At the end of a season that
produced little progress and too much heartache, Paul Azinger wasn't even sure
he wanted to keep playing golf for a living.
Free of cancer, he wondered
if he would ever win again. After losing three of his best friends in a plane
crash, including U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart, he wasn't sure how much it
mattered any more.
Azinger packed emotion
into a wire-to-wire victory Sunday in the Sony Open, overcoming cancer and self-doubts
with a seven-stroke win in Honolulu. He immediately dedicated the victory to
the families of his friends killed in the Oct. 25 crash.
"Considering all that happened
around us last year ... really changed how me and my family view things," he
said.
In the years since Azinger
won the 1993 PGA Championship, played a key role in another U.S. Ryder Cup victory,
and then was diagnosed with cancer in his right shoulder, he never finished higher
than fourth. He rarely even contended, a kick in the stomach to a player who
had gone seven straight years (1987-93) with at least one PGA Tour victory.
"For 4 1/2 of those six
years, I saw no hope," he said.
One daughter had become
a teen-ager. The other was too big to scoop up in his arms. Life was sailing
by, and Azinger felt he was missing out.
And then, it all came crashing
down on Oct. 25 when Azinger was driving home from the National Car Rental Golf
Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where he tied for 17th and was starting to
believe his game was finally rounding into shape.
His brother called on his
cell phone with news that caused Azinger to pull over on the side of the road.
A LearJet was flying uncontrolled over America, a deadly crash only a matter
of time. The six aboard included his best friend on tour, U.S. Open champion
Payne Stewart, and two other dear friends -- agents Robert Fraley and Van Ardan.
"I had never felt that
kind of weight on me before. I had never felt that weak in the knees," said Azinger,
heavy words from a man who overcame lymphoma in the prime of his career with
no guarantee he would get back.
By the end of the week,
he had mustered enough strength to attend the funeral of each man. His eulogy
of Stewart was particularly poignant. Azinger donned a tam o'shanter cap and
rolled up his slacks, the style that had made Stewart so popular.
"He only played to win,"
Azinger said in a tearful eulogy.
That's the only way Azinger
used to approach the game. He was never the most gifted player in golf, but few
were more determined.
Azinger couldn't even break
40 for nine holes until he was a senior in high school, but he got his PGA Tour
card after his first attempt in qualifying school. He finally won on his fifth
full year on tour, then won each of the next seven years.
His best year was 1993,
when he holed out a bunker shot on the 72nd hole at the Memorial Tournament to
beat Stewart and beat Greg Norman in a playoff at Inverness to win the PGA Championship.
Then came cancer, which
caused Azinger to miss the first seven months of 1994.
"I never thought that taking
that year off would change the state of my game," he said. "I never thought I
would have that kind of trouble -- not that winning was easy. But I was never
even getting in contention.
"I just didn't see where
it would ever come back, that I would win again."
The turnaround started
about the middle of last year -- a tie for sixth in Memphis and in the Buick
Challenge, and a real threat in the Canadian Open. He was two off the lead going
into the final round but closed with a 77.
His wife and daughters
were with him in Honolulu as Azinger battled his emotions with each birdie that
put even more distance between him and the rest of the field.
"It's hard to put into
words the feelings I have," he said. "I want to scream and yell, but I also have
subdued feelings. I realize so many of my good friends are hurting right now.
This is for all of them."
Azinger's fear was that
each tournament into the new season would cause memories of Stewart to fade.
"People ask, 'Are you over
it?' I don't want to get over it," he said. "I want to remember how I felt about
those folks."
When it was over, his voice
cracked and he fought tears the way he did at Stewart's funeral. Azinger knew
he could win again. He proved to the thousands of cancer victims who have written
him over the years that "life can return to normal."
And his victory rekindled
memories of three friends who perished in the plane crash three months ago.
"It's for the Stewart family,
which is dealing with so much right now. It's for the Ardans and Fraleys," Azinger
said. "I think this is going to be their first happy moment in a long time."
After cashing in for the
first time in more than six years, Azinger left for the Monterey Peninsula to
take part in the media day for the defending champion of the Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am -- Stewart.
Azinger asked a couple
of weeks ago if he could fill in, unaware he would show up as a champion once
again.
