SCORE ONE FOR THE LITTLE GUY Mike Weir's Masters victory defied the theory that a longer Augusta National eliminates the shorter hitters from contention

Golf has a grand tradition of pint-sized champions. From PaulRunyan to Ben Hogan, Jackie Burke to Gary Player, the game hasdiffered from other sports in that size and strength usually took aback seat to precision and nerves.

As courses get longer and longer to keep up with improvedtechnology, though, those days are said to numbered. Stand next toTiger Woods or Ernie Els or Vijay Singh, and you'll quickly seetoday's stars are athletes in the classic sense: tall, broad-shouldered, with lean but sculpted frames.

When Augusta National, already known as a long hitter's paradise,added almost 300 yards before the 2002 Masters, the conventionalwisdom said only the big …