Associated Press
Wednesday, December 6

BELLA VISTA, Argentina -- It's a feat only Tiger Woods could manage: nudging soccer off the front pages in Argentina at the height of the league championship and days after an Argentine club was crowned one of the world's best.

	Tiger Woods and David Duval are the overwhelming favorites for the World Cup title.

This normally soccer-crazed South American country has suddenly gone mad for the world's top-rated golfer, who along with some of golf's biggest stars is playing in Latin America for the first time this week.

Woods joins David Duval to form the U.S. team playing in the EMC World Cup at the Buenos Aires Golf Club on the outskirts of the Argentine capital. Two-man teams from 24 countries will vie for the championship, beginning Thursday.

Last year, Woods teamed with Mark O'Meara to lead the United States to its 22nd victory in the event, beating Spain by five strokes in Malaysia. Woods won the individual title by nine strokes with a 21-under 263 total. Both scores set tournament records.

This year's competition offers a slightly altered format, including two days of alternate-shot, played by each squad's two teammates, and two days of best ball, similar to play in the Ryder Cup and President Cup.

The winning tandem will split $1 million from the purse of $3 million.

Woods is tops among kids

NEW YORK -- Tiger Woods was the overwhelming choice for Athlete of the Year in a poll of Sports Illustrated for Kids' readers. Woods had one of the best seasons in PGA history, winning nine PGA Tour events. He became the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year. "It's an honor to receive an award such as this, especially when it comes from kids," Woods said. He received 999 first-place votes in the poll. Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers was second with 593, followed by Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams with 418.

Woods and Duval needed little coaxing to play, while several big-name golfers decided to sit out the season-ending tournament. Among those absent are South Africa's Ernie Els, Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Germany's Bernhard Langer.

Looking to upend the heavily favored U.S. team will be Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez, Canada's Mike Weir and Glen Hnatiuk, Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, Scotland's Paul Lawrie and Gary Orr, and Wales' Ian Woosnam and Phillip Price.

England, the 1997 champion, will be represented by Jamie Spence and Brian Davis.

But Woods is undoubtedly the big draw for Argentines normally engrossed in the country's more popular sports: soccer, basketball and tennis.

Even still, Argentina has a rich golf tradition. Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero, the two members of the Argentine team competing in this year's tournament, both rank in the top 50 in the world.

But in Argentina, golf is still considered an exclusive sport for the wealthy, although Woods apparently is succeeding in doing something once unimaginable here, eclipsing local soccer stars as a hero to young Argentines.

"Tiger's my idol!" said 15-year-old Leandro Fuertes as he craned his neck for a glance at Woods when the golfer approached the 18th green during a practice round. "My friends are crazy for soccer, but for me, golf's my game."

A friend, Matias Gramajo, 12, drew on another star -- this one homegrown -- to put Tiger's appeal in perspective: "I like how Tiger dominates golf like Maradona dominated soccer."