The Week: Dialed In on Sunday

Two majors plus the PGA Tour made for a blissful day of TV

By Alan Shipnuck

Ray Sabbatini. Pat Benic GOLF PLUS EXTRA Big Play: Patti McGowan My Shot: Luke List Teeing Off: Playing with Pain TRUST ME Milwaukee is abuzz with talk that Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are going to buy the Bucks, because it might get Tiger to tee it up again at the Greater Milwaukee Open. NEXT UP PGA, PGA European tours: U.S. Open LPGA Tour: Giant Eagle LPGA Classic INSTANT POLL Which 2003 major was the best? The Masters The U.S. Open The British Open The PGA View Results

Sunday was every dimplehead's dream come true. In one delirious afternoon there were telecasts on three networks, including major championships for the LPGA and Champions tours. Throw in a compelling Nationwide event on the Golf Channel, and the intrepid viewer, equipped with fresh batteries for the remote control and a strong bladder, could pretend that, blessedly, nothing else in the world was happening but golf.

It was a dizzying experience, traveling between the worlds of Fuzzy and Duffy and Grace, to say nothing of Watson and Nicklaus (Gary, that is, who was playing the Nationwide's LaSalle Bank Open).

Our tour guides on this journey spoke in exotic tongues, from Ian Baker-Finch's Aussie accent to David Feherty's Irish brogue to Curtis Strange's Virginia drawl. The players offered an endless variety too, from Grace Park's ravishing beauty to Craig Stadler's lumbering charisma to Suzann Petterson's Norwegian expletives. (She was caught on camera spewing singsong oaths after missing a series of putts down the stretch.) In the course of an afternoon Bobby Wadkins got the yips and Annika Sorenstam chunked a couple of chips, while Rosie Jones bunted 182-yard three-woods and Victor Schwamkrug pounded drives that easily went twice as far.

All this golf was a welcome change from the day before, when the only action was on the Weather Channel. Because of the storms that drenched the Eastern Seaboard, the LPGA and the Champions had to squeeze in the better part of two rounds on Sunday, while the PGA Tour's FBR Capital (né Kemper) Open, which was doomed to a Monday finish, offered only its third round. With a leader board dominated by a mechanical Swede (Niclas Fasth) and an intense South African expat hiding behind Matrix-style sunglasses (Rory Sabbatini), the PGA Tour was only the fourth-best show.

Sorenstam cemented her status as the biggest star in the game -- this minute -- with a tense playoff victory over Park. The always exciting Schwamkrug (Golf Plus, May 5, 2003) led for most of the LaSalle Bank, but his free-swinging ways caught up with him on the back nine, and Andre Stoltz stole the win with five birdies over the final six holes. At the Senior PGA swashbuckling John Jacobs got the final word in a field that featured five TV announcers. (Gary McCord was low talking head, coming in 40th.) For Jacobs, 58, the Senior PGA was by far the biggest victory of his career. He played the PGA Tour from 1968 to '80, failing to win a tournament, and spent much of the '80s in self-imposed exile on the Asian tour. His final-round 68 at Aronimink, outside Philadelphia, was highlighted by clutch putting and endless emoting. "I was a nervous wreck," Jacobs said on Sunday evening. "I could hardly keep the tears out of my eyes."

There was more crying on Monday, by Sabbatini's wife, Amy, after her hubby had shot a 68 to earn his second Tour win. This otherwise anticlimactic finish only reinforced how super the Sunday was that preceded it. After trudging through 34 holes in tough conditions under intense pressure, Sorenstam reflected on her fifth career major championship victory. "It was really hard work," she said, "but, wow, it's worth it."

Those of us who spent Sunday channel-surfing can relate, sort of.

O.B.: Big Hitters, Big Drama