Arnold Palmer The King will rise again after all, and his surprise announcement suddenly brought the golf into focus for next week's Masters.
Lorena Ochoa The 21-year-old had Sunday's low round at the Nabisco (68) to surge to third place, giving her two straight top 10s to open her rookie year.
PGA Tour purses The Players had the biggest pot in history, $6.5 million, paying $1,170,000 to winner Davis Love III.
Phil Mickelson He skipped Sawgrass to attend to wife Amy and newborn son Evan, burnishing his reputation as golf's most dedicated family man and further reducing expectations for him at the Masters, which may finally free him up to play his best.
Billy Mayfair After shooting a first-round 81 at the Players, he came back with a 69. Mayfair still missed the cut, but he displayed class and true professionalism.
Laura Davies The LPGA's big bopper finally showed signs of life after an extended slump stateside, mounting a weekend charge to fourth place.
Hootie Johnson Augusta National's embattled chairman displayed the good sense to acknowledge his error and restore the lifetime champions' invitation that he had ham-handedly revoked last year.
Michelle Wie The Big Wie-sy showed off a monster long game and outrageous poise. If her putting improves, the sky's the limit.
LOSERS
Martha Burk She made a monumental blunder in equating her narrow struggle with that of women soldiers, marginalizing her in the p.r. battles.
Natalie Gulbis Last year's It Girl has suddenly been overshadowed by a bevy of other youngsters. A 48th at the Nabisco only extended her malaise.
LPGA Tour purses The Nabisco's $1.6 million purse is the third largest of the year, but the winner's $240,000 was less than the Players' fourth-place money.
Ernie Els He skipped Sawgrass to nurse a sore right wrist, sustained when a punching bag scored a TKO on him. Els has been obsessing about the Masters for months, but it looks more and more as if he peaked in February.
Michael Campbell The Kiwi shot an 89 to open the Players but was DQ'd when he signed for an 87. Hey, Mike, if you're going to fudge it, next time you might as well jot down a 64.
Fred Couples At times this year he has looked like the Boom-Boom of old, but a wobbly 74 on Sunday was a step back for this 43-year-old.
Jack Nicklaus Unfortunately, he too decided last week to give it another go at the Masters. We can accept Arnie as a ceremonial golfer, but it's painful to watch the proud Bear struggle to break 80.
Aree Song She's no longer going by Wonglukiet, which hasn't made it any easier to remember this fast-being-forgotten prodigy.
O.B.
From the Things You'll Never See at a Real Major Dept.: John Daly spent last week camped in the parking lot at the TPC at Sawgrass in his custom recreational vehicle. While unsightly, the 30-foot house on wheels was, for at least one bemused observer, better than the alternative. Former PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman, citing the many meltdowns in Daly's past -- including the occasional Keith Moon-like hotel trashing -- thought that allowing Daly to sleep on-site was a great idea. "I would have done anything to keep him out of a hotel," said Beman.
Sawgrass is losing one of its most notable residents. Rocco Mediate plans to sell his home on the Valley Course and move to the Palencia Club in nearby St. Augustine, Fla. There, his 4,000-square-foot pool house will be next to the 16th green of the Arthur Hills course and will have access to the Intracoastal Waterway, but Mediate sounds most excited about the new digs' being closer to the schools of his three children.
Tom Kite attended Sunday's NCAA South Regional final in San Antonio to cheer his alma mater, Texas, into the Final Four, but he wasn't the only interested golfer there. Brent Buckman, the director of golf at Austin's exclusive Spanish Oaks Golf Club, is the father of Brad Buckman, a 6'8" freshman who had 11 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Longhorns in a key performance off the bench.
Wondering how Davis Love III's victory foreshadows his play at the Masters? Since 1998 four Players' champs have finished in the top 10 at Augusta, including Tiger Woods, who won in 2001.
Hey, at least he's got perspective: When asked last week about the membership issue at Augusta National, Retief Goosen shrugged and said, "Hey, at least they allow women spectators."
Issue date: April 7, 2003
WINNERS
