Professional golf, as with any other major sport, has a voracious appetite. So it is that The European Tour International Schedule remains a great and generous creature, because this insatiable desire for fresh and impressive talent is met each year.
New young stars press forward in their eagerness to take that first, difficult step out of the chorus line and into the unblinking glare of the global spotlight that is reserved exclusively for winners.
This challenge to the next generation to prove they, too, have what it takes has been met with impressive regularity over the four decades that the Tour has been circumnavigating the planet, but never in that time has the charge of the young brigade been quite so remarkable as it was during 2002 when no less than 14 professionals recorded their maiden European Tour victories.
Unquestionably this is a hugely impressive statistic as well as a reassuringly healthy one. Here is hard evidence not only of a genuine strength in depth, but of the existence of the necessary raw material that will allow the Tour to continue regenerating itself for many years to come.
In this sense, at least, the 2002 season may even, at this early stage of hindsight, be seen as some sort of particularly relevant landmark. So step forward, in chronological order, and accept our congratulations - Tim Clark (Bell’s South African Open), Justin Rose (dunhill championship), Richard S Johnson (ANZ Championship), Kevin Sutherland (World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play), Arjun Atwal (Caltex Singapore Masters), Alastair Forsyth (Carlsberg Malaysian Open), Carl Pettersson (Algarve Open de Portugal), Malcolm Mackenzie (Novotel Perrier Open de France), Anders Hansen (Volvo PGA Championship), Miles Tunnicliff (The Great North Open), Søren Hansen (Murphy’s Irish Open), Graeme McDowell (Volvo Scandinavian Masters), Rich Beem (US PGA Championship) and Adam Mednick (North West of Ireland Open).
Of this illustrious group, three deserve further, and sustained, applause. Few players have ever entered the paid ranks with quite the fanfare of trumpets that accompanied Justin Rose in 1998. Few have then suffered as much as this young player as he struggled to make the transition from gifted amateur to consistent professional.
Yet once again the Englishman, aged 22, proved that while form is temporary, class is permanent, as he followed up his maiden victory in the dunhill championship with further success in the Victor Chandler British Masters on The Marquess Course at Woburn Golf and Country Club. His rise up both the Volvo Order of Merit and the Official World Golf Ranking in 2002 offered his many supporters a glow of satisfaction that was only reduced by the untimely death, after a long illness, of his father, mentor and coach, Ken, in September.
Acclaim, too, for Denmark’s Anders Hansen who became the first golfer ever to record his maiden Tour victory in an event as formidable and challenging as the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. “Amazing, I can’t believe it,” he said immediately afterwards. Quite so.
Then there is Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell who celebrated participating in only his fourth European Tour event, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, by winning at the delightful Kungsängen course in Stockholm. McDowell, an outstanding amateur, had arrived on Tour with much to commend him but even so, this was a prodigious achievement. “I’ve never been happier,” he said.
Of course, happiness of one sort or another, embroidered the Tour each week and while the next generation began to make their mark, the men who have illuminated the top table in recent years continued to dine grandly. No sooner had the year begun - Jarmo Sandelin and José Maria Olazábal had launched The 2002 European Tour International Schedule by winning the BMW Asian Open and the Omega Hong Kong Open respectively - than Retief Goosen won the Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Perth, Australia, to suggest that not only was he enjoying the stature of European Number One, but that he quite fancied retaining the accolade.
A week later Down Under, fellow South African Ernie Els emphasised his presence on Tour with victory in the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Victoria. Els would, after also capturing the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, eclipse this win when he lifted the Claret Jug after an unforgettably dramatic Open Golf Championship at Muirfield in July, a Championship that once again underlined the abiding strength lurking on The European Tour. In East Lothian, Els, who later won The Cisco World Match Play Championship, had to overcome the deliciously unpredictable challenge of Frenchman Thomas Levet in sudden death after Australians Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington had fallen by the wayside following the initial four hole play-off.
The Major Championships, of course, remain the eternal yardstick of progress, prowess and ability. In that sense it is fitting that Tiger Woods won the Masters Tournament at Augusta National and the US Open Championship at Bethpage State Park, a rightful endorsement of the American’s sublime brilliance. Woods also triumphed in the Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe at St Leon-Rot, Heidelberg, Germany, and the WGC - American Express Championship at Mount Juliet in Ireland. Yet it is in the four great events - the Major Championships - that the continued relevance of European players on the world stage can best be judged.
Consider for a moment these facts: Sergio Garcia was the only player to finish in the top ten of each of the 2002 Major Championships - he also won the Canarias Open de España - and Padraig Harrington would have achieved the same distinction but for a three putt towards the end of the US PGA Championship.
At Augusta, a record 25 European Tour Members were invited to stroll amongst the azaleas, 18 of whom made the halfway cut and of those, 14 finished in the top 20. Indeed nine ended in the top ten, and in descending order they were; Retief Goosen, José Maria Olazábal, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Angel Cabrera and Adam Scott.
Another record number of Members, this time 29, qualified for the US Open Championship two months later. From that, 20 made the halfway cut before Garcia finished fourth, Nick Faldo tied for fifth and Harrington shared eighth. In the Open Golf Championship, Levet’s play-off challenge would have been at least matched by Harrington had the Irishman not whacked an over-exuberant drive into a fairway bunker as he pursued a birdie at the final hole, while of the 36 Members who teed up in the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, five finished prominently, Singh leading the way in eighth while José Coceres, a resurgent Pierre Fulke, Ricardo Gonzalez and Garcia were among those to tie for tenth place.
The excitement of youth, and the glow of the future, was also amplified by the progress of Australia’s Adam Scott, aged 22 like Garcia and Rose, who won the Qatar Masters at Doha and the Diageo Scottish PGA Championship at The Gleneagles Hotel. The Aussies have always had a special affinity for The European Tour and that was further underlined by the victories of Craig Parry in the WGC - NEC Invitational and Stephen Leaney in the Linde German Masters.
As the season unfolded so Diego Borrego (Madeira Island Open), Angel Cabrera (Benson and Hedges International Open), Darren Clarke (The Compass Group English Open), Michael Campbell (Smurfit European Open), Eduardo Romero (The Barclays Scottish Open), Tobias Dier (The TNT Open), Paul Lawrie (The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open), Thomas Björn (BMW International Open), Robert Karlsson (Omega European Masters), Alex Cejka (Trophée Lancôme), ???? etc all enjoyed moving centre-stage.
Special mention must be made of Eduardo Romero. The genial Argentine may be 48 but is playing better than ever. His victory at Loch Lomond in The Barclays Scottish Open was a high point of the year, a victory that reflected the belief that age is not necessarily a barrier to ambition. It was a win, in front of his family, that had Romero admitting he was so happy he felt he could fly.
Back home, the 150 Buenos Aires street orphans this generous and decent man cares for, flew high alongside him that weekend. Romero almost took off again in the dunhill links championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in October, but a couple of down-to-earth missed putts meant he had to settle for second place behind Harrington, who capped another year of wondrous consistency with a victory.
It is no accident that the Dubliner’s triumph came a week after he had been a pivotal member of the European Ryder Cup Team that had overcome the United States at The De Vere Belfry. “I am still lost somewhere over the moon,” was the basis of his emotional state in Scotland seven days later.
No wonder. We all were. The 34th Ryder Cup Matches were simply breathtaking. They may have been delayed by a year and the form of some players might have slipped in the run-up, but Sam Torrance’s insistence that the occasion would raise everyone’s game proved absolutely spot on. Indeed everything this inspirational Captain did or said hit the mark during a week that brought glory to Europe and sporting sanity back to Samuel Ryder’s great idea.
If the quality of golf was sublime, the behaviour of the galleries was exemplary. “The toughest and fairest I’ve ever seen,” said United States Captain Curtis Strange.
The detail of this grand occasion and the vital contribution made by every European is outlined elsewhere but special mention must be made of three players. After a year during which his back proved a frustrating liability at times, Colin Montgomerie was simply superb, his golf over the three days better than anything this magnificent player has shown us to date. It was his commitment to the cause that proved inspirational to his team.
Then there was the winning putt from Paul McGinley, the Irishman slaying several demons with one stroke when he holed out on the final green before discovering his reward was an early bath in the adjoining lake. McGinley, by the way, had, with Harrington, been the top points scorer in The Seve Trophy
earlier in the year at Druids Glen although on that occasion Harrington holed the putt that secured Great Britain and Ireland’s 141/2-111/2 victory over Continental Europe.
Finally, at The De Vere Belfry, there was Phillip Price, the quiet and modest Welshman. Written off in some quarters before a ball was struck, Price’s singles victory over World Number Two Phil Mickelson was, perhaps, the individual achievement of the year. Both startling and enormously pleasing, it was also vivid testimony to the team spirit to be found at the core of the European camp. Strength in depth is one thing but deep friendship is another. And possibly more important.
Yes, The European Tour is strong but it is also a circuit where real friendships grow out of the shared need for success, or to simply earn a living, on top of the necessary routine of global travel. As someone else suggested soon afterwards, never underestimate the determination of a quiet man. I may have, indeed you may have, but Price’s team-mates at The De Vere Belfry never did. Not for a moment. That’s The European Tour for you.
So a week that had been studded with concern about security ended with the grand, old trophy returning to this side of the Atlantic. This, of course, is great. What is even better, however, is that The 34th Ryder Cup Matches rebuilt the foundations of the competition. For this, both Captains deserve praise.
Strange never conducted himself with less than commendable grace while Torrance was what he is anyway, a thoroughly nice bloke with an impish sense of humour, an essentially soft man who masquerades as a hard case. The crowd, meanwhile, cheered and applauded but by the end of the week they deserved the applause themselves. Stoic and enthusiastic to the last, these fans withstood, with great good humour, the understandable security scans.
Mostly they roared on Europe and acknowledged politely the good play of the Americans. It was the crowd that turned a great week into a fantastic one; the crowd that reclaimed an honourable Ryder Cup; the crowd that every player and both captains declared the finest they had ever played before; and the crowd that washed away finally any lingering bad taste about Brookline.
People power was never more eloquently expressed. As a result, The European Tour has never looked in better shape.
Bill Elliott
