ESPYs Go for Golfers

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/21/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Tiger Woods swung a record four ESPY awards, and Jack Nicklaus picked up the first lifetime achievement award from the ESPN sports TV network at its awards ceremony Monday night in Las Vegas. Woods won the awards for male athlete of the year, pro golfer of the year, championship performance of the year and was recognized for his come-from-behind performance of the year, having capped his 2000 season by breaking the record of three awards (a feat Woods shared with Michael Jordan). "It was a remarkable year," said Woods. And how did all these honors for golfers sit with the evening's host, actor Samuel L. Jackson? As he told PEOPLE: "Actually I'm a huge basketball fan, but it's all-star weekend, so there won't be a lot of hoop players here. But I'm a general sports fan and a huge fan of ESPN in general, so it's always good for me to be around . . . the people I see on TV." Jackson, 52, added that the purpose of the ESPYs just might be to broaden the so-far mostly male audience for sports. Right before the ceremony, he told PEOPLE: "If a Brad Pitt or somebody shows up to the show, we might attract a female audience member who never paid attention to sports before, (who) may all of a sudden say, 'Wow, that baseball player is cute . . . I never knew Derek Jeter looked like that!' "