RYDER Cup hero Phil Price is getting used to winning against all odds.

For the Bassaleg-based golfer even stunned himself when he sank the winning putt at the Belfry last September to defeat world number two Phil Mickle-son and hand Europe a monumental - and shock - win against the Americans at the Ryder Cup.

But the approaches to lifting the prestigious 2002 Newport Sports Personality of the Year Award for the second year running tomorrow night at the city's 31st annual sports awards will be just as tricky.

The 36-year-old has been short-listed along with Welsh rower Kirsten Brooks, Eveswell sprinter Christian Malcolm and top woman's snooker player Sharon Dickson.

Price finished third at the British Masters and the English Open while ending the year 48th in the Volvo Order of Merit.

Brooks, meanwhile, won Wales first ever Commonwealth rowing gold in the lightweight single sculls in Nottingham last August.

Athlete Malcolm, previous Newport Sports Personality winner in 2000, was a key member of the Welsh team at last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

The 23-year-old flier helped the 4x100 metre team to the final while also reaching the final of the 200 metre sprint.

Woman's snooker star Dickson is on cue for success too. The 32-year-old is the current Welsh ladies number one after clinching the 2002 British and Scottish Opens.

The Disability Sports Person of the Year gong is just as hotly contested with last year's winner, former Newport Wasps speedway rider Tom Brown, again a contender.

Brown is competing against Bassaleg School's swimming star Elizabeth Johnson and tennis ace Debbie Brazier.

Eighteen-year-old Brown has suffered from septic arthritis since he was a toddler, but is ready to embark on a promising speedway career with the Cornwall-based Trelawny Tigers in the Premier League.

Swimmer Johnson, 17, finished 12th at last year's Commonwealth Games and got to the final of the World Championships while winning golds at the French and German Open, British Junior Championships and the National Championships.

Maindee-based Brazier, who represents Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis Club, is ranked 60th in the world and 6th in Britain and won the mixed-doubles Taunton Tennis Tournament and the singles event at the Nottingham International Championship.