Tiger, Lance: Victory!

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/20/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

It was a great Sunday for American athletes abroad. King of the Links Tiger Woods won the 129th British Open golf tournament in St. Andrews, Scotland, with a record 19-under performance (the largest margin of victory at the event since 1913). At 24, he assumes Jack Nicklaus's mantle as the youngest person to win all four of golf's top events: the U.S. Open, The Masters, the PGA Open and the British. "This is the home of golf," Woods declared to reporters at St. Andrews. "This is where you always want to win." Just a few hours earlier across the English Channel, Lance Armstrong -- the Superman who overcame testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain and then battled to win the 1999 Tour de France -- repeated his Tour triumph. Armstrong, 28, won cycling's top race, beating second-place German finisher Jan Ullrich by a solid 6 minutes, 2 seconds. Despite the cheers and accolades, a victorious Armstrong still insists, "I'm not a superstar. I'm a regular guy."