The following is a partialtimeline of the history of golf.
Tiger Woods recorded the most dominant season in history by any player. He won 11 of the 25 events he entered worldwide, including three major championships, breaking all-time scoring records at each. His season-long scoring average was 68.11, breaking an all-time record most thought would never be beaten, set by Byron Nelson in 1945 (68.33). It was calculated that his lead in the (24-month) world rankings at the end of 2000 was so great that he could take 2001 off altogether, and still be world number one at the end of that year.
Tiger Woods completes what becomes known as the "Tiger Slam", holding offDavid Duval andPhil Mickelson to win the Masters Championship in April to become the first golfer in history to hold, concurrently, all four professional major championships. For good measure, Woods had won the game's fifth most important event, the Tournament Players' Championship as well, in March.
By the end of the year, however, Woods would have relinquished three of his titles, on each occasion to players winning their first major title. At theU.S. Open, South AfricanRetief Goosen finally emerged triumphant from a playoff withMark Brooks, after three-putting from 12 feet on the 72nd hole the previous day knowing that he had two putts for victory. Playing partnerStewart Cink also missed an 18-inch putt of his own at the last hole that, as events turned out, would have allowed him to join the playoff.
The Open Championship is won byDavid Duval, whose third round of 65 turns the final day into something of a victory progression. Unknown Swedish playerNiclas Fasth finishes second, playing his way into Europe's Ryder Cup side ahead ofIan Woosnam, who incurs a two-shot penalty after his caddie realises he is carrying 15 clubs. Then in August, thePGA Championship goes toDavid Toms asPhil Mickelson again finished runner-up in a major championship. Toms' 72-hole total of 265 is the best ever recorded in a major championship (though not the best in relation to par, even at the PGA Championship).
Following the terrible events of9/11, theRyder Cup is postponed for twelve months, and it is agreed that the event would continue to be played in even years from that point forward. The terrorist attacks force several leading American players to revise plans to compete in the World Matchplay Championship in England in October. 43-year-old former championIan Woosnam, who had suffered such an unusual fate at the Open, is brought in as a replacement, and beats Goosen,Colin Montgomerie andPádraig Harrington to win the event for a third time.
Tiger Woods enjoys another supremely dominant season. He wins bothThe Masters and theU.S. Open by three shots (from Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson, respectively), becoming only the fifth player in history to win both in the same season. His opportunity for a single-season Grand Slam, however, is literally blown away on Saturday atThe Open Championship, as the worst of the Muirfield weather closes in and Woods hits 81.Colin Montgomerie, who had shot 64 the previous day, shoots 84 in similar conditions.Ernie Els plays brilliantly given the conditions to record a 72, and wins after a 4-man playoff, the first in major championship history, involvingSteve Elkington,Stuart Appleby and FrenchmanThomas Levet.
Woods then surprisingly misses out at thePGA Championship, when unheraldedRich Beem does enough to hold on to a one-shot lead over Tiger over the closing holes, afterJustin Leonard loses his third-round lead.
For brief details see2004 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2004 in golf.
For brief details see2005 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2005 in golf.
For brief details see2006 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2006 in golf.
For brief details see2007 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2007 in golf.
For brief details see2008 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2008 in golf.
For brief details see2009 in sports#Golf and for fuller details see2009 in golf.
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| Majors (Grand Slam, Triple Crown) |
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| Lists of golf courses |
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