What would Jack Nicklaus have thought? On a course of his making, some of the world's finest players made hay while the sun shone down on Gut Lärchenhof and the Linde German Masters, and there was little that could be done to stop them. But why try? This, after all, was golf at its most entertaining, if not its most examining.
After four days of extraordinary scoring, KJ Choi, of Korea, emerged an electrifying winner of the superbly organised tournament - his first event in Continental Europe - with a 26 under par total of 262. Appropriately, the man nicknamed ‘The Tank’’, had steamrollered to victory.
With a five year exemption for the winner, and a healthy €500,000 (£351,978) first prize, the field was a strong one. On the final day though, it was left to four players to vie for the title.
At one stage, each of Choi, who had two victories on the US PGA Tour in 2002, eventual runner-up Miguel Angel Jiménez, Niclas Fasth and Ian Poulter who shared third, had a taste of the lead. But in the end it was Choi's consistency that won the day. After starting the week with a 63, he followed up with rounds of 68-64-67 to make history by becoming the first Korean golfer to win on The European Tour.
While events in Germany saw a golfer taste European Tour success for the first time, the beginning of September saw a trophy handed to a man well used to the feeling, Ernie Els, who romped to a six shot victory in the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
A golfing masterpiece to blend with the majestic canvas of the Swiss Alps was required to win the event and Els was the man with the artistry to match the occasion.
Els was in that familiar sweet-swinging groove, appropriately timing his shots to absolute perfection, which met with the approval of the sponsors and ensured that he swept to a six shot victory with metronomic ease. It was an irresistible performance that drew the spectators to whichever tree-lined fairway he happened to grace.
The course, at an altitude of 5,000 feet, is the most picturesque on Tour and Els only enhanced the attractiveness as he resisted the persistent probings of Michael Campbell, Emanuele Canonica, Andrew Coltart, Robert Karlsson and Eduardo Romero.
There was further cause for South African celebration the following week when Retief Goosen, whom Els would go on to displace as winner of the Volvo Order of Merit at the end of the season, captured his first title of the year in the Trophée Lancôme in France.
The wonderful event at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche is one tournament where the worlds of golf and fashion meet without a garish clash of colours, and where, quite often, a glance into the chic crowd is almost as entertaining as the golf itself.
Fittingly, then, it was the elegant Retief Goosen who proved himself a cut above the rest in the 34th and final edition of the tournament which has graced The European Tour International Schedule over the years, the South African winning in the end by four shots.
From the moment he posted a first round 63, denied a share of the course record only by a last hole bogey five, Goosen looked set fair for a fourth victory on French soil following his Open de France victories of 1997 and 1999 and his previous Trophée Lancôme triumph in 2000. And so it proved. “It must be the red wine,” opined the South African, giving perhaps an insight into his success.
The final competitive week of September ended exactly the way the final competitive week of August had, namely with Lee Westwood climbing onto the winners’’ rostrum.
Last time it had been Germany but this time it was Scotland which played host to the Englishman’’s success in the dunhill links championship, played over three of the most majestic links courses at the Home of Golf, the Old Course at St Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie, and the new course at Kingsbarns.
After Westwood had defeated Els by a shot to win, he admitted that his game had stood up better than he would have believed possible. With the win coming, as it did, only a month after he had emerged from a near three year barren spell to capture the BMW International Open, he felt that it served as the final confirmation of his comeback.
The €705,093 (£490,346) first prize, in itself, was one good reason for Westwood to speak graciously of a golf course whose delights, like many of the golfing greats to have trodden the famous links in the past, the Englishman had taken time to savour.
“I've learned to like it,” he said. “I've grasped what kind of course it is. It has taken me a few years to appreciate St Andrews, but finally it has happened and I can now see why everyone loves it so much and regards it as such a fantastic test.”
Fifteen-year-old Daniel Torrance, on the other hand, had hit it off at once with the legendary links, thanks not least to the guidance of his father. He and Sam finished at 37 under par 251 to collect the team prize from a field in which the amateur contingent was peppered with celebrities such as Ian Botham, Hugh Grant, Samuel L Jackson and Jodie Kidd.
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