The Week May 18-24

Comebacks Keep Coming
Ben Hogan would have appreciated the '99 season. First, Steve Elkington wins at Doral a year after nasal surgery, then Jos� Mar�a Olaz�bal (feet) and Greg Norman (shoulder) go one-two in the Masters. Now we get a tripleheader of comebacks: Jack Nicklaus debuts his bionic hip, Beth Daniel (rotator cuff) fires a record nine straight birdies, and Olin Browne, coming off surgery on his left arm, conquers Colonial.

PGA

Browne won despite ranking 38th in putting with an average of 1.77 putts per green hit in regulation, the worst numbers in that statistical category by a winner this year. For the season Browne is 178th of the 183 players listed in the stat....

In his previous six years on Tour, the longest Phil Mickelson has had to wait for his first win was seven starts. He is 0 for 13 in '99....

The low round of '98 was 62. Last week's course-record-tying 61 by Greg Kraft was the fourth round of 61 or better this season.

LPGA

Japanese rookie Akiko Fukushima's first tour win, at the Philips Invitational in Austin, came one year after Se Ri Pak of South Korea won the first title of her rookie season, the LPGA Championship....

For the first time in her life, Daniel had to go through qualifying to get into next week's U.S. Open at Old Waverly in West Point, Miss.

SENIOR

Tom Jenkins, who made the Bell Atlantic Classic outside Philadelphia his first Senior title, got his lone victory on the regular Tour at the '75 IVB- Philadelphia Open....