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Lighter moments of 2001
The year began Jan. 3 with Steve Stricker winning $1 million at the Match Play
Championships. It ended Dec. 16 with Tiger Woods winning $1 million at his own
tournament, the unofficial Williams World Challenge.
During those 348 days, golf was filled with winners and loser, birdies and
bogeys and a few moments outside the ropes that help make a long season even more
memorable.
Els foreshadows Faxon's success
At the Match Play Championship in Australia, Liezl Els mentioned that her husband
noticed changes Brad Faxon made in his game.
Two weeks later at the Sony Open, Faxon was told Ernie Els was impressed with
his swing. Faxon couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Ernie?" he said. "Ernie Els? He said that about ME?"
Faxon went on to win by four shots.
Talk about focus
Tiger Woods was one round away from his own Grand Slam. His mother, his agent
and Nike's top brass -- including Phil Knight -- were standing outside the clubhouse
at Augusta National when Woods passed them and headed to the practice green.
He never stopped.
He never looked at them.
Learning a valuable lesson
Cameron Beckman played the final round of the Byron Nelson Classic with Woods,
who birdied six of seven holes in the middle of his round and was briefly tied
for the lead.
Woods finished with a 63 and a tie for third. Beckman had a 76 and an education.
"For the first six holes, I couldn't hardly keep up with him," he
said. "As soon as he got into contention, he slowed everything down. It was
amazing to watch."
At the end of the year, Beckman birdied three of his final five holes at the
Southern Farm Bureau Classic for his first PGA Tour victory.
Making the mental adjustment
David Duval sat outside the clubhouse at Southern Hills after playing nine
holes on the Sunday before the U.S. Open. He mind was working overtime.
The seventh and ninth holes are usually played with a 3-wood or long iron off
the tee. Duval wondered why he couldn't hit driver.
"The thing I like so much about this golf tournament is we're sitting
here figuring why I shouldn't play like I normally would if I was having a fun
round," he said.
When the tournament started, Duval hit driver on No. 9 every round. On Saturday,
his drive rolled so far that it stopped in the trampled-down crosswalk, from where
he was not granted relief. He chunked his wedge, made double bogey and never threatened
the rest of the weekend.
Eight is too much
John Daly's new wife doesn't know much about golf. But she's a quick study.
'What does a quintuple-bogey mean?' Sherrie Daly asked during the third round
of the Pennsylvania Classic.
What did John do?
"He hit two in the water, and then he couldn't get that ball to go in
the hole," she said.
A check of the scorecard revealed an 8 on the par-3 14th.
Beating the system
The practice round at Disney World was closed to spectators, although a few
managed to get onto the Magnolia Course. Two of them found Woods in his cart on
the 10th tee, waiting for Mark O'Meara and John Cook to arrive from the ninth
green.
An older man engaged Woods in conversation, then began pulling items out of
a bag for him to autograph.
Tiger was trapped.
With nowhere to go, he signed a scorecard, then an oil painting of Pebble Beach.
It was unusual for Woods to sign the painting, because that's the kind of item
that will be dressed up and sold for big money.
"Don't you realize that painting will have a wood frame around it and
be posted on eBay by the end of the week?" he was asked on the next tee box.
Woods smiled.
"That's why I signed it in the bottom right-hand corner," he said,
knowing that any frame would cover up part of his signature.
Very impressive. Did you go to Stanford?
"Yeah," he said. "I majored in sarcasm."
Too rich for my blood
The fittest man on the PGA Tour might be the commissioner. Tim Finchem works
out with a personal trainer and watches what he eats very closely. Stepping from
the locker room at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Finchem squinted as he tried
to read the nutrition chart on a granola bar.
"I don't have my glasses," he said. "Does that say three fat
grams or five?"
Five.
He frowned, put it back on the counter and headed to a meeting.
Thanks, but no thanks
Karrie Webb, who lives about 20 miles from Trump International, was walking to
the 10th tee during the third round of the LPGA Tour Championship when she pulled
a snack from her golf bag -- a dark, gooey substance between white bread.
"Vegemite," the Aussie said. "Want to try it?"
Perhaps some other time.
"Most Americans don't like it," she said, and walked off laughing.
Boo who?
Boo Weekley, the country boy from the Florida panhandle, had just secured his
card at Q-school when The Golf Channel moved in for an interview.
Weekley barely finished his answer when he excitedly waved into the camera.
"Hey, everybody back home!" he said.
The PGA Tour will have some new faces -- and new experiences -- next year.
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