Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Nov. 30. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
The world's most famous golf tournament, the Masters, takes place at Augusta National Golf Club every year. And so while relatively few golfers ever play the highly exclusive course, any fan is familiar with its signature features, from "Amen Corner" to the "Big Oak."
Since 1955, Sports Illustrated has been on the scene at the Masters. Here is a look back at 54 years of golf's greatest tournament:
NEW YORK -- Still awash in the afterglow of her Olympics win in Beijing, Elena Dementieva soaked in the magnitude of her golden moment as she flew back to her native Russia two weeks ago. Upon landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in a Moscow suburb, she was greeted by fans waving signs, flowers and flags.
Duped tourists visiting St. Andrews will sometimes send postcards home describing the beauty of the city's most ancient links, the Old Course. Wish you were here! It's amusing, really. To me, the real postcard courses are in Ireland and Hawaii and on Scotland's west coast. Rolling duneland, crashing surf, long shadows, spongy green turf -- that whole thing. The Old Course -- in Fife, on the east coast -- is an ugly ole bastard, to my eye. The game's original 18-holer is hard and knobby, gray and urban and crowded, with weird, toothy animals darting in and out of the bushes at dusk. It's my favorite place in all of golf and all of sport. The place makes me happy. What can I say?
A smiling Irishman wins with good cheer, while Norman soars with brio and then does an all-too-familiar fade
Golf's U.S. Open teed off Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. We dug through the championship's history to find some crucial details (and trivial moments, too
Through the mist he appeared in a doorway of the Augusta National clubhouse, his forehead creased, his eyes heavy from haunted sleep. Out stepped Lee Elder, dressed in shades of green, carrying his thoughts into the moist Georgia morning. For months the hate mail had said he would never make it to this day in April 1975. Watch your step when you get to Augusta, other letter writers warned him. There will be blood.
TULSA, Okla. -- It seemed like 2000 again in Akron, Ohio, on Sunday, when Tiger Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational by eight strokes, lapping the field at Firestone Country Club. It was the sixth time he's won on Firestone's South Course.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) -- Lorena Ochoa won her first major title Sunday with a four-stroke victory at the Women's British Open - the first women's professional tournament played at venerable St. Andrews.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Nov. 30. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
The world's most famous golf tournament, the Masters, takes place at Augusta National Golf Club every year. And so while relatively few golfers ever play the highly exclusive course, any fan is familiar with its signature features, from "Amen Corner" to the "Big Oak."
Since 1955, Sports Illustrated has been on the scene at the Masters. Here is a look back at 54 years of golf's greatest tournament:
NEW YORK -- Still awash in the afterglow of her Olympics win in Beijing, Elena Dementieva soaked in the magnitude of her golden moment as she flew back to her native Russia two weeks ago. Upon landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in a Moscow suburb, she was greeted by fans waving signs, flowers and flags.
Duped tourists visiting St. Andrews will sometimes send postcards home describing the beauty of the city's most ancient links, the Old Course. Wish you were here! It's amusing, really. To me, the real postcard courses are in Ireland and Hawaii and on Scotland's west coast. Rolling duneland, crashing surf, long shadows, spongy green turf -- that whole thing. The Old Course -- in Fife, on the east coast -- is an ugly ole bastard, to my eye. The game's original 18-holer is hard and knobby, gray and urban and crowded, with weird, toothy animals darting in and out of the bushes at dusk. It's my favorite place in all of golf and all of sport. The place makes me happy. What can I say?
A smiling Irishman wins with good cheer, while Norman soars with brio and then does an all-too-familiar fade
Golf's U.S. Open teed off Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. We dug through the championship's history to find some crucial details (and trivial moments, too
Through the mist he appeared in a doorway of the Augusta National clubhouse, his forehead creased, his eyes heavy from haunted sleep. Out stepped Lee Elder, dressed in shades of green, carrying his thoughts into the moist Georgia morning. For months the hate mail had said he would never make it to this day in April 1975. Watch your step when you get to Augusta, other letter writers warned him. There will be blood.
TULSA, Okla. -- It seemed like 2000 again in Akron, Ohio, on Sunday, when Tiger Woods won the Bridgestone Invitational by eight strokes, lapping the field at Firestone Country Club. It was the sixth time he's won on Firestone's South Course.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) -- Lorena Ochoa won her first major title Sunday with a four-stroke victory at the Women's British Open - the first women's professional tournament played at venerable St. Andrews.
AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- No longer affiliated with Tiger Woods or the tournament he won five times, American Express signed an endorsement deal Friday with the PGA of America that showed how it has shifted its strategy in golf.
AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- No longer affiliated with Tiger Woods or the tournament he won five times, American Express signed an endorsement deal Friday with the PGA of America that showed how it has shifted its strategy in golf.
The knock on Woods
Jim Furyk's back-to-back Canadian Open titles doesn't even merit a blip on the radar of this season's surprises.
What ever happened to Tiger Woods? You remember him, right? Big smile, flawless putting stroke and an aura so intimidating that other players' mock turtlenecks would get tighter at the very sight of his name on the leader board. Woods may lead the PGA Tour in victories, scoring average and all-important FedEx Cup points, but the story of the year in golf is that something has gone missing in Tiger's game. The most ruthless closer the sport has known has developed a vulnerability when it matters most, and it cost him last week's U.S. Open, just as it did the Masters earlier this year.
So far, 2007 has not resembled golf's Golden Age. Here are the ten biggest disappointments thus far in golf this year:
In his heyday Seve Ballesteros would periodicallygive us Statesiders a chanceto know him. Never amountedto much. He'd play our windlesscourses and eat our dull foodand retreat quickly to his homein Spain and to his tour in Europe,where he was king.
Tim Finchem was asked if The Players was a major earlier this week. After saying that he's been asked that for 13 years, and that he's been consistent on the matter, the PGA Tour's commissioner artfully dodged the question. (Although this fact pretty much sums up the Tour's position: the winner of the Players gets as many FedEx Cup points as the winner of any of the four majors.)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Unlike many, Trevor Immelman had to work to gain weight.
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) -- The Old Course at St. Andrews is giving women's golf a new look.
The most pressing question in golf is not who will win the Smurfy blue jacket that goes to the winner of the Wachovia Championship. It's not whether Phil Mickelson can get any less popular with the rank and file after getting a free pass out of last week's EDS Byron Nelson pro-am.
(AP) -- The Viking Classic in Annandale, Miss., already was feeling minimized by getting a spot on the PGA Tour calendar after the FedEx Cup competition was over. Then came the announcement from Augusta National that PGA Tour winners again would automatically qualify for the Masters -- but only those events that offered full FedEx Cup points.
Phil Mickelson is changing coaches, saying Monday he will start working with Butch Harmon with hopes of sorting out driver issues that cost him a chance to win the U.S. Open last year at Winged Foot.
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) -- Tiger Woods got his first look at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday as he began preparations for the U.S. Open.
Ernie Els has been beaten down the stretch by Vijay Singh, by Retief Goosen, by Phil Mickelson and, of course, by Tiger Woods. Add a new guy to the list: Boo Weekley of Jay, Fla. Ernie has it all, the major titles and the big contracts and the private jet, but on Monday afternoon at gusty Hilton Head, S.C., Weekley had something Els did not: tremendous good luck. On the final two holes Weekley duffed pitch shots for birdie, then holed pitch shots for par. Now he has the tartan coat, the delightfully gaudy wrap the winner of the Verizon Heritage Classic is draped in each year. (Els is still looking for his first one.) Now Weekley has secured a berth in the 2008 Masters, thanks to the reintroduction of the win-and-you're-in rule. (Els hasn't officially qualified yet.) Now Weekley is ninth on the 2007 money list. (Els is 19th.)
In a final-round duel between the legendary Ernie Els and the career grinder Boo Weekley, you know who wins, right?
HILTON HEAD, S.C., April 16 -- All stand now for the re-emergence of the Tour character, the Tour character with game, the golfer out of an old Dan Jenkins novel. Thomas (Boo) Weekley is not a smoothie, not a schmoozer, not even a good putter. What he is is an excellent ball-striker with a hard, simple swing, an action that brings to mind another self-taught player who, like Boo, never sniffed the American college golf factories, Ian Woosnam.
Nobody had Zach Johnson penciled in on the list of the game's best players who hadn't won a major. Now that he's won the Masters, he'll never make the list.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Jerry Kelly's hole-in-one helped move him past a fading Ernie Els on Saturday in the Verizon Heritage.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Jerry Kelly routinely overcomes his own quirky emotions to excel on the PGA Tour. So he's not going to let a spring cold stand in his way at the Verizon Heritage.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- The Big Easy is making it look, well, easy again.
The golfing great offers a hole-by-hole guide to the links he personally designed for the Red Sky Golf Club in the Colorado mountains.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Ernie Els smiled after his 6-under 65 to open the Verizon Heritage. He wasn't in front, but he wasn't out of it either, as he's been so often at tournaments the past few seasons.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Twenty years ago, Davis Love III began a personal tradition like no other -- dominating the Verizon Heritage.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Between chats with presidential contender Barack Obama and late-night talk show host David Letterman, Masters champion Zach Johnson barely has had time to swing a golf club since slipping on the green jacket.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight in reaction to the release of the NFL's 2007 regular-season schedule ...
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Billy Payne got off to a memorable start in his first Masters as chairman of Augusta National.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Tiger Woods called it the hardest Masters he had ever seen, and the numbers back him up.
From Arnold Palmer to Phil Mickelson, the Masters has a long history of decisive final-hole dramatics, but this year's tournament was a Masters unlike any other, and so the ending was destined to be a little messy. After four days of exasperating golf, it figured that Zach Johnson would win his green jacket while slouched in the locker room, averting his eyes from a television because he couldn't bear to watch his fate unfold.
Amy Mickelson likes to say of her husband, "With Phil, it's all about the fun." With Phil, it's all about the numbers, too. Both Phils were on display last week at the Masters.
Jack Taylor, father of Vaughn, is a master of hyperbole.
The Masters rookie approached the two-time major winner last Thursday looking for advice. "I'm Dave Womack," said the 28-year-old from McDonough, Ga., sticking out his hand. "I won the U.S. Mid-Amateur and played in the Masters today. What do you do after you shoot an 84?"
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The man who beat Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open to claim one of the biggest upsets in golf said Monday the similarities between his win 52 years ago and Zach Johnson's victory over Tiger Woods at the Masters are outnumbered by the differences.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Asked to describe himself shortly after his Masters victory Sunday, Zach Johnson said, ``I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That's about it. I'm a normal guy.''
Zach Johnson proved this week that you don't have to be a bomber to win the Masters. Johnson didn't go for any of Augusta's par 5s in two, largely because he doesn't have the distance. He's one of the Tour's shortest hitters, ranked 157th with a 276.3 average.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- There was a time during the first round when Stuart Appleby was simply worried about making the cut at the Masters.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 8 -- This qualifies as a major newsflash: Tiger Woods is human.
They came by the thousands to Augusta National Golf Club to watch the Masters this week, and a U.S. Open broke out.
AUGUSTA, Ga.(AP) A strange week at the Masters saved the biggest surprises for Sunday - unheralded Zach Johnson won the green jacket, and he had to beat Tiger Woods to get it.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 8 -- How can it be? How can it be that a bunch of world-class talents -- Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Chad Campbell, Robert Allenby and Steve Stricker, among others -- didn't make the cut at the Masters this year, but a foursome of graybeard former champions did?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Cracking jokes and talking about his impending doom - make that date - with Tiger Woods, Stuart Appleby sounded more like a guy who was leading the Masters than someone who had just made a ghastly triple bogey.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - If not for ol' No. 18, Retief Goosen would be in great shape.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 7 -- The last red number at Augusta National died quickly in the third round of the 2007 Masters. Stuart Appleby performed last rites with a pull-hooked drive into the trees on the 17th hole and six more awful strikes through forest and sand.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 7 -- When the legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins was among a group of senior golf writers honored earlier in the week for having covered 40 or more Masters tournaments, he joked about remembering the Masters won by Hogan, Snead, Nicklaus, Palmer and the greats. Many of the rest, he said, were just blanks.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Break out the Day-Glo golf balls, hand-warmers and the winter rules.
Augusta, Ga., April 7, 2007 -- By PGA Tour standards, Vijay Singh is an old man. At 44 in the Age of Tiger Woods, he should be counting his pension assets and preparing to break Hale Irwin's Champions Tour record of 45 wins. He shouldn't be staying on the range all hours of the night, making busy work for the Augusta National grounds crew.
Augusta, Ga., April 6, 2007 -- If the Ryder Cup was being contested here at Augusta, the Americans might actually have a chance of winning it.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Even with low temperatures leading to high scores at the Masters, Tiger Woods was getting into dangerous territory Friday.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Looking for low numbers at the Masters? Check the thermometer.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- On a day when the winds swirled and the greens hardened, Phil Mickelson carried two drivers in his bag to try and better navigate his way around Augusta National.
AUGUSTA, Ga.(AP) Last year's Ryder Cup rookies were this year's early leaders at the Masters. Zach Johnson and Henrik Stenson were among the few players shooting under par Thursday during a slow start at Augusta.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Fred Couples bent backward on the 13th fairway, looking as if he might start doing some yoga right there in Amen Corner. There was a little twist to the left, a little twist to the right.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Arnold Palmer stepped up to a first teebox that used to be the practice green Thursday and kicked off the Masters with a tee shot that looks nothing like what he used to hit when he ruled the course.
Augusta, Ga., April 4 -- Don't let him win.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Fred Couples bent backward on the 13th fairway, looking as if he might start doing some yoga right there in Amen Corner. There was a little twist to the left, a little twist to the right.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 4--As competitors coaxed their tiny caddies/children around the par-3 course on Wednesday at Augusta National Golf Club, anticipation of the far-more serious event, the Masters, grew. The 71st playing of golf's first major will answer a wide variety of questions. But even before Arnold Palmer hits the much anticipated ceremonial first shot, we can safely assume the following:
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Not to spoil it for those watching the Masters on Sunday, but the winner already has been determined.
According to the forecast, Augusta is about to get colder and wetter. Scattered thunderstorms will start moving through the area Tuesday night, which could cause delays to Wednesday's practice round.
The appearance of the two most chronicled players in the game on a warm, cloudy Tuesday at Augusta National begged the question: Can anybody other than Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods win this tournament?
An excerpt from Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die by Jim Gorant, published by Houghton Mifflin June 2007. Copyright Jim Gorant. For more information go to jimgorant.blogspot.com
On Sunday, the day Morgan Pressel won in the California desert and Adam Scott won in Houston, Tiger Woods played a leisurely nine holes at Augusta National. He had no playing partners, and almost nobody was watching. Steve Williams carried the bag, and Hank Haney, Tiger's swing coach, carried an umbrella he did not need. When Woods came off the 9th green, there was a column of sweat between the shoulder blades of his shirt, and his shoes were speckled with green dust, spring pollen off thedogwoods. It was only Sunday, the Sunday before Masters Sunday, and the course was already hard and dry-just the way the Augusta bosses want it.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Nothing could drag Geoff Ogilvy out of bed before dawn when he was growing up.
Augusta, Ga., April 2 -- Remember Olympic runner Michael Johnson's gold cleats in the 1996 Games? They've returned, but this time they're laced onto the reigning 2006 U.S. Open champ, and they include soft spikes.
AUGUSTA, Ga., April 1 -- It didn't take long for Phil Mickelson to put his stamp on the 2007 Masters.
The Masters is built on lore. The heroic shots of Sunday afternoons. The tragic failures. It is the glory of the game set against the backdrop of azaleas, a falling spring sun and (warning: cliche alert) a cathedral of pines.
(AP) -- I know the Masters is coming up and I've been excited, but I haven't really had the eagerness to get there.
(AP) -- The first leg of his estimated 15 million miles in an airplane sent Gary Player to St. Andrews in 1955 for the British Open, a small step for a South African man with big ambitions.
HUMBLE, Texas (AP) - Stuart Appleby set a course record in the first round, broke 70 on all four days and finished 19-under-par to win last year's Houston Open.
On the condition of anonymity, a PGA Tour pro ranks, in ascending order, the top 10 contenders to win the Masters. (Bet you'll never guess who he thinks will end up wearing the green jacket)
(AP) -- About the only negative memory Phil Mickelson has of Sunday at the Masters last year was finishing his third round in the morning. The sudden clicks of a camera from the tower over the 18th tee when he was at the top of his swing led to a wild shot and ultimately a bogey that reduced his lead to one shot.
Jeev Milkha Singh puts down his glass of Cabernet, leans back in his chair and lets out a long, bellowing yawn. "Man, I'm jet-lagged," he says, his bloodshot eyes scanning this French-fusion restaurant on the outskirts of Tucson. "I'm really feeling it."
What the Masters does is preserve the code. The PGA Tour money folk, left to their own devices, would chase every last dollar until the Tour fell into the NASCAR/NBA/NFL/WWE abyss. (Exhibit A: the 44 corporate logos in the Tour media guide.) The Masters reminds us of the importance of gracious losers, replaced divots, hushed spectators-the actual game. That's why the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club (along with the game's dominant player at any given time and very few other people) is one of golf's most influential figures. Every April trees bud, the clubs come out, we turn on CBS and fall for the whole thing again, the grace and beauty and athleticism. We actually like the knot in our stomach that makes us want to heave our lunch, even if it's all vicarious. Your grandmother doesn't watch the Honda Classic, but she watches the Masters, right?
Henrik stenson bombs it like Tiger Woods and closes out tournaments like Raymond Floyd, but his on-course demeanor calls to mind an even more iconic figure. With his stoic visage, dark sunglasses and Nordic accent, "he's like the Terminator," says Luke Donald. Last year Stenson, a 30-year-old native of Goteborg, Sweden, made his debut at the Masters as a talented tease who wowed with his skills but had yet to develop a Schwarzenegger-like ability to blow away anybody and anything in his path. To very little fanfare Stenson shot a jittery 74-77 to miss the cut. Since then he has morphed into a ruthless winning machine. In the last 12 months Stenson has vanquished Retief Goosen and Padraig Harrington with an eagle in sudden death at the BMW International Open, holed the clinching putt at the Ryder Cup, mowed down Woods and Ernie Els in a final-round shootout in Dubai, stormed to victory at the Accenture Match Play Championship and surged to No. 5 in the World Ranking. Memo to Augusta National: He'll be bac
Let's say you're filling out your entry in the all-important office Masters pool, and like the NCAA hoops pool, you know you've got to stray from the typical No. 1 seeds if you hope to make a splash.
MIAMI (AP) - Mark Wilson made a 4-foot birdie putt on Doral's final hole Saturday, greatly improving his chances.
MIAMI (AP) - Mark Wilson made a 4-foot birdie putt on Doral's final hole Saturday, greatly improving his chances.
YOU WOULD HAVE thought Sergio Garcia was the next Elvis the way crowds responded to him at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago. The smile, the daring, the vigor, and only 19 -- men exchanged high-fives, women swooned, and kids, well, kids adored him most of all. "It looks like they love me,"a grinning Garcia said after narrowly missing birdie putts on 17 and 18 and finishing second to Tiger Woods.
MIAMI(AP) -- Tom Lehman hasn't played Doral in 15 years. What he wouldn't give for one of the 74 tee times this week on the Blue Monster.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Arnold Palmer might tee it up at the Masters again - as an honorary starter.
PGA tour pro Arjun Atwal could face charges after a man who was speeding alongside him on County Road 535 near Windemere, Fla., last Saturday died in a car accident. John Noah Park, 48, of Windemere lost control of his automobile on a curve and hit a tree. Atwal, 33, also lost control but skidded to a stop on the shoulder. Police were uncertain if it was a chase or if the two were racing, but witnesses said the two cars were "engaged," and an investigation was under way. Atwal did not return calls requesting comment, but on Monday his agent issued a statement that said in part, "It will be abundantly clear that this was simply a horrible accident and tragedy, with no one at fault."
Augusta National's image as an exclusive (and exclusionary) institution is a reflection of the club's co-founders, Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. As the most famous glam-ateur in the game's history, Jones was the face of the club, the front man who hung out with Hollywood stars and heads of state. Roberts was an enigma -- a man with an eye for detail and innovation both as the club and Masters tournament chairman for 45 years, he was also myopic in his world view, once infamously muttering, "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black." Thirty years ago, Roberts, in declining health, wandered out onto the world's most famous course and blew his own brains out. The legacy he left is one of intrigue, with fact and fiction intertwined like coffee and fresh cream before the spoon gives them a stir. Here's the truth, half-truths and downright fairy tales about the man behind the curtain for so many years at the Masters.
It's a month away, but I can already tell you that Masters Sunday will be special. I know this because it's going to begin with Arnold Palmer winning the Masters.
We've been watching PGA Tour players spin sand wedge shots from out of the rough like Duncan Yo-Yos for the better part of two decades now, so it's good to know that the United States Golf Association has finally discovered that U-shaped grooves -- commonly known as square grooves -- are a big advantage.
While it's hard to remember the Masters without Tiger Woods, here, from the pages of our sister publication Sports Illustrated, is a decade-old snapshot of something you'll never forget: the nail-biting quiet before Tiger's first Masters as a professional in 1997, and the aftereffect of the most dominating performance ever seen up to that time in a major championship. (Unattributed lines excerpted from stories by Rick Reilly, John Garrity and Jaime Diaz.)
Here, some of the greats recall the two days that could satisfy you for a lifetime: the first time you set foot on Augusta, and the first time you win the Masters (ifyou're lucky enough).
It's too bad Tiger Woods had his PGA Tour winning streak end at seven last week in Arizona. It means we'll miss the debate about whether his streak was comparable to Byron Nelson's famous run of 11 straight victories in 1945.
You may be shocked to learn that The International, a first-class stop with one of the loveliest courses on Tour in Castle Pines, is dead. Tournament founder Jack Vickers and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem joined forces Thursday in Denver to make the announcement.
For 30-plus years Jack Nicklaus kept saying that fatherhood was his highest priority, thereby screwing things up for the rest of us. Now we dads have to sit through those interminable swim meets on beautiful summer evenings when we could be playing a twilight nine, all because Big Jack never missed any of Jackie's golf tournaments or Steve's football games or Nan's volleyball matches.
There will be a lot of yellow flashed on the tee of Augusta this weekend.
Exxon Mobil is under fire for practicing what some shareholders are calling high-profile sex discrimination.
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