THE BEST SPORTS PHENOMS OF 1996

By CONTRIBUTORS GINIA BELLAFANTE, RICHARD CORLISS, CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, PAUL GRAY, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, JOSHUA QUITTNER, RICHARD SCHICKEL, MICHAEL WALSH, STEVE WULF, RICHARD ZOGLIN

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."

5 Paul Kariya, 22. He carries a much better story line than any of the Mighty Duck movies, which is ironic because he plays for the Disney-owned Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The Vancouver native is part Japanese--father Tetsuhiko was born in a World War II internment camp--and nearly all Gretzky. Like the Great One, who was his idol, Kariya makes up for his lack of size with superb skating skills and stick handling. "He has great wheels and good hands, but those aren't his best assets," says Ducks general manager Jack Ferreira. "He has that sixth sense of knowing where everybody is, that great anticipation." Last year Kariya scored 50 goals, assisted on 58 others and won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship. He is a student of juggling. Says Kariya: "I can do the [trick] where you take the bite out of the apple as it comes by." He has already taken a pretty big bite out of hockey.

6 Florida Panthers, 3. After the success of the Carolina N.F.L. and Florida N.H.L. expansion species, newly formed baseball and basketball teams will undoubtedly claim the name Panthers. In only their third season, hockey's Felis concolor coryii provided owner Wayne Huizenga with a blockbuster finish. The Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup finals as their fans showered ersatz rats--panther food--on their far more established foes: the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Alas, the Panthers were swept away in the finals by the Colorado Avalanche, but their 1-0 triple-overtime loss in Game 4 was unforgettable, as was the heroism of goalie John Van Biesbrouck.

7 Kerri Strug, 19. Considered a senior citizen in the rather precious world of gymnastics, the tiny Olympian displayed courage not usually associated with high school seniors. Indeed, a replay of her dash down the ramp on a badly sprained left ankle should be shown to those prima donnas who beg out of the lineup because of the slightest twinge. Let the pro who doesn't want to play on a particular day watch a tape of Strug doing her Yurchenko 1 1/2 vault, nailing her landing and then keeping her balance as she pivots to the judges on one foot. As it turned out, Strug's vault wasn't needed to guarantee the U.S. women the gold medal in team gymnastics. But she didn't know that at the time. Said U.S. coach Mary Lee Tracy: "What we saw was a kid who was shaking her leg but who saluted and ran down the runway." Into our hearts.

8 Kevin Garnett, 20. Who needs college? Drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves straight out of high school--Farragut Academy in Chicago--the 6-ft. 11-in. power forward averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds in his 43 postapprenticeship-on-the-bench starts. He also made it a little easier for Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal to make the jump from high school to the N.B.A. this year. Somewhere along the line, Garnett acquired a taste for literature. His favorite book, he says, is The Great Gatsby. As we said, who needs college?

9 Kim Rhode, 17. She became the youngest person to win a medal of any kind in the history of shooting competition at the Olympic Games, and hers was a gold medal in the Women's Double Trap event. Rhode, who was introduced to the sport during childhood hunting trips with her family, has been firing some 25,000 competitive rounds every year since she was 11. At 13 she won her first world championship. Yet she's still a girl at heart: Shortly before Atlanta, Rhode had the red, white and blue braces removed from her teeth. "This is just the cherry on top of the cake," she said after winning the gold. "I really didn't expect this. I just wanted to enjoy my first Olympics and do as best I could." She also--no doubt--won an award at Arroyo High School in El Monte, California, for her "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" theme paper.

10 Jeff Gordon, 25. You might say he is the Tiger Woods of NASCAR (or that Woods is the Jeff Gordon of the P.G.A.). Humble and handsome, Gordon was racing quarter-midget cars at five, sprint cars at 12 and stock cars shortly after he got his driver's license. When he was 24, Gordon won seven NASCAR races and the prestigious Winston Cup championship. This year he proved he was no flash in the pan by winning 10 races and finishing second in cup points to Terry Labonte, 40. He has also become an almost too-good-to-be-true ambassador for the sport of stock-car racing. Says Rick Hendrick, owner of the team for which Gordon drives: "Jeff Gordon is about as damn near perfect as you can get."