The Winners

Course Manager Of The Year: Looking at Jose-Maria Olazabal walk up the 18th towards a second US Masters title at Augusta National last April, playing partner Greg Norman could hardly credit how natural the whole thing seemed. And he found himself thinking: "It's as easy as that; he's won the tournament."

It was only later that Norman could appreciate the supreme course management of the Spaniard. While thinking that it would require some sort of spectacular effort to capture a prize as precious as the green jacket, Norman had failed to recognise that the mark of greatness is to make things look easy.

During a final round of 71, Olazabal drove the ball an average of 253 yards compared with 268 from Norman. And he had 27 putts, compared with 28 from the Shark. So, it could be seen that the essential difference between the two was the quality of their iron play, and their decision making.

In the latter context, Olazabal appeared to be in a different class, as he negotiated notoriously slippery greens and severe pin placements in treacherously swirling winds.

Best Finish: It started at the 70th hole on Pinehurst No 2, when the key challenge became holding the ball on the treacherously crowned greens. It was when Payne Stewart, with a 25-foot par putt, gave himself the chance of winning the US Open for a second time.

This was followed by a stunning six-iron to three feet for a birdie two at the 191-yard 17th. Then, down the last, Stewart held his nerve after pushing his drive into rough on the right; pitched prudently out onto the fairway, wedged to 15 feet and then sank the putt for a winning par.

With a final round of 70, he was the only player to finish in red figures, with a one-under-par aggregate of 279, a stroke clear of Phil Mickelson. "I've got to give thanks to the Lord for giving me that ability to believe in myself," said Stewart in the media centre. "Without the peace I have in my heart, I wouldn't be sitting here in front of you right now."

None of those writers could have imagined that four months later, they would be writing the champion's obituary. At 42 and at the peak of his powers, Stewart was killed in an air crash, en route to the Tour Championship at Houston.

Surprise Winner: With a glorious four-iron second shot of 221 yards, Paul Lawrie left the ball within four feet of the 18th pin in what had become an astonishing climax to the British Open at Carnoustie. And from an apparently hopeless position of 10 strokes back at the start of the day, the 30-year-old Scot went on to card a second successive birdie for victory over Justin Leonard and Jean Van de Velde in a four-hole play-off for the title.