2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
NC State just couldn’t quite get keep it together, much of the reasoning was thanks to Will Smith and the Buckeye’s defense constantly harassing Rivers. A Wolfpack turnover led to a 22-yard field goal for OSU in the third quarter. Ohio State appeared to be in complete control after Craig Krenzel scrambled 6 yards for OSU's third touchdown of the day. With 11:26 left, the Wolfpack's time seemed to be running out. “The Chest” Chuck Amato (NC State HC) had other ideas however, as NC St. scored on their next 3 possessions.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
The first came on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Cotchery. Then after A.J. Davis picked off a Krenzel pass, NC St. added a FG to cut it to 24-17 with 5:51 left. The Wolfpack would get the ball back and would complete the comeback with a game-tying 5-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to T.J. Williams with just 21 seconds left to force OT.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
It was the first overtime game in Ohio Stadium, and would set the bar impossibly high for any future overtime contests. Ohio State had first possession, and Krenzel hit sr. tight-end Ben Hartsock for a 10-yard score. Rivers would match the Buckeyes though, with his own 17-yard touchdown pass. The Wolfpack would start off on offense for the next series, and T. A. McLendon took a toss 2 yards to the end-zone to take a 38–31 lead. Now OSU's turn, freshman tight-end Ryan Hamby's first receiving touchdown in his career brought the Buckeyes even at 38-all.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
Staying with Ohio State, “Mr. Clutch” Michael Jenkins caught a 7-yard touchdown that was a bullet Krenzel squeezed between 2 N.C. State defenders to give OSU a 44–38 lead. The  mandatory two-point conversion try was a swatted down pass, so now N.C. State would have a chance to seal the win. The Wolfpack would march up to the 4-yard line, where some curious play calling began.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
On first down from the four, Rivers took it up the middle on a QB sneak, and was stuffed for no gain. A second down pass was broken up by jr. cornerback Chris Gamble, who just barely missed a game clinching pick. In a peculiar move, Rivers again went for a QB sneak from the same formation as their first down play, only to be stuffed again. It was 4th and game from the 4-yard line.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, NC State Wolfpack
NC State ran the same toss McLendon scored on the previous possession, but a bruising shoulder tackle to the spinning running back placed the McClendon firmly on his butt, inches from the goal line. It was as close as you could get, with the referees taking several tense moments to decide whether or not he got in, but once again, Will Allen, as he would do so many times during his Buckeye career, preserved Ohio State’s 17th victory, in what is the longest game in Ohio State history. It took 4 hours and 17 minutes, but after 3 overtime periods, Ohio State 44, North Carolina State 38.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, Bowling Green State Falcons
A week 4 showdown was set between the #4 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the Bowling Green State University Falcons. Bowling Green had been built up quite a bit by former head coach Urban Meyer, and new head coach Gregg Brandon was looking to keep the team on track. With stars such as QB Josh Harris and center Scott Mruczkowski (both of whom would spend time in the NFL); the Falcons were primed to pick apart the Buckeyes. The game also featured two of the Nation’s best kickers in Shaun Suisham (BGSU) and Jr. Mike Nugent (OSU).


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, Bowling Green State Falcons
Starting QB Craig Krenzel would miss the contest from an elbow injury he suffered against N.C. State, and Sr. Quarterback Scott McMullen of Granville, OH would lead the team for the first time since 2001 (he played mop up duty for the Bucks in 2002). It would be the Buckeyes striking first as  Scott McMullen sent a 7-yard strike to Sr. Drew Carter, and the Buckeyes had a 7–0 lead. Josh Harris matched McMullen’s touchdown with a 7-yard toss as well. Unfortunately for the Falcons, that would be their only score of the first half.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, Bowling Green State Falcons
OSU built up a 17–7 halftime advantage with a 47-yard field goal by Mike Nugent, and added a touchdown after a crushing 33-yard run by Lydell Ross on 4th and 1. Ross and fellow running back Maurice Hall would combine for 201-yards on the day (Hall - 107 yards on 19 carries; Ross - 94 on 22).


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, Bowling Green State Falcons
Ross scored on a 3-yard run in the 4th, to give the Buckeyes a 24–7 lead, just as they had possessed the week before. And just as the week before, Bowling Green mounted a furious 4th quarter comeback, scoring a touchdown with 3:25 left to go, and a recovering the onsides kick. A field goal at the end of that drive had OSU fans on the edge of their seats. OSU recovered BG's second onsides kick attempt, but failed to run out the clock. It wouldn’t be until who-else-but safety Will Allen intercepted Harris's final pass that the fans could relax. Ohio State had scored their 4th win of the season, and 18th straight.


2003 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Depth chart
Source: Athletic Department official site, 2002 football archive 12-10-02 depth chart


2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire
On August 16, 2003, at about 4 a.m. local time, a wildfire started via lightning strike near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. The wildfire was fueled by a constant wind and the driest summer on record up to that time. Within a few days it grew into a firestorm.


2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire
The fire spread northward and eastward, initially threatening a small number of lakeshore homes, but quickly became an interface zone fire and forced the evacuation of 27,000 residents, consuming 239 homes. The final size of the firestorm was over 250 square kilometers (25,912 hectares (64,030 acres)). Most of the trees in Okanagan Mountain Park burned, and the park was closed.


2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire
60 fire departments, 1,400 armed forces troops and 1,000 forest fire fighters took part in controlling the fire, but were largely incapable of stopping the disaster.


2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire
There were also a number of aircraft used in an attempt to extinguish the fire, including three private Canadair CL-215s, four Government of Alberta owned Canadair CL-215s, four private Lockheed L188 Electra air tankers and at least one Martin Mars air tanker. Amateur radio operators assisted during the emergency.


2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season, the 109th season of Sooner football. The team was led by two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award winner (winning his second one that season), Bob Stoops, in his fifth season as head coach. They played their home games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. They were a charter member of the Big 12 Conference.


2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Conference play began with a win over the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, Iowa on October 4, and ended with an upset loss to the Kansas State Wildcats in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game on December 6. The Sooners finished the regular season 12–1 (8–1 in Big 12) while winning the Big 12 South. Despite their loss in the conference championship game, they were invited to the 2004 Sugar Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game that year, where they lost to the LSU Tigers, 14–21.


2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Following the season, Tommie Harris was selected 14th overall in the 2004 NFL Draft, along with Teddy Lehman in the 2nd round, and Derrick Strait in the 3rd.


2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team, Game summaries, UCLA
Antonio Perkins became the first Division I-A player in history to have three returns for a score in one game while also breaking the NCAA single-game punt return yardage record.


2003 Oklahoma Sooners football team, 2004 NFL Draft
The 2004 NFL Draft was held on April 24–25, 2004 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The following Oklahoma players were either selected or signed as undrafted free agents following the draft.


2003 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The 2003 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team represented Oklahoma State University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They participated as members of the Big 12 Conference in the South Division. They played their home games at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. They were coached by head coach Les Miles.


2003 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team, Game summaries, Kansas
Vernand Morency, starting in place for an injured Tatum Bell, rushed for a career-best 269 yards and three touchdowns.


2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team
The 2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by David Cutcliffe, the Rebels played their home games at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium.


2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team, Season
In the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss beat Mississippi State by a score of 31–0. Ole Miss held the lead in the series with 57 wins, 37 losses and 6 ties.


2003 Omani general election
General elections were held in Oman on 4 October 2003 for the mainly advisory Consultative Assembly of Oman. As political parties were banned, all candidates for the 83 seats ran as independents.


2003 Omloop Het Volk
The 2003 Omloop Het Volk was the 57th edition of the Omloop Het Volk cycle race and was held on 1 March 2003. The race started in Ghent and finished in Lokeren. The race was won by Johan Museeuw.


2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election occurred on April 19, 2003. PDP's Olusegun Agagu, a former Deputy Governor to Bamidele Olumilua, won election for a first tenure, defeating Incumbent Governor, AD's Adebayo Adefarati and three other candidates.


2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election
Olusegun Agagu emerged winner in the PDP gubernatorial primary election. His running mate was Omolade Oluwateru.


2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Ondo State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of five candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election. PDP candidate Olusegun Agagu won election for a first tenure, defeating AD Incumbent Governor, Adebisi Akande, and three other candidates.


2003 Ondo State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 1,504,181. However, only 63.83% (i.e. 960,080) of registered voters participated in the excerise.


2003 Ondrej Nepela Memorial
The 2003 Ondrej Nepela Memorial was the 11th edition of an annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Bratislava, Slovakia. It took place between September 24 and 27, 2003 at the Ondrej Nepela Ice Rink. Skaters competed in two disciplines: men's singles and ladies' singles. The competition is named for 1972 Olympic gold medalist Ondrej Nepela.


2003 Ontario Nokia Cup
The 2003 Ontario Nokia Cup, Southern Ontario's men's provincial curling championship, was held January 25-February 2 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.


2003 Ontario Nokia Cup
Ottawa's Bryan Cochrane won his lone provincial championship of his career. His rink of Bill Gamble, Ian MacAulay and John Steski would represent Ontario at the 2003 Nokia Brier.


2003 Ontario Nokia Cup
The event was boycotted by the Wayne Middaugh and Glenn Howard rinks who were still in a dispute with the Canadian Curling Association over receiving a share of Brier revenues.


2003 Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts
The 2003 Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts, the provincial women's championship in Ontario was held January 25-February 2 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. The Anne Dunn rink from Cambridge, Ontario won the event. She and her rink of Lindy Marchuk, Gloria Campbell and Fran Todd would go on to represent Ontario at the 2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts. The event was held in conjunction with the 2003 Ontario Nokia Cup, the Ontario men's curling championship.


2003 Ontario general election
The 2003 Ontario general election was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly (Members of Provincial Parliament, or "MPPs") of the Province of Ontario, Canada.


2003 Ontario general election
The election was called on September 2 by Premier Ernie Eves to capitalize on an increase in support for the governing Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the days following the 2003 North American blackout. The election was won, however, by the Ontario Liberal Party, led by Dalton McGuinty.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
In 1995, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party or "Tories" under Mike Harris came from third place to upset the front-running Ontario Liberal Party under Lyn McLeod and the highly unpopular governing Ontario New Democratic Party under Bob Rae to form a majority government.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
The Harris government was far more activist than earlier Ontario PC governments, and over the next two terms moved to cut personal income tax rates by 30%, closed almost 40 hospitals to increase efficiency, cut the Ministry of the Environment staff in half, and undertook massive reforms of the education system, including mandatory teacher testing, student testing in public education, and public tax credits for parents who sent their children to private schools.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
In the 1999 provincial election, the Tories were able to ride a strong economy and a campaign aimed at proving rookie Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty was "not up to the job" to another majority government. The Walkerton Tragedy, however, where a contaminated water supply led to the deaths of 7 people and illness of at least 2,300 were linked in part to government environment and regulatory cutbacks, and as a result the government's popularity was badly damaged. A movement to provide tax credits to parents with children in private schools also proved to be unpopular.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
In October 2001, Harris announced his intention to resign, and the PC party called a leadership convention for 2002 to replace him. Five candidates emerged: former Finance Minister Ernie Eves who had retired earlier that year, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Environment Minister Elizabeth Witmer, Health Minister Tony Clement and Labour Minister Chris Stockwell. The resulting leadership election was divisive in the PC Party, with Flaherty adopting a hard-right platform and attacking the front-running Eves as "a pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty" and a "serial waffler". At one point, anti-abortion activists apparently supporting Flaherty distributed pamphlets attacking Tony Clement because his wife worked for hospitals that performed abortions. At the convention, Eves won on the second ballot after Elizabeth Witmer and Tony Clement both endorsed him.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
Eves took office on April 15, 2002, and promptly re-aligned his government to the political centre. The party would negotiate a deal with striking government workers, dramatically cancel an IPO of Hydro One, the government's electricity transmission company, and defer planned tax breaks for corporations and private schools for a year.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
With polls showing the Conservatives moving from a 15-point deficit to a tie in public opinion with the Liberals, the media praising Eves' political reorientation of the government, and the opposition Liberals reeling from the seizure of some of their political turf, the time seemed ripe for a snap election call. Many political observers felt that Eves had the momentum to win an election at that time.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
However, several factors likely convinced Eves to wait to call an election. First, in 1990, the Liberals had lost the election in part due to perceptions that they called the election early for purely partisan reasons. Since then, the shortest distance between elections had been four years less five days (Ontario has since moved to fixed date election dates). Second, the PC Party was exhausted and divided from a six-month leadership contest. Third, the move to the centre had created opposition in traditional Conservative support. Financial conservatives and businesses were angered over Eves' cancellation of the hydro IPO. Others felt betrayed that promised tax cuts had not been delivered, seemingly breaking the PCs' own Taxpayer Protection Act, while private school supporters were upset their promised tax credit had been delayed for a year.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
In the fall of 2002, the opposition Liberals began a round of attacks on perceived PC mismanagement. First, Jim Flaherty was embroiled in scandal when it was revealed that his leadership campaign's largest donor had received a highly lucrative contract for slot machines from the government. Then, Tourism Minister Cam Jackson was forced to resign when the Liberals revealed he had charged taxpayers more than $100,000 for hotel rooms, steak dinners and alcoholic beverages. The Liberals showed the Tories had secretly given a large tax break to the Toronto Blue Jays, a team owned by prominent Tory Ted Rogers.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
At the same time, both the New Democrats and Liberals criticized the government over skyrocketing electricity prices. In May 2002, the government had followed California and Alberta in deregulating the electricity market. With contracting supply due to construction delays at the Pickering nuclear power plant and rising demand for electricity in an unusually warm autumn, the spot price for electricity rose, resulting in consumer outrage. In November, Eves fixed the price of electricity and ended the open market, appeasing consumers but angering conservative free-marketers.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
That winter, Eves promised a provincial budget before the beginning of the fiscal year, to help hospitals and schools budget effectively. However, as multiple scandals in the fall had already made the party unwilling to return to Question Period, they wished to dismiss the Legislative Assembly of Ontario until as late as possible in the spring. The budget was instead to be announced at the Magna International headquarters in Newmarket, Ontario, rather than in the Legislature.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
The move was met with outrage from the PC Speaker Gary Carr, who called the move unconstitutional and would rule that it was a prima facie case of contempt of the legislature. The controversy over the location of the budget far outstripped any support earned by the content of the budget.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
The government faced a major crisis when SARS killed several people in Toronto and threatened the stability of the health care system. On April 23, when the World Health Organization advised against all but essential travel to Toronto to prevent the spread of the virus, Toronto tourism greatly suffered.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
When the spring session was finally convened in late spring, the Eves government was forced through three days of debate on the contempt motion over the Magna budget followed by weeks of calls for the resignation of Energy Minister Chris Stockwell. Stockwell was accused of accepting thousands of dollars in undeclared gifts from Ontario Power Generation, an arms-length crown corporation he regulated, when he travelled to Europe in the summer of 2002. Stockwell finally stepped aside after dominating the provincial news for almost a month, and did not seek reelection.


2003 Ontario general election, Leadup to the campaign
By the summer of 2003, the Progressive Conservatives received an unexpected opportunity to re-gain popularity in the form of the 2003 North American blackout. When the blackout hit, Eves initially received criticism for his late response; however, as he led a series of daily briefings to the press in the days after the blackout, Eves was able to demonstrate leadership and stayed cool under pressure. The crisis also allowed Eves to highlight his principal campaign themes of experience, proven competence and ability to handle the government. When polls began to register a moderate increase for the Conservatives, the table was set for an election call.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
In 1995 and 1999, the Progressive Conservatives ran highly focused, disciplined campaigns based on lessons learned principally in US states by the Republican Party. In 1995, the core PC strategy was to polarize the electorate around a handful of controversial ideas that would split opposition between the other two parties. The PCs stressed radical tax cuts, opposition to job quotas, slashing welfare rates and a few hot button issues such as opposing photo radar and establishing "boot camps" for young offenders. They positioned leader Mike Harris as an average-guy populist who would restore common sense to government after ten lost years of NDP and Liberal mismanagement. The campaign manifesto, released in 1994, was titled the "Common Sense Revolution" and advocated a supply-side economics solution to a perceived economic malaise.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
In 1999, the PCs were able to point to increased economic activity as evidence that their supply side plan worked. Their basic strategy was to polarize the electorate again around a handful of controversial ideas and their record while preventing opposition from rallying exclusively around the Liberals by undermining confidence in Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. They ran a series of negative television ads against McGuinty in an attempt to brand him as "not up to the job". At the same time, they emphasized their economic record, while downplaying disruptions in health care and education as part of a needed reorganization of public services that promoted efficiency and would lead to eventual improvements.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Both campaigns proved highly successful and the principal architects of those campaigns had been dubbed the "whiz kids" by the press. David Lindsay, Mike Harris's chief of staff, was responsible for the overall integration of policy, communications, campaign planning and transition to government while Mitch Patten served as campaign secretary. Tom Long and Leslie Noble jointly ran the campaigns, with Long serving as campaign chair and Noble as campaign manager. Paul Rhodes, a former reporter, was responsible for media relations. Deb Hutton was Mike Harris's right arm as executive assistant. Jaime Watt and Perry Miele worked on the advertising.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Guy Giorno worked on policy and speechwriting in 1995 and in 1999 was in charge of overall messaging. Scott Munnoch was tour director and Glen Wright rode the leader's bus. Future leader John Tory worked on fundraising and debate prep, and was actually one of two people (the other was John Matheson) to play Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty during preparation for the 1999 leaders' debate. (Andy Brandt and Giorno played NDP leader Howard Hampton.)


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Heading into 2003, Tom Long refused to work for Ernie Eves. Most speculated that Long saw Eves as too wishy-washy and not enough of a traditional hard-right conservative. Jaime Watt took Long's position as campaign co-chair and more or less all the same players settled into the same places. A few new faces included Jeff Bangs as campaign manager. Bangs was a long-time Eves loyalist who had grown up in his riding of Parry Sound.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
The Progressive Conservatives once again planned on polarizing the electorate around a handful of hot button campaign pledges. However, with their party and government listing in public opinion polls, they found their only strong contrasts were around the experience and stature of Premier Eves. Their campaign slogan "Experience You Can Trust" was designed to highlight Eves' years in office.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
The party platform, dubbed "The Road Ahead", was longer and broader than in earlier years. Five main planks would emerge for the campaign:


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Each plank was targeted at a key Tory voting bloc: homeowners, seniors, religious conservatives, parents and law-and-order types.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Eves' campaigning followed a straightforward pattern. Eves would highlight one of the five elements of the platform and then attack Dalton McGuinty for opposing it. For instance, he would visit the middle-class home of a visible minority couple with two kids and talk about how much money they would get under his mortgage deductibility plan. That would be followed by an attack on McGuinty for having a secret plan to raise their taxes.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Or he would campaign in a small town assembly plant and talk about how under a "Made-in-Ontario" immigration plan fewer new Canadians would settle in Toronto and more outside the city, helping the plant manager with his labour shortage. Then he would link McGuinty to Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien and say McGuinty supported the federal immigration system that allows terrorists and criminals into the country.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
The Tory television advertising also attempted to polarize the election around these issues.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
In one of the ads, a voice-over accompanying an unflattering photo of the Liberal leader asks "Ever wonder why Dalton McGuinty wants to raise your taxes?" The ad then points out that McGuinty has opposed Tory plans to allow homeowners a tax deduction on mortgage interest and to give senior citizens a break on their property taxes.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
In another ad, the voice-over asks "Doesn't he (McGuinty) know that a child's education is too important to be disrupted by lockouts and strikes?" It says that McGuinty has sided with the unions and rejected the Tory proposal to ban teacher strikes.


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Both ads end with the attack "He's still not up to the job."


2003 Ontario general election, Progressive Conservative campaign
Armed with a majority, the Tories were hoping to hold the seats they already had, while targeting a handful of rural Liberal seats in hopes of increasing their majority. They campaigned relatively little in Northern Ontario, with the exception of North Bay and Parry Sound, both of which they held.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
The first half of Dalton McGuinty's 1999 campaign was widely criticized as disorganized and uninspired, and most journalists believe he gave a poor performance in the leaders' debate. However, McGuinty was able to rally his party in the last ten days. On election day, the Liberals won 40% of the vote, their second best showing in almost fifty years. Perhaps more importantly, nine new MPPs were elected, boosting the caucus from 30 to 36, including dynamic politicians like George Smitherman and Michael Bryant.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
In 1999, the Liberal strategy had been to polarize the electorate between Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty. They purposely put out a platform that was devoid of ideas, to ensure the election was about the Tory record, and not the Liberal agenda. To an extent, they succeeded. Support for the NDP collapsed from 21% to just 13%, while the Liberals climbed 9%. However, while they almost cornered the market of those angry at the Tories, they could not convince enough people to be angry at the Tories to win.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
The night he conceded defeat, McGuinty was already planning how to win the next election. He set out the themes that the Liberals would build into their next platform. Liberals, he said, would offer "some of those things that Ontarians simply have to be able to count on - good schools, good hospitals, good health care, good education and something else.... We want to bring an end to fighting so we can finally start working together."


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
McGuinty replaced many of his young staff with experienced political professionals he recruited. The three he kept in key positions were Don Guy, his campaign manager and a pollster with Pollara, Matt Maychak, his director of communications, and Bob Lopinski, his director of issues management. To develop his platform, he added to this a new chief of staff, Phil Dewan, a former policy director for Premier David Peterson and Ottawa veteran Gerald M. Butts. He also sought out Peterson-era Ontario Minister of Labour Greg Sorbara to run for president of the Ontario Liberal Party.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
Early on, McGuinty set down three strategic imperatives. First, no tax cuts. This ran against the conventional wisdom of politics that it was necessary to offer tax cuts to win; everyone from Mike Harris to Bill Clinton had campaigned on reducing the tax burden on the middle class. But McGuinty was determined that Ontario voters would accept that the money was needed to restore public health care and education services. Second, a positive tone. McGuinty wanted to avoid the typical opposition leader role of automatically opposing whatever the government announced, and instead, set the agenda with positive alternatives.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
While attacking the opponent was important, that would be left to caucus surrogates. Third, one big team. At the time, the Ontario Liberal Party was riven into factions. Peterson-era people distrusted more recent arrivals. Jean Chrétien supporters fought with Paul Martin supporters. McGuinty set a tone that divisions were left at the door.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
The emphasis on building the team was highly successful as job that in 1999 were done by one person were now assigned to groups of four or six or eight. Dewan brought on board veterans of the Peterson regime such as Sheila James, Vince Borg and David MacNaughton. From Ottawa, campaign veterans such as Warren Kinsella, Derek Kent and Gordon Ashworth signed on to help oust the Ontario Tories from power.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
The Liberal strategy was the same as in 1999: polarize the election between the Conservatives and Liberals to marginalize the NDP and then convince enough voters that the Conservatives had to go. With polls showing more than 60% of voters reporting it was "time for a change", the Liberals campaign theme was "choose change". The theme summarized the two-step strategy perfectly: first, boil the election down to a two-party choice and then cast the Liberals as a capable and trustworthy agent of change at a time when voters were fed up with the government.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
After the sparse platform of 1999, the 2003 Liberal platform was a sprawling omnibus of public policy crossing five main policy booklets, three supplements aimed at specific geographic or industrial groups and a detailed costing exercise. The principle planks that were highlighted in the election were:


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
McGuinty backed up his comprehensive platform with a meticulous costing by a forensic account and two bank economists. While the Conservatives had adopted a third-party verification in 1995, they did not in 2003, allowing the Liberals to gain credibility that they could pay for their promises.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
In contrast to the Eves campaign, where the leader was both positive and negative message carrier, the Liberals used a number of caucus members to criticize the Harris-Eves government while McGuinty was free to promote his positive plan for change.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
The Liberal advertising strategy was highly risky. While conventional wisdom says the only way to successfully respond to a negative campaign is with even more negative ads against the opponent, McGuinty ran only positive ads for the duration of the campaign.


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
In the pre-writ period, the Liberal advertising featured Dalton McGuinty speaking to the camera, leaning against a tree while snow falls, saying "People hear me say that I'll fix our hospitals and fix our schools and yet keep taxes down. Am I an optimist? Maybe. What I'm not is cynical, or jaded, or tired. I don't owe favours to special interests or old friends or political cronies. Together, we can make Ontario the envy of the world, once again. And, I promise you this, no one will work harder than I will to create that Ontario."


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
During the first stage of the campaign, the principal Liberal ad featured a tight close-up of Dalton McGuinty as he spoke about his plans for Ontario. In the key line of the first ad, McGuinty looks into the camera and says "I won't cut your taxes, but I'm not going to raise them either."


2003 Ontario general election, Liberal campaign
Geographically, the Liberal campaign was able to rest on a solid core of seats in Toronto and Northern Ontario that were at little risk at the beginning of the election period. They had to defend a handful of rural seats that had been recently won and were targeted by the PCs. However, the principle battlefield of the election was in PC-held territory in the "905" region of suburbs around Toronto, particularly Peel and York districts, suburban seats around larger cities like Ottawa and Hamilton and in Southwestern Ontario in communities like London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
The 1999 NDP campaign received its lowest level of popular support since the Second World War, earning just 12.6% of the vote and losing party status with just nine seats. Several factors led to this poor showing, including a lacklustre campaign, Hampton's low profile, and a movement called strategic voting that endorsed voting for the Liberals in most ridings in order to remove the governing Tories. After the election, there was a short-lived attempt to remove leader Howard Hampton publicly led by leaders of the party's youth wing. However, the majority of party members blamed the defeat on NDP supporters voting Liberal in hopes of removing Harris and the Tories from power. As a result, Hampton was not widely blamed for this severe defeat and stayed on as leader.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
Under the rules of the Legislative Assembly, a party would receive "official party status", and the resources and privileges accorded to officially recognized parties, if it had 12 or more seats; thus, the NDP would lose caucus funding and the ability to ask questions in the House. However, the governing Conservatives changed the rules after the election to lower the threshold for party status from 12 seats to 8. The Tories argued that since Ontario's provincial ridings now had the same boundaries as the federal ones, the threshold should be lowered to accommodate the smaller legislature. Others argued that the Tories were only helping the NDP so they could continue to split the vote with the Liberals.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
During the period before the election, Hampton identified the Conservative plan for deregulating and privatizing electricity generation and transmission as the looming issue of the next election. With the Conservatives holding a firm market-oriented line and the Liberal position muddled, Hampton boldly focused the party's Question Period and research agendas almost exclusively on energy issues. Hampton quickly distinguished himself as a passionate advocate of maintaining public ownership of electricity generation, and published a book on the subject, Public Power, in 2003.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
With the selection of Eves as the PC leader, the NDP hoped that the government's move to the centre in the spring of 2002 would reduce the polarization of the Ontario electorate between the PCs and Liberals and improve the NDP's standing. It was also hoped that the long-standing split between labour and the NDP would be healed as the bitter legacy of the Rae government faded.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
The co-chairs of the NDP campaign were Diane O'Reggio, newly installed as the party's provincial secretary after a stint in Ottawa working for the federal party, and Andre Foucault, secretary-treasurer of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union. The manager was Rob Milling, principal secretary to Hampton. Communications were handled by Sheila White and Gil Hardy. Jeff Ferrier was the media coordinator.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
The NDP strategy was to present itself as distinct from the Liberals on the issue of public ownership of public services, primarily in electricity and health care, while downplaying any significant differences between the Liberals and PCs. There was a conscious effort to discourage "strategic voting" where NDP supporters vote Liberal to defeat the Conservatives. The NDP slogan was "publicpower", designed to highlight both the energy issue Hampton had championed and public health care, while promoting a populist image of empowerment for average people.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
The NDP campaign was designed to be highly visual and memorable. Each event was built around a specific visual thematic. For instance, in the first week of the campaign, Hampton attacked the Liberal energy platform saying it was "full of holes" and holding up a copy of the platform with oversized holes punched in it. He also illustrated it "had more holes than Swiss cheese" by also displaying a large block of cheese.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
At another event, Hampton and his campaign team argued that the Liberal positions were like "trying to nail Jello to the wall" by literally attempting to nail Jello to a wall. Hampton also made an appearance in front of the Toronto home of millionaire Peter Munk to denounce Eves' tax breaks, claiming that they would save Munk $18,000 a year.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
The first round of NDP ads avoided personal attacks, and cast leader Howard Hampton as a champion of public utilities. In one 30-second spot, Mr. Hampton talks about the effects of privatization of the power industry and the blackout. "For most of us, selling off our hydro was the last straw," he says. The clip is mixed with images of Toronto streets during power failure.


2003 Ontario general election, NDP campaign
Geographically, the NDP campaign focused on targeting seats in Scarborough and Etobicoke in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Northern Ontario.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Early weeks
The first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives, who launched a series of highly negative attacks at Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty while highlighting popular elements of their platform. On the first week of the campaign, two polls showed a tight race: a poll done by EKOS for the Toronto Star showed a 1.5% Liberal lead, while a smaller poll done by COMPAS showed a 5% Liberal lead. A poll done by Environics in late June and early July showed a 13-point lead for the Liberals.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Early weeks
As the campaign entered week 2, it was anticipated that the Liberals would push a series of highly negative ads to combat advertising by the Conservatives that attacked Dalton McGuinty. Instead, they went positive and stayed positive throughout the campaign. It was Eves who went on the defensive as the Liberals worked the media to put the Premier on his heels. Stung by years of arrogance by the PC Party toward reporters, the media were quick to pile on.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Early weeks
After the Liberals Gerry Phillips and Gerald M. Butts accused Eves of having no plan to pay for his $10.4 billion in promises, Eves stumbled when he could not provide his own cost for his promises. "I couldn't tell you off the top of my head", he admitted. Then came a story on the front of the Globe and Mail saying that Ontarians would have to pay "millions" in extra premiums because the election call had delayed implementation of new auto insurance regulations promised by Eves on the eve of the campaign.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Early weeks
On Wednesday the government was broadsided when – days after a raid at a meat packing plant exposed the sorry state of public health at some abattoirs – leaked documents showed the PC government had been sitting on recommendations to improve meat safety, leading to calls for a public inquiry by the opposition parties. The issue was made worse when Agriculture Minister Helen Johns refused all media calls and had to be literally tracked down in her riding by reporters.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Early weeks
On Thursday, according to the Green party candidate in Nipissing (Mike Harris' old riding), a donor with Tory connections offered him money to bolster his campaign and draw votes away from the Liberals. The allegations were denied by the Tories. The same day, Eves attacked Dalton McGuinty for voting against a bill to protect taxpayers from increased taxes, when it turns out McGuinty in fact voted for that bill.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"
On September 12, the Eves campaign issued a news release that called Dalton McGuinty an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet". The words appeared at the end of the news release. Eves said the epithet was meant as a joke, and acknowledged the words were "over the top", but refused to apologize.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"
There is speculation the epithet was an obscure reference to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which McGuinty stated, in a blog post that week, he enjoys watching.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"
In response, McGuinty said his campaign will not be "sidetracked" by the incident. Despite efforts by two Conservative spies at a Liberal campaign event to shoo away a white kitten, members of the media managed to take photographs of McGuinty holding the kitten, a moment some described as a defining moment of the campaign.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet"
Liberal Party officials made T-shirts that were emblazoned with the words "Call Me An Evil Reptilian Kitten Eater ... But I Want Change". The T-shirts were handed out to party supporters at a rally held that same night.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Later weeks
The Conservatives spent the third week on the defensive and dropping in the polls, unable to recover from the disasters of the second week and fresh new attacks. The Liberals produced documents from the Walkerton Inquiry showing that individual Conservative MPPs were warned about risks to human health and safety resulting from cuts to the Environment Ministry budget. An attack on Dalton McGuinty saying he needed "professional help" forced an apology from the Conservatives to people with mental illness. Tory MPP John O'Toole said the Tory negative campaign was a mistake, putting Eves on the defensive once again.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Later weeks
A leaked memo was used by the opposition to accuse the government of threatening public sector workers into not telling the truth at a public inquiry into the government's handling of the SARS crisis. Eves ended the week with another event that backfired, brandishing barbed wire and a get out of jail free card to attack the Liberals as soft on crime. Reporters spent more time focused on Eves' first use of props in the election than on his message.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Later weeks
By the fourth week of the campaign, polls showed the Liberals pulling away from the Conservatives with a margin of at least 10 points. It was widely believed that only a disastrous performance in the leader's debate stood between Dalton McGuinty and the Premier's Office. McGuinty - who had stumbled badly in the 1999 debate - was able to play off low expectations and a surprisingly low-key Eves to earn the draw he wanted. The debate itself was also subject to criticism from the Green Party of Ontario, which denounced a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision not to allow leader Frank de Jong to participate.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Later weeks
The final week of the campaign was marred by more negative attacks from Eves and the Conservatives. At one point, Premier Eves referred to Mr. McGuinty as having a "pointy head", a remark he later conceded was inappropriate. McGuinty was able to extend the bad press from the incident another day when he joked to radio hosts that they needed to be careful "so I won't spear you with my sharp pointy head."


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Later weeks
McGuinty spent the last days of the campaign travelling through previously rock solid PC territory in ridings like Durham, Simcoe and Leeds-Grenville to large crowds.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Issues
The campaign was contentious on the issues as well, with both the Liberals and Howard Hampton's New Democrats attacking the Tories' record in office. Various scandals and other unpopular moves reduced public opinion of the Tories going into the race, including the Walkerton water tragedy, the deaths of Dudley George and Kimberly Rogers, the possible sale of publicly owned electric utility Hydro One, the SARS outbreak, the decision to release the 2003 budget at an auto parts factory instead of the Legislature, the widespread blackout in August, and the Aylmer packing plant tainted meat investigation. As one Tory insider put it: "So many chickens came to roost, it's like a remake of The Birds".


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Issues
One of the most contentious issues was education. All three parties pledged to increase spending by $2 billion, but Premier Eves also pledged to ban teacher strikes, lock-outs, and work-to-rule campaigns during the school year, a move the other parties rejected. Teacher strikes had plagued the previous Progressive Conservative mandate of Mike Harris, whose government had deeply cut education spending.


2003 Ontario general election, Campaign events, Issues
Tax cuts were also an issue. The Progressive Conservatives proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a 20-percent cut to personal income taxes, and the elimination of education tax paid by seniors, two moves that would have cost $1.3 billion together. The Liberals and New Democrats rejected these cuts as profligate. The Liberals also promised to cancel some pending Tory tax cuts and to eliminate some tax cuts already introduced.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
CBC Newsworld declared a Liberal victory minutes after ballot-counting began. Ernie Eves conceded defeat only ninety minutes into the count.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
The Liberals won a huge majority with 72 seats, almost 70% of the 106-seat legislature. The Liberals not only won almost every seat in the city of Toronto, but every seat bordering on Toronto as well. All seven seats in Peel region went Liberal, as well as previously safe PC 905 seats such as Markham, Oakville and Pickering—Ajax. The Liberals also made a major breakthrough in Southwestern Ontario, grabbing all three seats in London as well as rural seats such as Perth–Middlesex, Huron–Bruce and Lambton–Kent.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
If the story of the PC majorities in 1995 and 1999 were the marriage of rural and small-town conservative bedrock with voters in the suburbs, the 2003 election was a divorce of those suburban voters from rural Ontario and a new marriage to the mid-town professionals and New Canadians who make up the Liberal base.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
The NDP had a disappointingly confusing election: on one hand, they won seven seats, one fewer than the eight required to keep "official party status", which would give it a share of official Queen's Park staff, money for research, and guaranteed time during Question Period. On the other hand, they increased their share of the popular vote for the first time since 1990. Despite the mixed results, Hampton stayed on as party leader, saying that the party did not blame him for the poor performance. The party was returned to official party status seven months into the session, when Andrea Horwath won a by-election in Hamilton East on May 13, 2004.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
The Tories were completely shut out of Toronto, where 19 out of 22 ridings were won by the Liberals, and the remaining three were carried by the New Democrats. Perhaps more ominously for the PCs, they were also shut out of any seats bordering Toronto; only in the outermost suburbs like Aurora and Whitby were high-profile PC cabinet ministers able to retain their seats. With the arguable exception of Elizabeth Witmer, no PC member represented an urban riding.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment
The 38th Parliament of Ontario opened on November 19, 2003 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time with a Throne Speech in which the McGuinty government laid out their agenda.


2003 Ontario general election, Assessment, Student vote
High school students in every riding in Ontario were allowed to cast ballots in their classrooms as part of a student vote. While their numbers did not count in the official election, they did tell a story all on their own. The student vote reflected change a lot more than the actual result, as well as widespread anti-conservatism. 93 ridings favoured the Liberals in the student vote, nine favoured the New Democrats, and one favoured the Greens, while the Conservatives were shut out. There was also a vote for elementary students.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
1 "Before" refers to the party standings in the Legislature at the end of the legislative session, and not to the standings at the previous election.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
2 Richard Butson was the sole candidate for the Confederation of Regions Party.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
3Ten candidates ran as "Independent Renewal" candidates. This was the Marxist-Leninist Party under another name.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
4Candidates from the Independent Reform Party and Communist League also ran as independents.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
5Costas Manios ran as an "Independent Liberal" candidate after being denied the opportunity to run for the Liberal Party nomination in Scarborough Centre. Outgoing MPP Claudette Boyer had sat in the house as an "Independent Liberal" from 2001 to 2003.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
It is possible that some other candidates listed on the ballot as independents ran for unregistered parties.


2003 Ontario general election, Provincial results
The following table gives the number of seats each party won, and the number of ridings in which each party came second, third, and fourth:


2003 Ontario general election, By-elections
Ten by-elections were held between the 2003 and 2007 elections.


2003 Open 13
The 2003 Open 13 was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Palais des Sports de Marseille in Marseille in France and was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour. The tournament ran from 10 February through 16 February 2003. First-seeded Roger Federer won the singles title.


2003 Open 13, Finals, Doubles
Sébastien Grosjean /  Fabrice Santoro defeated  Tomáš Cibulec /  Pavel Vízner 6–1, 6–4


2003 Open 13 – Doubles
Arnaud Clément and Nicolas Escudé were the defending champions but only Escudé competed that year with Nenad Zimonjić.


2003 Open 13 – Doubles
Escudé and Zimonjić lost in the semifinals to Tomáš Cibulec and Pavel Vízner.


2003 Open 13 – Doubles
Sébastien Grosjean and Fabrice Santoro won in the final 6–1, 6–4 against Tomáš Cibulec and Pavel Vízner.


2003 Open 13 – Singles
Thomas Enqvist was the defending champion but lost in the first round to Raemon Sluiter.


2003 Open 13 – Singles
Roger Federer won in the final 6–2, 7–6(8–6) against Jonas Björkman.


2003 Open Canada Cup
The 2003 Open Canada Cup was the 6th edition of the Canadian Professional Soccer League's open league cup tournament running from mid May through early September. London City defeated Metro Lions 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the final played at Cove Road Stadium, London, Ontario. The victory gave London their first piece of silverware and brought an end to the Ottawa Wizards Canada Cup dynasty.


2003 Open Canada Cup
The 2003 edition of the Canada Cup was a historical milestone achieved by the CPSL by opening the tournament to all Canadian professional and amateur clubs in order to provide a potential candidate for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and a $10,000 reward for the champion. The last time a Canadian club competed in the Champions' Cup was in the 1976 CONCACAF Champions' Cup represented by Toronto Italia of the National Soccer League the predecessor league of the CPSL.


2003 Open Canada Cup
The tournament featured several clubs from the Ontario League, Ottawa Carleton Soccer League, Western Ontario League, and the Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec. The Ontario amateur clubs began the tournament in the preliminary rounds and the CPSL & LSEQ clubs were given a bye to the second round. While defending champions Ottawa Wizards received an automatic bye to the quarterfinals. For the second straight year London City were awarded the hosting rights to the finals which granted them a wild card match if they were defeated in the earlier rounds.


2003 Open Canada Cup
Despite the CPSL's successful attempt in organizing a national tournament the competition was without controversy. The controversy stemmed from a dispute involving Ottawa Wizards with the CPSL's board of directors over the hosting rights for the finals. After failing to confirm their participation in the later rounds of the tournament the league removed Ottawa from the competition, and in return Ottawa threatened to obtain an injunction. The dispute eventually reached the Superior Court of Justice which ruled in favor of the CPSL decision, and allowed the tournament to precede without the participation of Ottawa.


2003 Open Championship
The 2003 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 132nd Open Championship, held from 17–20 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Ben Curtis won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runners-up Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh. Bjørn had led in the final round by two shots with three holes to play, but needed three attempts to play out of a greenside bunker on the 16th hole. Playing in his first major championship and number 396 in the world rankings, Curtis became the first debut winner at The Open since Tom Watson in 1975.


2003 Open Championship, Field
Stuart Appleby (4), Thomas Bjørn (4,5,18), Steve Elkington, Ernie Els (2,3,4,5,10,14), Gary Evans, Sergio García (4,5,18,14), Retief Goosen (4,5,10,14), Søren Hansen (5), Pádraig Harrington (4,5,18), Justin Leonard (2,3,4,14), Thomas Levet, Peter Lonard (4,22), Davis Love III (4,13,18), Shigeki Maruyama (4,14), Peter O'Malley (22), Nick Price (2,3,4,14)


2003 Open Championship, Field
John Daly (3), David Duval (3,18), Paul Lawrie (3,4,5), Tom Lehman (3), Greg Norman (3), Mark O'Meara (3), Tiger Woods (3,4,10,11,12,13,14,18)


2003 Open Championship, Field
Robert Allenby (14), Rich Beem (12,14), Ángel Cabrera (5), Michael Campbell (5), Paul Casey, K. J. Choi (14), Darren Clarke (18), Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco (14), Bob Estes, Niclas Fasth (5,18), Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk (14), Jim Furyk (10,14,18), Jay Haas, Charles Howell III (14), Trevor Immelman (5,24), Jerry Kelly (14), Bernhard Langer (5,18), Len Mattiace (14), Phil Mickelson (14,18), Colin Montgomerie (5,6,18), Craig Parry (22), Kenny Perry, Chris Riley, Eduardo Romero (5), Justin Rose (5), Adam Scott (5), Vijay Singh (11,12,14), Jeff Sluman (14), David Toms (12,14,18), Scott Verplank (18), Mike Weir (11)


2003 Open Championship, Field
Bradley Dredge, Anders Hansen (6), Stephen Leaney, José María Olazábal (11)


2003 Open Championship, Field
Brian Davis, Robert-Jan Derksen, Kenneth Ferrie, Mathias Grönberg, Freddie Jacobson


2003 Open Championship, Field
Alastair Forsyth, Philip Golding, David Howell, Søren Kjeldsen, Mark McNulty, Greg Owen, Ian Poulter


2003 Open Championship, Field
Raphaël Jacquelin, David Lynn, Rolf Muntz, Gary Murphy, Nick O'Hern, Iain Pyman, Mark Roe, Charl Schwartzel


2003 Open Championship, Field
Joe Durant, Jonathan Kaye, Cliff Kresge, J. L. Lewis, Rory Sabbatini, Duffy Waldorf


2003 Open Championship, Field
Tom Byrum, José Cóceres, Ben Curtis, Luke Donald, Dudley Hart, Skip Kendall, Scott McCarron, Chris Smith


2003 Open Championship, Field
Paul Azinger, Stewart Cink, Pierre Fulke, Paul McGinley, Jesper Parnevik, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood


2003 Open Championship, Round summaries, Third round
Mark Roe shot a 67 to finish at one over par, but he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik were disqualified, having failed to exchange scorecards and therefore having signed incorrect scorecards. The rule that resulted in the disqualifications was changed two years later; Roe never played in another major.


2003 Open Championship, Round summaries, Final round
Ben Curtis shot six-under in the first 11 holes to grab a 2 stroke lead, but dropped four strokes in the next six holes to fall behind, and sank a 10-foot (3 m) par putt on the final hole to post the clubhouse lead. Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods also moved into early contention, but fell behind Curtis with late bogeys, leaving Thomas Bjørn with a three stroke lead with four holes to play. He finished bogey-double bogey-bogey-par and tied for second, one stroke back.


2003 Open Championship, Round summaries, Final round
It was not only Curtis' first win, but his first top-10 finish in a PGA Tour event.


2003 Open Gaz de France
The 2003 Open Gaz de France was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris in France that was part of Tier II of the 2003 WTA Tour. It was the eleventh edition of the tournament and was held from 3 February through 9 February 2003. First-seeded Serena Williams won the singles title.


2003 Open Gaz de France, Finals, Doubles
Barbara Schett /  Patty Schnyder defeated  Marion Bartoli /  Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro 2–6, 6–2, 7–6 (7–5)


2003 Open Gaz de France – Doubles
Nathalie Dechy and Meilen Tu were the defending champions but only Dechy competed that year with Émilie Loit.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Doubles
Dechy and Loit lost in the semifinals to Barbara Schett and Patty Schnyder.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Doubles
Schett and Schnyder won in the final 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–5) against Marion Bartoli and Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Singles
Venus Williams was the defending champion but did not compete that year.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Singles
Serena Williams won in the final 6–2, 6–3 against Amélie Mauresmo.


2003 Open Gaz de France – Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top four seeds received a bye to the second round.


2003 Open de Moselle
The 2003 Open de Moselle was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Arènes de Metz in Metz, France and was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was held from 29 September until 5 October 2003. Fourth-seeded Arnaud Clément won the singles title.


2003 Open de Moselle, Finals, Doubles
Julien Benneteau /  Nicolas Mahut defeated  Michaël Llodra /  Fabrice Santoro 7–6(7–2), 6–3


2003 Open de Moselle – Doubles
Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut won in the final 7–6(7–2), 6–3 against Michaël Llodra and Fabrice Santoro.


2003 Open de Moselle – Singles
Arnaud Clément won in the final 6–3, 1–6, 6–3 against Fernando González.


2003 Orange Bowl
The 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl was the 69th edition of the college football bowl game, played at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Thursday, January 1. It matched the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference and the USC Trojans of the Pacific-10 Conference. Tied at halftime,  favored USC pulled away in the second half to win, 38–17.


2003 Orange Bowl
Televised in the United States on ABC, the game was part of the 2002–03 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) of the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season and represented the concluding game of the season for both teams.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams
Prior to the BCS, the New Year's Day pairings never would have occurred. The Rose Bowl normally features the champions of the Big Ten (in 2002, the Ohio State Buckeyes) and the Pac-10. However, because the Buckeyes had finished No. 2 in the BCS, they were set to play in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship against the Miami Hurricanes.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams
The Orange Bowl had the next pick after the Fiesta, and No. 3 (#5 BCS) Iowa was chosen. The Rose Bowl had the next BCS selection. The next, best available team to choose was No. 8 (#7 BCS) Oklahoma, who won the Big 12 Championship Game, to play Pac-10 winner Washington State in the Rose Bowl. When it came time for the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl to make a second pick, both wanted USC. However, a BCS rule stated that if two bowls want the same team, the bowl with the higher payoff has the option.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams
The Orange Bowl immediately extended an at-large bid to the #5 Trojans and paired them with at-large #3  Iowa in a Big Ten/Pac-10 "Rose Bowl" matchup in the Orange Bowl. Rose Bowl committee executive director Mitch Dorger was not pleased with the results. This left the Sugar Bowl with #14 BCS Florida State, the winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Notre Dame at 10–2 and No. 9 in the BCS standings was invited to the Gator Bowl. Kansas State at No. 8 also was left out.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams, Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes tied for the Big Ten conference championship with Ohio State, and they did not meet this season. Iowa's only setback was a five-point loss to in-state rival Iowa State in mid-September.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams, USC Trojans
On October 5, in the 300th game for USC on live television, the Trojans lost 30–27 in overtime at Washington State. The Cougars scored with 1:50 left to play to force overtime. The two tied for first place in the Pac-10, but the Cougars won the tie-breaker by virtue of the head-to-head victory. The final game of the conference season was moved to December 2, with WSU at UCLA. Originally it was thought that the Bruins would be the team playing for the Rose Bowl. A 52–21 loss to USC put the Bruins out of contention and the Trojans and Cougars in. The Cougars defeated UCLA 48–27 in Pasadena to advance to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day; it was the final game for UCLA head coach Bob Toledo, who was soon fired.


2003 Orange Bowl, Teams, USC Trojans
This was only the second time a Pac-10 team appeared in the Orange Bowl; eighteen years earlier, Washington won in January 1985.


2003 Ordina Open
The 2003 Ordina Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts in Rosmalen, 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands that was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour and of Tier III of the 2003 WTA Tour. The tournament was held from 16 June until 22 June 2003. Sjeng Schalken and Kim Clijsters won the singles titles.


2003 Ordina Open, Finals, Men's Doubles
Martin Damm /  Cyril Suk defeated  Donald Johnson /  Leander Paes 7–5, 7–6(7–4)


2003 Ordina Open, Finals, Women's Doubles
Elena Dementieva /  Lina Krasnoroutskaya defeated  Nadia Petrova /  Mary Pierce 2–6, 6–3, 6–4


2003 Ordina Open – Men's Doubles
Martin Damm and Cyril Suk were the defending champions and won in the final 7–5, 7–6(7–4) against Donald Johnson and Leander Paes.


2003 Ordina Open – Men's Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2003 Ordina Open – Men's Singles
Sjeng Schalken was the defending champion and won in the final 6–3, 6–4 against Arnaud Clément.


2003 Ordina Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.


2003 Ordina Open – Women's Doubles
Catherine Barclay and Martina Müller were the defending champions but Müller did not enter this year, as she competed at the Qualifying rounds of the Wimbledon Championships during the same week. Barclay teamed up with Nannie de Villiers and lost in first round to tournament runners-up Nadia Petrova and Mary Pierce.


2003 Ordina Open – Women's Doubles
Elena Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya won the title by defeating Nadia Petrova and Mary Pierce 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2003 Ordina Open – Women's Singles
Eleni Daniilidou was the defending champion, but did not compete this year.


2003 Ordina Open – Women's Singles
Kim Clijsters won the title after Justine Henin-Hardenne was forced to retire due to a left wrist injury. The score was 6–7(4–7), 3–0.


2003 Ordina Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
The first two seeds received a bye into the second round.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
Measure 28 was a ballot measure, referred by the legislature of the U.S. state of Oregon in 2003. It would have created a temporary one-percent increase in Oregon's income tax. The tax was proposed as a way to overcome deficits to the state budget. The measure was defeated in the January 28, 2003 special election with 575,846 votes in favor, 676,312 votes against.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
Budget problems, caused by minorities, high unemployment, and problems with Oregon's public pension system, dominated Oregon's 2002–2003 biennium. To make up for lost revenue, the legislature approved a mixture of budget cuts and referred Measure 28 to a vote of the people. The referral was marred by controversy as Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber objected to the Republican-controlled legislature's omission of the cuts that would result from the measure's failure in the ballot title (the summary of the measure provided to voters). Supporters of the measure blamed the ballot title omission for the defeat of the measure.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
Proponents of the measure felt it was the only way to avoid proposed spending cuts to programs such as  education and help for the elderly and mentally ill. Opponents, many part of the Oregon tax revolt, felt that increasing taxes would prolong the recession, and that the state should live within its means.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
Cuts in the wake of Measure 28's defeat seemed to vindicate proponents' arguments. The day after Measure 28's defeat, Multnomah County released 144 inmates from the county jail and laid off 175 Sheriff's deputies. Some fiscal conservatives felt that wasteful spending was more to blame than the tax defeat.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
Nonetheless, the high percentage of "yes" votes in the Portland metro area inspired local governments in that region to bring their own temporary tax increases to the ballot.


2003 Oregon Ballot Measure 28
A year later, voters defeated a similar measure, Measure 30.


2003 Oregon Ducks football team
The 2003 Oregon Ducks football team represented the University of Oregon during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season.


2003 Oregon State Beavers football team
The 2003 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State University in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Beavers offense scored 433 points while the defense allowed 301 points. Led by head coach Mike Riley, who returned to Oregon State after coaching the team in 1997 and 1998, the Beavers won the 2003 Las Vegas Bowl.


2003 Origins Award winners
The following are the winners of the 29th annual Origins Award, held in 2003:


2003 Orlando mayoral special election
The 2003 Orlando mayoral special election was held on February 4 and February 25, 2003 to elect the mayor of Orlando, Florida. Buddy Dyer was elected to serve the remainder of Glenda Hood's term.


2003 Orlando mayoral special election
Since no candidate obtained a majority in the first-round, a runoff was held between the top-two finishers.


2003 Osun State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Osun State gubernatorial election occurred on April 19, 2003. PDP's Olagunsoye Oyinlola won election for a first tenure, defeating Incumbent Governor, AD's Adebisi Akande and ANPP's Lai Oriowo.


2003 Osun State gubernatorial election
Olagunsoye Oyinlola won out of over 22 PDP governorship aspirants at the primary election. His running mate was Olusola Obada.


2003 Osun State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Osun State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Osun State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of three candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election. PDP candidate Olagunsoye Oyinlola won election for a first tenure, defeating AD Incumbent Governor, Adebisi Akande, and ANPP's Lai Oriowo.


2003 Osun State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 1,367,627. However, only 58.63% (i.e. 801,812) of registered voters participated in the excerise.


2003 Ottawa Renegades season
The 2003 Ottawa Renegades season was the second season for the team in the Canadian Football League and 2nd overall. The Renegades finished the season with an improved 7–11 record, but still failed to make the playoffs.


2003 Ottawa municipal election
The Ottawa municipal election of 2003 was held in Ottawa, Canada, to elect the city's mayor, City Council, and school trustees for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The vote was held on November 10, 2003. The elections were held simultaneously with most other municipalities in Ontario.


2003 Ottawa municipal election
The mayoral election was won by popular incumbent and former Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament Bob Chiarelli. His main competition was that of right-wing candidate Terry Kilrea.


2003 Ottawa municipal election, Issues
The main issues of the race were a controversial Smoking ban, the expansion of the O-Train (Ottawa's light rail system), official bilingualism and the recent amalgamation. Chiarelli was in favour of the smoking ban, which had been implemented by the last city council. The ban was on smoking in all public places, which angered many bar and restaurant owners. Kilrea was against the smoking ban. He was also against putting money into expanding the O-Train, and official bilingualism in the city.


2003 Ottawa municipal election, Controversy
One of the prominent fringe candidates for mayor was associated with white supremacist support. Donna Upson received contributions from the Ku Klux Klan, and she voiced support for racial segregation. She has also set up a Canadian branch of the National Socialist Movement. She finished in sixth place with 1,312 votes (0.71%).


2003 Ottawa municipal election, Turnout
Turnout for the election was low, at 33%. The highest turnouts were in the rural areas, specifically in Goulbourn, Rideau and the highest West Carleton (45%). The lowest turnout was in Somerset Ward at 25% turnout.


2003 Ottawa municipal election, Results for mayor
Chiarelli won all but three wards and had his most strength in the city core region. Kilrea won three wards, all in the rural south and west.


2003 Ottawa municipal election, Council results
No incumbents lost any races, and only two councillors had a decrease in the popular vote percentage from the 2000 election.


2003 Outback Bowl
The 2003 Outback Bowl was a college football bowl game held on January 1, 2003, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The Michigan Wolverines, third-place finishers in the Big Ten Conference, defeated the Florida Gators, who finished second the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), 38–30. Michigan running back Chris Perry was named the game's MVP.


2003 Outback Bowl, Game summary
Michigan got on the board first after a 4-yard touchdown run by Chris Perry to open up a 7–0 lead. In the second quarter, Florida running back Earnest Graham scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7. Later in the second quarter, Graham scored again on a 1-yard run, but a two-point conversion attempt by Ran Carthon failed. Florida led 13–7. Chris Perry scored again on a 1-yard run to give Michigan a 14–13 lead. Florida kicker Matt Leach connected on a 29-yard field goal to retake the lead for the Gators, 16–14. John Navarre threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ronald Bellamy to give Michigan a 21-16 halftime lead.


2003 Outback Bowl, Game summary
In the third quarter, Florida quarterback Rex Grossman threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Keiwan Ratliff to put Florida up 23–21. Michigan answered with two more touchdown runs by Chris Perry, from 7 and 12 yards out, to lead 35–23. In the fourth quarter, Grossman found wide receiver Aaron Walker for a 3-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 35–30. Adam Finley connected on a 33-yard field goal to increase Michigan's lead to 38–30, which held up as the final score.


2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election
The 2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election occurred on April 19, 2003. PDP's Rashidi Ladoja won election for a first tenure, defeating Incumbent Governor, AD's Lam Adesina and three other candidates.


2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election
Rashidi Ladoja emerged winner in the PDP gubernatorial primary election. His running mate was Adebayo Alao-Akala.


2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Governor of Oyo State is elected using the plurality voting system.


2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of five candidates registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest in the election. PDP candidate Rashidi Ladoja won election for a first tenure, defeating AD Incumbent Governor, Lam Adesina, and three other candidates.


2003 Oyo State gubernatorial election, Results
The total number of registered voters in the state was 2,209,953. However, only 51.4% (i.e. 1,130,142) of registered voters participated in the excerise.


2003 PARA Pan American Championship
The 2003 PARA Pan American Championship was the last and fifth edition of this rugby union tournament.


2003 PARA Pan American Championship
It was held in Buenos Aires and was an important step for the four team to prepare the 2003 Rugby World Cup


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup
The 2003 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Filipino Cup, or known as the 2003 Samsung-PBA All-Filipino Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the first conference of the 2003 PBA season. It started on February 23 and ended on July 13, 2003. The tournament is an All-Filipino format, which doesn't require an import or a pure-foreign player for each team.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup, Format
The following format will be observed for the duration of the conference:


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup, Elimination round, Group B
Batang Red Bull won 10 of their first 11 games of the season. The Thunder were on a nine-game winning streak before suffering back-to-back losses to Talk 'N Text and FedEx.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup, Quarterfinal round, Group A
Alaska beat Sta.Lucia, 75-66, and the Aces got a free ride to the semifinals from the San Miguel Beermen, which beat FedEx, 96-87. The Express were hoping to create a possible three-way tie.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup, Quarterfinal round, Group B
Talk 'N Text and Coca Cola advances to the semifinals, the Phone Pals defeated Barangay Ginebra, 99-86, while the Tigers nip Batang Red Bull, the team with the best record in the eliminations, 80-79.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals
The 2003 Samsung-PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals was the best-of-7 basketball championship series of the 2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The Talk 'N Text Phone Pals and Coca Cola Tigers played for the 84th championship contested by the league.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals
Talk 'N Text Phone Pals overcame a 0-2 overhaul and wins their first-ever PBA title in 13 years, (not counting the 1998 PBA Centennial Cup) winning four straight over the defending champions Coca Cola Tigers in a 4-2 series victory.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals, Games summary, Game 1
Down by 17 at 46-63, the Phone Pals came back to trailed within five at 64-69 as Asi Taulava and Felix Belano starred in a key run stretch, but Coca Cola stopped the Talk 'N Text rally with Jeffrey Cariaso hitting 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals, Games summary, Game 3
Bong Ravena drained a short jumper and converted two pressure-packed free throws that neutralized a comeback by the Tigers. Both teams fared poorly from the perimeter.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals, Games summary, Game 5
Talk 'N Text came back from a 9-point deficit midway in the final quarter, a triple by Bong Ravena tied the game at 79-all, Asi Taulava shoved the Phone Pals ahead with two free throws, 81-79, with 32 seconds to go, Ato Morano's twisting layup with 20 seconds left tied the count at 81-all, the game went into overtime after Morano's potential game-winner rimmed out at the buzzer. In the extension period, the Tigers took an 87-81 advantage on Johnny Abarrientos' back-to-back jumpers and assist, a 13-2 run by the Phone Pals bucked a sizzling Coca Cola start in overtime, clutch hits by Victor Pablo and Patrick Fran gave Talk 'N Text a 94-89 lead.


2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup Finals, Games summary, Game 6
The Tigers led by as many as 14 points before the Phone Pals tied the game for the first time at 58-all early in the last quarter, Coca Cola led for the last time at 71-68 when a three-pointer by Bong Ravena tied the count, Asi Taulava broke the deadlock with a short jumper and then Jimmy Alapag unloaded another triple after a free throw by Ato Morano as Talk 'N Text opened up a 76-72 lead in the last 43 seconds, two free throws by Johnny Abarrientos followed by two charity misses by Taulava and another free throw by Rudy Hatfield pulled the Tigers within one, 75-76, with 29 seconds to go, Taulava finally made his second free throw with 13 seconds left and Ravena contributed another to seal the win, 78-75, after Morano missed a hurried three-point attempt.


2003 PBA All-Star Weekend
The 2003 PBA All-Star Weekend was the annual all-star weekend of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)'s 2003 PBA season. The events were held from May 30 to June 1, 2003 at the Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship
The 2003 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Samsung-Invitational Championship, was the second conference of the 2003 PBA season. It started on July 27 and ended on August 23, 2003. The tournament features three guest foreign teams from Korea, China and Yugoslavia along with the Philippine national team.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship
The Alaska Aces captured their 11th PBA title by beating the Coca Cola Tigers, 2-1, in their best-of-three finals series.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship
Brandon Cablay won on his first Finals MVP in Invitational Cup Championship.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship, Qualification, Samsung-PBA Mabuhay Cup
The Samsung PBA-Mabuhay Cup was the one-round robin between the five lower seeded teams based on their won-loss records in the elimination round of the All-Filipino Cup to determine the sixth and last qualifying team for the PBA second conference Invitationals.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship, Qualification, Samsung-PBA Mabuhay Cup
The Alaska Aces made it as the sixth entry by defeating Barangay Ginebra Kings on July 20 at the Cuneta Astrodome for a perfect 4-0 slate.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship, Elimination round, Group A
Red Bull gained the last slot in the crossover semis on August 13 at the Cuneta Astrodome in a bizarre ending, Talk 'N Text, which won 88-87, needed to win 8 points, went to the extent of shooting to the Red Bull's goal while enjoying the lead in the closing seconds to possibly force an overtime.


2003 PBA Invitational Championship, Finals
Brandon Lee Cablay held the Aces together with timely hits then sparked a fiery Alaska windup as the Tigers came back from 16 points down to even lead twice early in the last quarter. Cablay nailed a three-pointer that tied the count for the final time at 70-all and added back-to-back baskets that finally doomed the Tigers, 84-74, with 2:24 left in the game. The 6-foot Cablay was adjudged as the first rookie Finals MVP since Danny Seigle with San Miguel back in 1999.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference
The 2003 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) PBA Reinforced Conference, or known as the 2003 Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference, was the third conference of the 2003 PBA season. It started on August 30 and ended on December 14, 2003. The tournament requires an import or a pure-foreign player for each team.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference, Format
The following format will be observed for the duration of the conference:


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference, Imports
The following is the list of imports with the replacement imports being highlighted. GP is the number of games played in the conference.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference, Elimination round, Group B
Red Bull had one win and two losses in their first three games with Ramel Lloyd as their import. When Scott Burrell, an eight-year NBA veteran and member of the 1998 NBA champion Chicago Bulls, came in to replaced Lloyd, the Barakos went on a 10-game winning streak and finish on top of Group B standings in a tie with Coca-Cola.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals
The 2003 Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference Finals was the best-of-7 basketball championship series of the 2003 PBA Reinforced Conference and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The San Miguel Beermen and Coca Cola Tigers played for the 86th championship contested by the league.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals
After two runner-up finishes in the first two conferences, the Coca Cola Tigers won their 2nd PBA title with a 4-3 series victory over San Miguel Beermen.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 1
The Beermen bucked the absence of Kwan Johnson and leaned on Danny Ildefonso down the stretch, Ildefonso scored 11 of his team's last 15 points and stole the ball from Coca Cola import Tee McClary with four seconds remaining as the Beermen escaped with a thrilling victory. SMB import Kwan Johnson spent the entire fourth period on the bench after hurting his left groin late in the third quarter. Rudy Hatfield and McClary joined forces in a 19-6 Tigers' run that cut the Beermen's 14-point lead to just one, 79-80, with barely a minute remaining.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 2
With the score at 62-43 in Coca Cola's favor, Tigers' import Tee McClary planted an elbow on Beerman Danny Ildefonso's side during a deadball situation in the third quarter, prompting the latter to retaliate with a close-fist assault, both players were thrown out of the ballgame. McClary and Ildefonso were suspended in the following game of the finals series for figuring in a fight.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 3
Dondon Hontiveros stepped up in the absence of San Miguel import Kwan Johnson and Danny Ildefonso, the cebuano hotshot pumped in 13 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Beermen went through several deadlocks before putting the sting out of the importless Tigers. The Beermen brought in Cedric Ceballos, a last-minute replacement for the injured Johnson on a temporary basis, the NBA's 1992 slam-dunk king tossed in 11 points and hauled down 10 rebounds in 38 minutes of action.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 4
The Tigers led, 73-62, entering the fourth quarter when Danny Ildefonso and Dorian Peña rallied the Beermen and gave them an 82-81 edge after a long scoreless spell by the Tigers, Rudy Hatfield nailed a triple with 49 seconds left that broke an 84-all deadlock and Hatfield, who scored 16 points with 16 rebounds, capped his heroics with a block on Dondon Hontiveros' potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer to preserved the Tigers' win.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 5
Rob Wainwright scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and along with Jeffrey Cariaso, stole the thunder from import Tee McClary as they spearheaded the Tigers' offensive in the payoff period that opened an 85-79 spread for the Tigers with less than two minutes remaining. SMB import Kwan Johnson, who return from a groin injury, flubbed a go-ahead triple in the final 21 seconds and saw his drive at the buzzer rim out, allowing the Tigers to escaped with a two-point victory.


2003 PBA Reinforced Conference Finals, Games summary, Game 7
The Tigers were up, 65-59, entering the final quarter. Tee McClary scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth period and pounced on those eight turnovers by the Beermen as Coca Cola got their biggest lead of the game at 85-70 with 5:45 left, the Beermen countered with a 12-2 surge to trim the deficit to 82-87 with 1:39 remaining.


2003 PBA draft
The 2003 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event at which teams drafted players from the amateur ranks. It was held on January 12, 2003 at the Glorietta Activity Center at Makati.


2003 PBA draft, Round 5
Shell, Talk N' Text, Coke and Alaska passed in this round


2003 PBA season
The 2003 PBA season was the 29th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).


2003 PDC World Darts Championship
The 2003 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the tenth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it split from the British Darts Organisation in 1993. The tournament took place between 27 December 2002 and 4 January 2003 at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet, England. Ladbrokes (who sponsored the 1996 event with their Vernon's brand) took over sponsorship of the event from Skol.


2003 PDC World Darts Championship
The field at the televised stages expanded for the first time since 1999. An extra qualifying round was introduced increasing the total number of players from 32 to 40. John Part defeated the defending champion and number one seed, Phil Taylor, in the final to end two incredible runs by Taylor – eight successive World titles, and 44 successive victories at the Circus Tavern.


2003 PDC World Darts Championship
This was Part's second world championship having also won the 1994 BDO Championship (the first tournament after the split).


2003 PDC World Darts Championship
The Qualifying Criteria for the World Championship was as follows


2003 PDC World Darts Championship
-Top 32 of the Order of Merit (on 1 December 2002) - 4 PDPA Qualifiers (Al Hedman, Lee Palfeyman, Mark Robinson, Dave Smith)- Australian Qualifier (Simon Whitlock)- Dutch Qualifier (Arjan Moen)- USA Qualifier (Ray Carver)- SP 9-Dart challenge with The People Newspaper (David Platt)


2003 PDC World Darts Championship, Representation from different countries
This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the 1st round.


2003 PDL season
The 2003 USL Premier Development League season was the 9th PDL season. The season began in April 2003 and ended in August 2003.


2003 PDL season
Cape Cod Crusaders finished the season as national champions for the second time, beating Chicago Fire Reserves 2-0 in the PDL Championship game. New Orleans Shell Shockers finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 16 out of their 18 games, suffering just 2 losses, and finishing with a +35 goal difference.


2003 PDL season
Cape Cod Crusaders striker Joseph Ngwenya and Vermont Voltage forward Bo Vuckovic were the league's top scorers, each knocking in 17 goals. Des Moines Menace midfielders Tomas Boltnar and Joseph Kabwe and Nashville Metros Ben Buerger led the league with 10 assists each, while Indiana Invaders keeper Christopher Sawyer enjoyed the best goalkeeping statistics, with a goals-against average of 0.287 per game, and Richmond Kickers Future keeper kept 7 clean sheets and had a GAA average of 0.568 in his 12 games.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season
The 2003 CSKA season was the club's twelfth season in the Russian Premier League, the highest tier of association football in Russia.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season, Transfers, Winter
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season, Transfers, Summer
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2003 PFC CSKA Moscow season, Competitions, Russian Cup, 2003-04
The Round of 16 2nd leg took place during the 2004 season.


2003 PGA Championship
The 2003 PGA Championship was the 85th PGA Championship, held from August 14–17 at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, New York. Shaun Micheel won his only major title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Chad Campbell. It was also the sole  career win for Micheel on the PGA Tour, who was making his 164th PGA Tour start and was ranked 169th in the world at the start of the week.


2003 PGA Championship
This was the fifth major at the East Course, which previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1980, and the U.S. Open in 1956, 1968, and 1989. It also hosted the Ryder Cup in 1995; the PGA Championship returned in 2013.


2003 PGA Championship
The first round of the tournament was briefly interrupted by the Northeast blackout of 2003.


2003 PGA Tour
The 2003 PGA Tour season was played from January 9 to November 9. The season consisted of 48 official money events. Tiger Woods won the most tournaments, five, and there were seven first-time winners. The tournament results, leaders, and award winners are listed below.


2003 PGA Tour, Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events for the 2003 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.


2003 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
This is a list of the 34 players who earned their 2004 PGA Tour card through Q School in 2003.


2003 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates, 2004 Results
*PGA Tour rookie in 2004T = Tied Green background indicates the player retained his PGA Tour card for 2005 (finished inside the top 125). Yellow background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2005, but retained conditional status (finished between 126-150). Red background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2005 (finished outside the top 150).


2003 PGA Tour of Australasia
The 2003 PGA Tour of Australasia was a series of men's professional golf events played mainly in Australia and New Zealand. The main tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia are played in the southern summer so they are split between the first and last months of the year. It was the first year of tour's new developmental series; known as the Von Nida Tour and was played in the middle of the year.


2003 PGA Tour of Australasia, Main tournament results
The table below shows the 2003 schedule. It only lists official money events on the main tour.


2003 PGA Tour of Australasia, Leading money winners
Source:Ogilvie and Palmer were non-members and earned their winnings via co-sanctioned events with the Nationwide Tour.


2003 POMIS Cup
The 2003 POMIS Cup was the 16th championship of an international soccer club tournament held in Maldives. The group stage started on 14 October 2003 and the final was played on 25 October 2003 at the Rasmee Dhandu Stadium, Malé, Maldives.


2003 POMIS Cup, Teams
The top four teams of 2003 Dhivehi League and two invited foreign clubs.


2003 Pacific Curling Championships
The 2003 Pacific Curling Championships were held in Aomori, Japan November 23 to 29.


2003 Pacific Curling Championships
New Zealand's Sean Becker won the men's event over Australia's Hugh Millikin. On the women's side, Japan's Shinobu Aota defeated South Korea's Kim Mi-yeon in the final.


2003 Pacific Curling Championships
By virtue of winning, the New Zealand men's team and the Japanese women's team qualified for the 2004 World Men's and Women's Curling Championships in Gävle, Sweden.


2003 Pacific Life Open
The 2003 Pacific Life Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 30th edition of the Indian Wells Masters and was part of the Tennis Masters Series of the 2003 ATP Tour and of Tier I of the 2003 WTA Tour. Both the men's and women's events took place at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California in the United States from March 5 through March 16, 2003.


2003 Pacific Life Open, Champions, Men's Doubles
Wayne Ferreira /  Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated  Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan 3–6, 7–5, 6–4


2003 Pacific Life Open, Champions, Women's Doubles
Lindsay Davenport /  Lisa Raymond defeated  Kim Clijsters /  Ai Sugiyama 3–6, 6–4, 6–1


2003 Pacific Life Open – Men's Doubles
Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor were the defending champions but lost in the quarterfinals to Leander Paes and David Rikl.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Men's Doubles
Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov won in the final 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Men's Doubles, Seeds
All eight seeded teams received byes to the second round.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Men's Singles
Lleyton Hewitt was the defending champion and won in the final 6–1, 6–1 against Gustavo Kuerten.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Doubles
Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs were the defending champions but they competed with different partners that year, Raymond with Lindsay Davenport and Stubbs with Elena Bovina.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Doubles
Bovina and Stubbs lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Dokić and Nadia Petrova.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Doubles
Davenport and Raymond won in the final 3–6, 6–4, 6–1 against Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Singles
Daniela Hantuchová was the defending champion but lost in the fourth round to Amanda Coetzer.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Singles
Kim Clijsters won in the final 6–4, 7–5 against Lindsay Davenport.


2003 Pacific Life Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. All thirty-two seeds received a bye to the second round.


2003 Pacific hurricane season
The 2003 Pacific hurricane season was the first season to feature no major hurricanes – storms of Category 3 intensity or higher – since 1977. The season officially started on May 15, 2003, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and on June 1, 2003, in the central Pacific, and lasted until November 30, 2003. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The season saw 16 tropical storms form, of which 7 became hurricanes, which is about average. Damage across the basin reached $129 million (2003 USD), while 23 people were killed by the various storms.


2003 Pacific hurricane season
Despite the overall lack of activity, the season produced an unusually large number of tropical cyclones which affected Mexico. The most notable cyclones during the year were Hurricanes Ignacio and Marty, which both struck the Baja California Peninsula as hurricanes and killed 2 and 12 people across the country. Three other Pacific storms, two of which were hurricanes, and three Atlantic storms also had a direct impact on Mexico. The only other significant storm of the season was Hurricane Jimena, which passed just to the south of Hawaii, the first storm to directly threaten Hawaii in several years.


2003 Pacific hurricane season, Seasonal forecasts
On June 12, 2003, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) published a forecast for the East Pacific hurricane season, the first time it had done so. The scientists predicted a 50% chance of below normal activity and a 40% chance of near normal activity, due to the expectation that La Niña conditions would develop. La Niña conditions generally restrict tropical cyclone development in the northeast Pacific, which is the opposite of its effect in the Atlantic.