By Travis Hill , PGATOUR.COM Associate Producer, published in the GolfWeb
March 23, 2003
Tiger Woods joined two impressive groups with his dominating win at the Bay Hill Invitational presented by Cooper Tires on Sunday.
The first was about history, as he equaled Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen's all-time record for consecutive victories in a single tournament, with four.
The second was about the stomach, as Woods also joined a group of athletes who have played through the nasty complications of food poisoning. His girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, had to be rushed to the hospital because of food poisoning on Friday, and on Sunday, Woods had to play with it, despite doubling over in pain throughout his day.
"If I wasn't in contention, I wouldn't have gone. There's no way," Woods said. "It was a joke. Every single tee shot hurt because my abs were obviously sore from last night, and I continued on while I was playing."
Despite the heaves, Woods posted a bogey-free final round and went on to win by 11 strokes, the widest margin of victory on the PGA TOUR this season.
BASKETBALL: Perhaps the most famous food poisoning performance in sports, as Michael Jordan added to his legend by playing through the debilitating effects of the stomach condition in the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. With the series tied at 2-2, Jordan was so weakened he had to lean on Scottie Pippen for support during time outs. Despite it all, Jordan played 44 minutes and scored 38 points, including the game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds.
TENNIS: In the 1996 U.S. Open quarterfinals against Alex Corretja, Pete Sampras was so sick with food poisoning and dehydration that he vomited on the court. Sick and exhausted, Sampras pulled out the victory in a dramatic fifth-set tiebreaker, an effort that left many fans at Flushing Meadows crying. He went on to capture the title over Michael Chang.
BASKETBALL: In last year's NBA Western Conference finals, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers had a serious bout of food poisoning after eating a room service bacon cheeseburger and suffered severe dehydration. About two hours before tip-off of Game 2 against the Sacramento Kings, the superstar guard was given a third liter of intravenous fluids. Bryant started the game and scored 22 points, but was clearly not himself and the Lakers fell, 96-90.
NFL: Seventeen 49ers players, three coaches and two trainers were ravaged by a horrible stomach virus in a preseason game on Sept. 22, 2002 against the Washington Redskins. Trainers had to administer 20 IVs, and star quarterback Jeff Garcia asked out of the game, yet they still beat the Redskins, 20-10.