PGA Tour Year in Review: Top Five Stories of the Year

The last PGA Tour-sanctioned event was played over a month ago, and as the year 2002 nears the end, even the ubiquitous Silly Season is all but over. Now is the apt time to look back and determine some of the noteworthy figures and events. Here are the personal top 5 memorable stories of the 2002 PGA Tour season, in a reverse order of preference.

• Rich Beem becomes rich at the PGA Championship http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pga_... : The unknown pro from Texas had only two previous career victories, but even his exciting win at The International just three weeks earlier didn't make him one of the contenders for the season's final major. Beem went 72-66-72 to join Justin Leonard in the Sunday's final pairing, and then he put himself on top thanks to a 34 on the front nine. After Leonard's early struggle and Tiger Woods' typical Sunday charge, Rich and Tiger got into a position to stage another unforgettable duel at the PGA Championship.

  When Beem eagled the par-5 11th, Woods, looking at the scoreboard and realizing he was suddenly down by three, three-putted for bogey from 20 feet on the 13th. Trailing by five with four to play, Woods then put on a clinic, finishing his championship with four straight birdies. Yet it wasn't enough to catch Beem, a former celluar phone and car stereo salesman. This marked the first time that Woods finished runner-up at a major championship.

• Augusta National Golf Club vs. National Council of Women's Organizations http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pga_... : This began with innocent enough a letter by Martha Burk, the chair of NCWO, who urged Augusta chair William (Hootie) Johnson to invite women as the club's members. Johnson replied publicly to the private letter, basically telling Burk to leave him and the club alone.

  The media blitz began, with The New York Times leading the charge and calling for Tiger Woods in an editorial to boycott the 2003 Masters. With neither side willing to compromise, this dispute has no end in sight. In the meantime, the public, which in the beginning passionately discussed what's legal (Augusta's right to free association) and what's moral (its duty as a major championship host to admit women to end its discriminatory policies) have increasingly become apathetic and now want this resolved one way or another.

• Tiger Woods' pursuit of the Grand Slam http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/pga_... : Woods has made a career out of doing the unexpected, and going into the season the Grand Slam remained one of few feats he had yet to achieve. Wanting to silence the critics who argued his four straight majors over 2000 and 2001 didn't constitute the true Grand Slam, Tiger began the season with a bang by winning both the Masters and the U.S. Open. No one since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 had won the first two majors of the year.
  The copyright of the article PGA Tour Year in Review: Top Five Stories of the Year in PGA Tour is owned by Jeeho Yoo. Permission to republish PGA Tour Year in Review: Top Five Stories of the Year in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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