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The Week: Winners & Losers

An end-of-year accounting of 2002's champs and chumps

By Alan Shipnuck

Woods bagged two more majors. John Biever

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Big Play: Brad Redding

Teeing Off: Getting Religion

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It was messy at times, but 2002 was a very good year for golf. The majors were thrilling, and Annika Sorenstam staked her claim as the world's most dominant female athlete, while the year's two hot-button issues -- Suzy Whaley and Augusta National -- will continue to monopolize headlines in '03.

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Heroes

Elin The ex-bikini model thrived in the spotlight, and her beau, Tiger Woods, gallantly proclaimed her nude Web photos to be fake.

Christine Brennan The shrill USA Today columnist's endless preaching about Augusta National finally got someone's attention -- Martha Burk's.

Ernie Els With a scrappy win at the British Open and four other worldwide victories, he solidified his standing as the game's second-best player.

Munis Bethpage was so successful it has already nabbed another Open, and it paved the way for Torrey Pines in '08.

Ty Votaw The LPGA commissioner bravely became the first in the golf establishment to blast Augusta National.

Tiger Woods Two majors, another money-and-scoring sweep -- in a year of parity he continued to dominate.

Annika Sorenstam With 13 victories, she stirred memories of Mickey Wright and surpassed Woods as the game's most prolific winner.

Koreans With two W's, K.J. Choi starred on the PGA Tour, while five of the top 21 on the LPGA money list also hailed from Korea.

Rich Beem The most colorful character to make the scene since John Daly, Beem was the anti-Tiger, accessible and fun.

Hartford/Disney/Hilton Head All three tournaments are off the PGA Tour's endangered list -- at least for now.

David Toms He followed up his first major by starring in the Ryder Cup and finishing fourth on the money list, fifth in the World Ranking.

"Dear Mr. Johnson ... " So began Burk's private letter to the chairman of Augusta National, a missive now heard round the world.

Zeroes

Martina The tennis vixen suffered a broken foot and a fractured relationship with Sergio García, lowlighting a down year for El Ni–o.

Peter Kessler After a nasty divorce from the Golf Channel, his most visible role these days is in those numbing Perfect Club infomercials.

Phil Mickelson Second-half slide was a step back; with one career win outside the U.S. and no British Open top 10s, it's a joke that he's No. 2 in the World Ranking.

Men's clubs Golf with the boys has never looked more retrograde. Next flap: USGA officials and their Pine Valley ties.

Tim Finchem The commish's flimsy explanation for the PGA Tour's sanctioning of the Masters is bound to unravel.

Tiger Woods His 81 at the British was his first choke, and the Chosen One made a rare p.r. blunder with Augusta.

Nancy Lopez Her farewell tour was a dud, and Sorenstam usurped Lopez's place as the best player of the modern era.

Australians Stuart Appleby fizzled at the British Open, Karrie Webb went AWOL, and the season-ending events Down Under were disasters.

John Daly He came unhinged at the Australian PGA following the death of his mother -- yet another low in a career that has slipped away.

Callaway Gardens/Kingsmill/Vancouver Like Sansabelt slacks, their time has passed.

David Duval He followed up his first major by falling into an abyss, with only two top 10s and an 80th-place finish on the money list.

" ... not at the point of a bayonet" Hootie Johnson's bluster is destined to rival Neville Chamberlain's post-Munich Agreement gloating.

O.B.

Tom Wyman, the former chairman of CBS who last week became the first Augusta National member to resign in protest over its men-only policy, has been accused in some quarters of grandstanding, but Wyman's act of conscience was not unprecedented. Twenty years ago he resigned from the University Club in New York City when it voted not to accept women. (Wyman rejoined the club when the policy was amended.) In explaining his Augusta decision, Wyman, who now teaches ethics and corporate governance at Harvard and MIT, tells SI, "I have three sons, and we've been to Augusta several times and had wonderful family times together. But when I began to talk about this within my family, my sons all said, 'For our generation this issue is real; we don't want to go to Augusta if it's going to remain in the posture it's in today.' I found that quite persuasive." Adds Wyman, "My students were all for [my resignation]. I am absolutely convinced that of the people who know anything about golf and the tournament and this issue, a majority of them think the time has come, and is in fact overdue, for the club to do exactly what was done when there was an ultimatum about African-Americans there. The club did not have a choice then, and it has worked out just fine."

Casey Martin shot a final-round 77 at Q school to miss getting his card by three strokes, ending a painful week. Following Saturday's round at the PGA West Stadium course, Martin blamed the course designer for some of the discomfort in his right leg. "My worst leg days have come on Pete Dye courses," Martin said, claiming that entering and exiting the designer's deep bunkers places extra pressure on his atrophied tibia.

This year's Boo Weekley Award goes to Q school grad John Morgan, a 24-year-old fish out of water from Portishead, England. Morgan, the son of a dockworker, had never played in the U.S. prior to last week, or even been interviewed on TV, but he is now headed to the big time after finishing 11th and earning his Tour card. "This is all for my dad, to get him off the docks," said Morgan, whose tastes in fashion run toward carpenter's pants, complete with the little loop for hanging a hammer.

Pebble Beach Golf Links recently opened the world's swankiest maintenance facility, on a priceless patch of real estate adjacent to the 10th fairway. The 17,350-square-foot structure sports an employees' locker room, complete with showers, and the designated break area has views of the Pacific. The $2.2 million project was spearheaded by Arnold Palmer, a managing partner of Pebble Beach Co. and famously the son of a greenkeeper.

Issue date: November 25, 2002

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