EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
A green jacket. A heart-melting embrace. A stirring return to the top of golf by one of the sport's all-time greats.
In choosing Tiger Woods' victory at the Masters as The Associated Press sports story of the year, voters went with the uplifting escape of a great comeback over options that were as much about sports as the issues that enveloped them in 2019: politics, money and the growing push for equal pay and equal rights for women.
The balloters, a mix of AP member sports editors and AP beat writers, elevated Woods' rousing victory at Augusta National over the runner-up entry: the U.S. women's soccer team's victory at the World Cup. That monthlong competition was punctuated by star Megan Rapinoe's push for pay equality for the women's team and an ongoi
