Golf: The Aussie Menace

U.S. golf fans may never even have heard of him—but that's fine as far as Peter Thomson is concerned. A stocky (5 ft. 9 in., 170 lb.), stolid Aussie who 16 years ago gave up a promising career as a chemist to play pro golf, Thomson is frankly anti-American. "I've always been one to keep the Yanks at their distance," he says, and he diligently keeps his own—by refusing to compete on the big-money U.S. tour. But by one standard, at least, Thomson at 35 ranks as one of the game's top stars: he has probably won more national championships...