Though fall and winter generally aren't the best seasons for real-world golf, they're prime time for its digital counterpart. While both Microsoft's excellent Links series and EA Sports' excellent Tiger Woods series are generally held in high regard and have contributed equally to the demise of virtually all would-be contenders, each seems to be headed in a different direction. Microsoft seemed content to rest on its laurels and keep changes to a minimum in Links 2003, but EA Sports and developer Headgate Studios have continued to innovate and take chances. The result of all that work, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003, is clearly superior to any of its EA Sports precursors. It is also prettier, more exciting, and more involving than any other golf game on the market and can rightfully claim its place alone at the top of the PC golfing leaderboard.

Tiger 2003 offers no shortage of great camera perspectives.

Tiger 2003 ships with plenty of game to play, including a full 12 courses modeled after some of the most famous ranges in the world. That's twice the number of both the previous edition and Links 2003 and quite probably twice the range of environments. In Tiger 2003, you'll find everything from desert to mountain and from challenging expert courses to easy beginner ranges. You can also venture to the game's driving range and skill areas to brush up on technique, import Tiger Woods 2001 and PGA Championship 2000 courses, or even construct your own facility with the aid of the game's somewhat convoluted course architect utility.

EA Sports has also expanded Tiger's prepackaged golfer roster. Included are power hitters such as Vijay Singh, stalwarts such as Colin Montgomery, young sensations like Ty Tyron, and, of course, Tiger himself. More than a dozen touring pros and many more amateurs are available. Any player may be converted from human to computer controlled or modified via the golfer customization interface, and brand-new golfers may be created from scratch.

When you first launch Tiger 2003, you may be a bit nonplussed by the opening score, an incredibly inappropriate bit of blitzkrieg rock and roll. Even those who normally enjoy the strains of heavy metal may well find this choice incredibly bizarre. Nevertheless, it's one of the very few sore points in an otherwise excellent game.

The new menu system is great, since it moves you around quickly and intuitively from one area to another and reserves complex and advanced options for those who really want to access them. Even the backdrop to the main menu interface, featuring a large animated depiction of your currently selected golfer warming up on the course, is impressive. The game does a lot of things right, but nowhere is it more impressive than in its graphical presentation. In a word, Tiger 2003 looks stunning. More than any other golf game in the history of personal computing, it really helps you feel as though you're there, on a real golf course.

Tiger 2003's Pebble Beach course features roaring surf and glorious scenery.

Tiger 2003 makes fantastic use of weather and lighting effects. The game has excellent-looking effects such as clouds drifting through the sky, fog on the green, flags that flap in the wind, and realistic rain. Though Tiger 2003 unfortunately doesn't have environmental conditions that change in real time, you can still expect to play games in early-morning sunrises, driving storms, and plenty of other great-looking weather. And the game's portrayal of water is probably the best ever to appear in a golf game, including remarkably realistic still water, highly detailed splashes and ripples whenever you drive into a water hazard, and fantastic-looking oceans that curl up realistically on the sand and rocks of courses like Pebble Beach. The game's fully 3D vegetation also looks thick and lush and conveniently becomes semitransparent when a golfer is nearby so that your view isn't blocked by close-up, pixelated grass.

Tiger 2003's golfers also look superb. Their animation is fluid and looks fully human with a full range of motion, including those times when they might bend over to clear an errant chunk of grass or scrape the bottom of their shoe. Unfortunately, the game does a poor job of recognizing and celebrating a victory. It ends sessions abruptly and with little fanfare no matter how well you did. Fortunately, spectators in Tiger 2003 are especially realistic, applauding to recognize solid shots and sometimes simply giving the impression of shuffling movement.

To better showcase its certifiably beautiful environments, Tiger continues to offer the best camerawork in the business. Unlike Links, it doesn't let you open a dozen concurrent camera windows, but it does conveniently permit you to control the central cam manually, which gives you considerable control over your view of the course. Much like a television broadcast, Tiger 2003's cameras zoom in and out and automatically relocate to offer gorgeous and distinctive scenes that you can view in their entirety by right-clicking to hide the game's interface. The game also does a great job of setting up pre- and post-shot camera angles and offers dramatic and highly satisfying replays on those rare occasions when you land your shot exactly right.