam makes an eagle to beat Karrie Webb. Couldn't
they have waited a week?
Cherry Picking
The geezer greats took bows at Pebble. Doug Tewell took the
check in San Antonio.
--PGA Tiger Woods's 15-shot margin of victory in the U.S. Open
at Pebble Beach--his 12th win in the last 12 months--was the
largest in the history of the majors, breaking the record of 13
set by Old Tom Morris in the 1862 British Open. Woods did not,
however, break the Tour record of 16, which is shared by J.D.
Edgar ('19 Canadian Open), Joe Kirkwood Sr. ('24 Corpus Christi
Open) and Bobby Locke ('45 Chicago Victory).... Woods is the
only active Tour player with victories in three majors....
Woods's odds to win the the July 20-23 British Open at St.
Andrews--and complete the career Grand Slam--dropped from 4 to 1
on June 13 to 3 to 1 on Monday.... Ernie Els, the runner-up at
Pebble, is the first player to finish second in the Masters and
the U.S. Open in the same year since Bruce Crampton (to Jack
Nicklaus both times) in 1972.
--LPGA Naree Wongluekiet, 14, is the youngest of four teenagers
who qualified for the July 20-23 U.S. Women's Open at the Merit
Club in Libertyville, Ill. The others are Elizabeth Janangelo
(16), Lorena Ochoa (18), Dorothy Delasin (19).... Sorenstam's
five-foot eagle putt came on the first hole of a playoff against
Webb in the Evian Masters in Evian, France, 150 miles north of
Lyon. Sorenstam and Webb have finished first and second three
times this year, and seven times overall. Webb has won four of
those tournaments.
--SENIOR Tewell, who won four times in 540 starts on the regular
Tour, got his second win in 19 Senior starts at the SBC
Championship. He birdied the final two holes for a one-shot
victory over Walter Hall and Larry Nelson.... A record four
Senior players finished in the top 60 at Pebble Beach: Hale
Irwin (T-27), Tom Watson (T-27), Tom Kite (T-32) and Dave
Eichelberger (T-57).
COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT BECK Sea change Woods's play at Pebble Beach altered perceptions about his place among the game's greats.
UP and Down
Tiger Woods Michael Jordan
Career Slam $16,264,860
Europeans Americans
Roberto Duran John Daly
Annika Sorenstam Karrie Webb