For The Record
HOLED By Annika Sorenstam, a 39-yard bunker shot to win $175,000
in the Skins Game. Playing Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Mark
O'Meara at the Trilogy Golf Club, in La Quinta, Calif., Sorenstam
won five skins for $225,000, second to Couples's $605,000. After
each player missed the green of the par-5 9th hole with their
second shots, Sorenstam landed her bunker shot about 20 feet
short of the hole and watched it trickle in for an eagle. "I've
hit some great shots at major championships," she said, "but with
all the people watching, against these guys ... I'm pretty much
in shock." Couples, who gave Sorenstam a congratulatory kiss on
the cheek, said, "You have to have that shot to understand how
hard it is. And to hole it, you could be down there until
tomorrow's 8:00 tee time and not do it."
ENCOUNTERED By Cal Ripken Jr., an alleged kidnapping victim who
turned up on Ripken's porch after being shot. The Ironman
responded to pounding on his front door at around 9 p.m. on
Thanksgiving and saw 20-year-old Brian Holmes Robbins, naked and
bleeding from a gunshot wound in his back. Robbins, who is
unemployed, told police he'd been abducted that day near his
downtown Baltimore apartment and was driven around while his
kidnappers had him call friends to ask for money. Robbins said
that after failing to raise any cash, he was taken to a field in
Worthington Valley, an affluent suburb of Baltimore, stripped
naked and told to start running. Shot in the back as he fled, he
made his way to what turned out to be the former Orioles
shortstop's home. Ripken called 911, and Robbins was taken to a
hospital, where he was treated and released. Police are
investigating the case.
EMPLOYED Still, as Auburn's football coach, Tommy Tuberville, who
had endured rampant speculation about his job security. After the
Tigers beat Alabama 28-23 on Nov. 22 to end a three-game
conference losing streak, reports surfaced that Auburn president
William Walker and athletic director David Housel met secretly on
Nov. 20 with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino in Louisville about
the Auburn job. Petrino had adamantly denied the meeting until a
report in Louisville's Courier-Journal confirmed that it had
occurred. Petrino then called the meeting a "mistake" while
Louisville AD Tom Jurich complained about "how a university
leader would come into my own backyard, behind my back." Alabama
governor Bob Riley, who is also chairman of Auburn's board of
trustees, said, "The manner in which this situation has been
handled is embarrassing." Tuberville's job appeared to have been
saved by his win over Alabama--which could send Auburn (7-5) to
the Dec. 31 Music City Bowl in Nashville--and Walker issued an
apology. After meeting with Walker and Housel on Monday,
Tuberville, in his fifth season as coach, held an emotional press
conference in which he said, "I'm looking forward to being around
here for a long time."
ENGAGED Tiger Woods and his girlfriend of two years, Elin
Nordegren. Just a week after his caddie, Steve Williams, got
engaged, Woods, 27, popped the question on Nov. 25 during a
sunset walk at the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa--where
Woods had played in the Presidents Cup. Nordegren, a 23-year-old
part-time model, said yes. The couple reportedly spent the night
under the stars in sleeping bags. A spokesperson for the reserve
said Nordegren left with a "huge diamond on her finger."
COLOR PHOTO: NJEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES (SORENSTAM) Sorenstam
COLOR PHOTO: ANDREW REDINGTON/GETTY IMAGES (WOODS AND NORDEGREN)
