Golf: Debutants spoil year for Tiger

By MARK LAMPORT-STOKES

It was supposed to be yet another year of the Tiger.

But the 2003 season ended with the world No 1 winless in majors for the first time since 1998, having been overshadowed by four debutant champions and by the top women's player, Annika Sorenstam, of Sweden.

Mike Weir, Jim Furyk, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel completed a full house of first-time winners at the majors, while Sorenstam became the first female player to take part in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias in 1945.

Also making a significant impact during 2003 were the globe-trotting Ernie Els, a rejuvenated Vijay Singh and Europe's women golfers, who won back the Solheim Cup from the United States.

Not that Woods suffered a poor year. Following knee surgery last December, he won five times on the PGA Tour - more than anyone else - and clinched the Vardon Trophy for the fifth consecutive season with a stroke average of 68.41.

But the game's leading player had been expected to bloom in the four majors. Apart from a tie for fourth in the British Open at Royal St George's, he wasn't in the top 14.

Instead, two established players born on the same day in 1970, Weir and Furyk, made breakthrough wins in the first two majors of the season before relative unknowns Curtis and Micheel followed suit in the last two.

Weir became the first left-hander in 40 years to win a major when he edged out American journeyman Len Mattiace in a playoff for the US Masters in April.

The 32-year-old Canadian clinched victory with a bogey five at the first extra hole, where Mattiace missed the green with his approach.

"It's something I have dreamed about all my life, but I have a tough time putting it all into words right now," said Weir, the first southpaw to win a major since New Zealander Bob Charles at the 1963 British Open.

Two months later at Olympia Fields, the stage belonged to Furyk. Despite dropping shots at the last two holes, the American clinched his first major title at the US Open, with a closing 72 earning him a three-shot victory.

"It's very special ... it's beyond some dreams," an emotional Furyk said.

"This is a heck of a present for Father's Day," he added, referring to his father Mike, who has been his sole swing coach since he turned professional in 1992.

Five weeks later, American rookie Curtis produced one of the biggest surprises in major championship history, winning the British Open by a stroke from Dane Thomas Bjorn and Singh.

Curtis, a 300-1 outsider at the start of the tournament and a 40-1 chance going into the final round, fired a closing two-under 69 to finish at one-under 283.

"It's just unbelievable," the 26-year-old Curtis said. "I was just happy coming in to play the weekend. That would have been fine with me."

On August 17, Micheel struck a brilliant seven-iron approach to five centimetres at the last to seal a shock two-shot victory in the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.

World-ranked 169th, the 34-year-old American journeyman became the seventh player to clinch the tournament at the first attempt, firing a closing 70 for his maiden PGA Tour title.

"When I hit the ball up there and walked up and actually saw how close it was, a whole range of emotions came through," Micheel said of his second shot from 160 metres at the 18th.

The last 12 months have also been memorable for South African Els, who won seven victories worldwide, and Fijian Singh, who ended Woods' four-year reign as the PGA Tour's leading money-winner with earnings of US$7,573,907 ($11,819,455).

Europe's women golfers will also never forget 2003, having won back the Solheim Cup from the US by 17 1/2 points to 10 1/2 at Barseback Golf and Country Club on September 14.

Needing five points from the 12 last-day singles, world No 1 Sorenstam claimed a key 3 and 2 win over American Angela Stanford before Scotland's Catriona Matthew clinched the trophy by beating Rosie Jones 3 and 1.

But golf's biggest talking point of 2003 was the Colonial tournament in May, when Sorenstam challenged the men under unprecedented media scrutiny.

Her decision to play sparked a wide range of responses. The Swede missed the cut by four shots, but the experience made her an even better competitor.

"I thought if I could cope with that sort of pressure, then I could do it today," she said three months later, after winning her maiden British Open at Royal Lytham to complete a career grand slam of the four available majors.

- REUTERS