1 TIGER WOODS, 20 A few years ago, golfer Sandy Lyle was asked what he thought of Tiger Woods. "I don't know," said Lyle. "I haven't played there yet." Lyle, and just about everyone else, now knows that Woods is a force of nature--and nurture. From the time Eldrick was a toddler, father Earl and mother Kutilda encouraged his golf talent. At five he appeared on That's Incredible, and the kid has been living up to the title ever since. After capturing an unprecedented third straight U.S. Amateur in August, Woods turned pro and promptly won two tourneys and $790,594. What's really incredible, given all the adulation and endorsements, is that his manners are as impressive as his 330-yd. drives. They may name a course after him someday.
2 Alex Rodriguez, 21. "Someday he might hit .400 and 60 home runs," said an envious general manager of the Seattle Mariners' extraordinary shortstop. In his first full season in the majors, Rodriguez hit an American League-leading .358 with 36 homers, 123 rbis, 141 runs scored and a slugging percentage of .631. He may have had the best offensive season by a shortstop--ever. Like acquaintance Tiger Woods (whom he knows through their mutual friend Ken Griffey Jr.), Rodriguez is an exceedingly classy act. Raised by his Dominican mother in Miami, Alex maintains, "My mom always said, 'I don't care if you turn out to be a terrible ballplayer. I just want you to be a good person.'"
3 Carolina Panthers, 2. Expansion teams are supposed to build ever so slowly and count their occasional victories dearly. So how come this newly minted N.F.L. team has made the playoffs in its second season of existence? Credit the quarterbacking of second-year pro Kerry Collins, the tackling of the best defense in the league, the coaching of Dom Capers, the savvy of general manager Bill Polian, the money of owner Jerry Richardson and the zealotry of Carolina fans, eager to be considered big time. The Panthers, in fact, have won more games in their two years than the New York Jets have in their past three. After Carolina's 30-24 victory over the favored San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 8, Collins, who threw for 327 yds. and three touchdowns, said, "We just decided we'd come out and make a statement." The statement for this expansion team is that the future is now.
4 Martina Hingis, 16. Named after Martina Navratilova, the Swiss miss (transplanted from Czechoslovakia) charmed tennis fans and stunned her older foes with a game that defied both her years and the usual baseline monotony. Hingis made the semifinals of the U.S. Open, won two tournaments and finished the year with the No. 4 ranking on the women's tour. She speaks German, English and Czech, and displays a talent for theater, striking just the right pose when a shot or call does not go her way. "I have just seen the future of women's tennis," gushed noted tennis commentator Bud Collins after her victory in a U.S. Open quarter-final, "and it is thrilling."