The Week: Worlds Apart

Tiger Woods and Jerry Kelly: same ocean, different drift

By Alan Shipnuck

Kelly's win was sweet, while Woods was burdened by his fame.   Ross Land-Fotopress/AP TRUST ME Charles Howell is headed for a sophomore slump. Last week the 2001 rookie of the year was fired by his caddie, parted ways with his business manager and blew yet another opportunity to earn his first victory. Nice start, Charlie. NEXT UP PGA: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Senior: MasterCard Championship European: Alfred Dunhill Championship INSTANT POLL Will you play a hot driver knowing that it will later be deemed nonconforming? Yes No View Results

This was an upside-down week in golf, no doubt because the marquee event was played on the other side of the equator. At the New Zealand Open, Tiger Woods received an ovation for raking a bunker, while the man who lugs his bag, Steve Williams, gave a series of standing-room-only press conferences. If the extraordinary were celebrated for performing the ordinary in New Zealand, the inverse held true at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where hardscrabble veteran Jerry Kelly sweated out his first Tour victory in his 200th start. The New Zealand Open may have shared an ocean with the Sony, but it was clear that Woods and Kelly inhabit different worlds.

Woods's arrival in New Zealand, on a private jet, was carried live on national television, and he was shuttled around the countryside in a motorcade befitting a head of state. Kelly arrived in Oahu on a commercial puddle jumper "pretty much unannounced," he says. With rounds of 65-65-66 at Waialae Country Club, in Honolulu, Kelly took a two-stroke lead into Sunday, but even as he played in the final group on a prime-time telecast, a lone security guard escorted him. In New Zealand 400 officers were assigned to the Open, and Woods's gallery included cops carrying rifles stashed in duffel bags.

Woods had come to honor Williams, who grew up playing the tournament course, Paraparaumu Beach, outside Wellington. A noble gesture, but the trip turned out to be a disaster. The vibe was poisoned by a threatening letter sent to the U.S. embassy as well as outrage over inflated ticket prices necessitated by Woods's $2 million appearance fee. Bad weather and wavy greens further bedeviled Woods as he labored to tie for sixth.

Kelly has experienced frustrations of his own, even if they don't qualify as international news. Though he had steadily improved from 103 to 35 on the money list over the past five seasons, Sunday slip-ups had undermined his confidence. Not long after clinching victory with a 72nd-hole birdie, Kelly was celebrating outside the Waialae clubhouse. His win created little stir outside his hometown of Madison, Wis., but for a week, he was the brightest star in golf. "I've got the sunset in the background, two leis on me," he said, beaming. "I'm a happy guy!"

If only life were so simple for Woods.

O.B.

Lee Trevino's long-lost sidekick, Herman Mitchell, will be back caddying for the Merry Mex beginning with the Feb. 1-3 Royal Caribbean Classic. To regain his sea legs, Mitchell, 64, worked the PGA Tour Q school for Orlando club pro Doug Ray, who failed to advance beyond the first stage. Mitchell enjoyed nearly two decades of high-profile success and high-calorie excess with Trevino before weight-related ailments, including congestive heart failure in 1995, forced him off the Senior tour in '96. A stint at the Diet and Fitness Center at Duke University Medical Center and a radically changed diet and lifestyle have helped Mitchell drop nearly 80 pounds, putting him at a svelte (for him) 240. "I feel like a kid again," he says. ...

Byron Nelson was scheduled to undergo back surgery on Tuesday in Dallas in hopes of relieving worsening pain in and pressure on his spine. Nelson, who turns 90 next month, calls the surgery minor. "I'm sure I'll make it through this," he told SI. ...

Sergio García's kid sister, Mar, will make her debut for 11th-ranked Arizona on Feb. 11 at the TRW Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes (Calif.) Golf Club. La Niña, 18, had planned to enter Arizona last fall but failed to pass the university's Test of English as a Foreign Language. "She has the same fire, the same desire to win as her brother," says Arizona's coach, Greg Allen. ...

The USGA announced that only 19 days after it made public its intention to limit clubhead size, the proposed maximum had been increased to 460 cubic centimeters from the original 385. Still unclear is how the USGA arrived at these arbitrary numbers. ...

Bruce Zabriski has suddenly resigned after three eventful years as director of golf at the $40 million Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Asked to dish on his former boss, The Donald, Zabriski, a five-time national club professional champion, says, "I need to consult with my lawyers first." ...

The week before Christmas, David Gossett returned to his former elementary school, St. George's Day School in Germantown, Tenn., to donate a John Deere utility vehicle to the maintenance department. The UV was part of the booty that came with his first Tour victory, at the John Deere Classic last July. In front of 400 students Gossett appeared in the school auditorium and dramatically dropped a velvet curtain to reveal the shiny green gift. "The kids went nuts," says a school spokesperson.

Issue date: January 21, 2002