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On the final three holes, Stewart one-putted -- from 25, 5 and then 15 feet on No. 18. If he had missed that last putt on the final hole, he and Mickelson would have been tied for the lead. Instead, Stewart won it outright.

Four months later, Stewart died aboard a doomed private jet that veered halfway across the country before crashing in South Dakota.

2. STEPHEN CURRY. With Davidson's literal son of a gun, you've got a lot of performances to choose from even if you just limit it to the past six months.

My favorite, though, was Curry's second half in a 2008 second-round NCAA Tournament game against Georgetown in Raleigh on Easter Sunday. Curry looked frustrated and had only five points at halftime. Soon thereafter, Davidson was down by 17.

And then Curry went nuts. He scored 25 points in that second half, including one four-point play. He ended up with 30, and Davidson won 74-70. It was ridiculously good, and it was the game that imprinted the baby-faced Curry on America's psyche.

1. STEVE SMITH. No Carolina Panther has ever played better for 60 minutes than Smith did in the NFC playoffs against the Chicago Bears in January 2006. The Bears had beaten the Panthers 13-3 earlier in the season. Now Chicago, boasting what was supposed to be the NFL's best defense, would get the Panthers again at Soldier Field.

And Smith absolutely torched them. Every time the Panthers needed a play, he would run past or fight through some hapless Bear.

Smith ended up with 218 yards and two touchdowns in the Panthers' 29-21 win. As Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher growled afterward when asked what happened to the Bears: "Steve Smith. That is what happened to us."

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