Don't Look Now

Tiger takes the Trophy, but Sergio steals the show

Sergio Garcia's gamble from tree trouble at the 16th (left) wasn't enough to overtake Tiger Woods.

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By Dan Jenkins

Illustration By Ed Acuna

October 1999

In the last major of the last decade of the 20th century—the NASDAQ Nineties—it seemed fitting that there would be a controversy over money, and that the PGA Championship at Medinah would ultimately wind up in the hands of the playing pro from Nike, Titleist, American Express, Rolex, Wheaties, All-Star Cafe, CBS SportsLine, Asahi Beverages and Electronic Arts.

For those of you who have been living on the moon, that's Tiger Woods and his endorsements, which guarantee him $30 million a year for a good while whether or not he makes a single cut.

Of course, the PGA almost wound up in the hands of bubbling young Sergio Garcia, who, if he hasn't already, ought to be signing with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Sergio could take that tree-trunk shot and the joyful reaction around the world to make his own fortune.

If the fast-approaching Ryder Cup is indeed golf's Olympics, as most of us believe, then the 19-year-old from Spain has invented a unique event—the Swing, Sprint and Hop. Not that Sergio could ever duplicate the shot, under any circumstances, much less in the heat of a major's final round. The shot almost won him the tournament over Tiger, and it did win him the hearts and minds of the golf public.

For the rest of the year, if anyone in golf talks about anything other than Garcia's 189-yard, open-face 6-iron with a 30-yard slice from a root-infested, tree-trunk lie at the 16th, then it will only be a member of the Forbes 4.

The Forbes 4 in these NASDAQ Nineties consists of Tiger, David Duval, Phil Mickelson and Mark O'Meara, the ringleader. All they need is Bill Gates for a nonplaying captain.

These are men who get paid for everything they eat, drink, wear, drive, swing and utter, because they know how to do only one thing in this life, which is play golf better than Joe Zilch.

Now they also want to be paid for breathing. Which is to say they want to get paid for representing their country in the Ryder Cup.

Think about that for a moment. For one week, every other year, they can have the honor of playing for the USA, but it's not enough. Every other golfer would gleefully pay out of his own pocket to have the opportunity, but this doesn't faze the Forbes 4.

Greed gives patriotism 2 a side. That's all you can say about it. Except it brings to my own weary mind a line from the old country song by Billy Joe Shaver: "Too much ain't enough."

It was amusing that even before the PGA, Tiger and Duval went vocal, calling the Ryder Cup an "exhibition." The PGA of America, which has always pre-sided over the Ryder Cup, tried to ignore this, and sent out CEO Jim Awtrey in the role of spin doctor.

"There's no controversy," Awtrey said. "We're all on the same page." Then Tiger adamantly called it an "exhibition" again, adding for humorous impact, "Is there a check for the winner?" This in turn made Jim Awtrey a spin doctor in need of a spin doctor.

What happened next was U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw slipping out of his frayed Gentle Ben robe and putting on his drill-sergeant face. Ben was hot about this mutiny, almost moved to tears of frustration. Among other things, Ungentle Ben said, "It burns the hell out of me. Whether some players like it or not, there are people who came before them who mean a hell of a lot to the game."

Crenshaw hung around to tell his players it was nothing personal, then agonized overnight before adding Tom Lehman and Steve Pate as the captain's picks to the 10 qualifiers: Tiger, Duval, O'Meara, Mickelson, Payne Stewart, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk and Jeff Maggert. The Americans will be heavy favorites again, even though they've managed to lose the last two Cups and Europe was one stroke away from winning three of this year's four majors. Team Europe no doubt was taking great delight in watching Team Money devour itself.