|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Thinking of Payne PGA's return to Pebble Beach sparks memory of Stewart
Posted: Tuesday February 01, 2000 04:31 PM
Next week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will be a bitter sweet reminder of Payne Stewart's death. It was the last regular PGA Tour event that Stewart won. Pebble Beach was also where Stewart first tried the distinctive See-More putter that he wielded so masterfully at when he won the US Open last June at Pinehurst. More significantly though, Pebble Beach is also where he began talking about having found what he truly wanted in life. "I don't know that I ever really knew," he confessed, adding that he was looking forward to seeing his then-9-year-old son, Aaron, wake him up at 6:30 the next morning. Stewart confessed, "I will get up, make breakfast and take him to school. So it will be great." In reference not only to his good fortune at being proclaimed the winner when the tournament was called after 54 holes, but also to his increased personal happiness, Stewart said, "The good lord is looking out for me. Sure is."
Blasting the birdiesJesper Parnevik has been a birdie machine in 2000. In the three tournaments prior to Phoenix, he had 70 birdies in 234 holes -- 20 more than anyone else -- for an average of almost five per round. And that's not even counting his three eagles. Last year, Tiger Woods led the tour by a mile with a record average of 4.46 birdies per round. No growing painsThe USGA giving 19-year-old Aaron Baddeley of Australia an exemption into this year's U.S. Open is the latest indication that the powers that be have acknowledged that golfers are maturing faster than ever. The Nabisco Championship, the first major on the LPGA tour, recently invited the phenomenal 13-year old twins Aree and Naree Song Wonggluekiet to play next month. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Sergio Garcia is growing up so fast he has made it known he no longer wants to be called El Nino. Schmidt ready for the ShowTom Kite will make his Senior PGA Tour debut next week at the Royal Caribbean Classic, and so will Mike Schmidt. The 50-year-old former Hall of Fame third baseman, who reached the final stage of the Senior Tour Q school last month, received a sponsor's exemption for the event. Chances are good Schmidt's new position will be a lot warmer than it ever got at the Hot Corner. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jaime Diaz covers the golf beat and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's Pro Golf Weekly.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
