BABY BUBBLE

Other than Payne Stewart's clutch play down the stretch, the biggest drama during the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst concerned Phil Mickelson and whether he would drop everything to be at the side of his wife, Amy, who was back home in Scottsdale, Ariz., awaiting the imminent birth of the couple's first child. Amy held on, and Phil made it home just in time for the birth of their daughter, Amanda. This year it will be David Toms's turn to be on the Baby Bubble--but with a lot less tension. Toms and his wife, Sonya (above), are expecting their second child (son Carter was born in 1997) the week after the Open, and they have already scheduled a Cesarean section for Monday, June 20, the day after the scheduled final round. "If I'm in a playoff," Toms says, "maybe we'll move it to Tuesday." --Gary Van Sickle

COLOR PHOTO

DARREN CARROLL/ICON SMI (TOMS)