Golf Central

On this day in 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest champion of the Masters when he blitzed Augusta and the field with a tournament-record 18-under-par 270. In Woods' first appearance in a major as a professional, and his performance - a 12-shot win over Tom Kite - was clearly one of the greatest in golf for the last 100 years ...

At the age of 21 years, 3 months and 14 days, Tiger was easily the youngest Masters winner by more than two years. Significantly, he also became the first golfer of African or Asian heritage to win a major championship. Not surprisingly, '97 set records for attendance and TV audiences, and only two months later Woods was the No. 1 player in the world ...

April 13th is of course rich with men claiming Green Jackets - and one of the most memorable finishes in Masters history came on this day in 1986. That's why Jack Nicklaus, at age 46, won the Masters by a stroke over Greg Norman and Kite for his sixth Green Jacket and 18th major title. Nicklaus is still the oldest Masters winner, 11 years before Woods became the youngest ...

It was also on this day in 1942 that Byron Nelson beat Ben Hogan 69-70 in a playoff to win his second Masters. Other men winning at Augusta today include George Archer (1969); Billy Casper (1970); Nicklaus (1975, fifth title); Seve Ballesteros (1980, first European to win the Masters); and Mike Weir (2003) ...

Believe it or not, there's a real world outside of Augusta, Georgia - and in it on this day in 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black leading performer to win an Oscar, for Lilies In The Field ...

And strangely enough, on this day 1742 George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah - one of the most popular works in the Western choral tradition - was given its world premiere at Neal's Music Hall on Fishamble Street near Dublin's Temple Bar district to those oh-so-cultured Irish fans. Hello, Cleveland! ...

So it's Davis Love III! as Penta and Davis Love Jr exclaimed with joy in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1964 to the 19-time PGA Tour winner and '97 PGA champion; to the Irish poet and Nobel winner Seamus Heaney (69); smooth R&B man Al Green (62); fiesty Russian chess champ Gary Kasparov (45);  to German musician Lou Bega (33), who made obscene cash for his Mambo No. 5; and to horse-faced Barcelona captain Carles Puyol (30) ... 'Til tomorrow!