What a year of golf

Can it really already be December? Did someone really shoot 61 over the Gary Player course at Sun City? Does the Pope have a balcony?

Another year has raced by at breakneck speed - another year in which I did not play nearly enough golf and which that elusive sub-70 score again eluded me.

But that’s the little picture. The big picture was mightily impressive.

From a South African perspective there was Retief Goosen becoming our fourth winner of a major and Goosen and Ernie Els taking the World Cup of Golf in Japan in a four-way play-off.

Goosen’s US Open is obviously the best moment for South Africans, but my vote for the achievement of the year goes to Tiger Woods winning the US Masters at Augusta to become the first, and probably the last, to hold all four majors at the same time.

I would have been willing to bet large sums that for one man to hold all the majors at once was just not possible, but Tiger showed just what a special talent he is.

I am privileged to be able to say that I saw him play.

If Tiger’s achievement was extraordinary what does one say about Annika Sorenstam?

She won eight times, became the first woman to win more than $2-million in a year and, perhaps best of all, the first lady golfer to shoot 59.

A big year for women’s golf - especially as the rivalry between Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak is better than anything in the men’s game - although Messrs Duval, Goosen, Mickelson, Els, Garcia et al would doubtless beg to differ.

2001 proved to be a momentous year in which, sadly, the biggest event had very little to do with golf - September 11. Golf was not left untouched by the terror attacks on the United States with both the Ryder Cup, with just days to go, and the President’s Cup having to be postponed. As always the reaction of golf and golfers was exemplary; making one proud to be involved in such a game.

In an incredible 12 months David Toms became the first winner of a major to score a hole-in-one on his way to taking the US PGA and Mark Calcavecchia broke a USPGA Tour record that had stood for 46 years with a score of 256 to win the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. The previous record was set by Mike Souchak in the 1955 Texas Open.

Calcavecchia not only broke the 72-hole scoring record, he also broke the record for most birdies in 72 holes; tapping in a short putt on the 17th hole for his 32nd birdie of the tournament.

But that was not all. In the 90-hole Bob Hope Classic Joe Durant won with a record total of 36-under-par 324 - the furthest under par of any player in tour history.

A record of a different kind was set in Los Angeles when the Nissan Open produced the biggest play-off in PGA Tour history - Australian Robert Allenby eventually taking the title by defeating five others, Toshi Izawa, Brandel Chamblee, Bob Tway, Jeff Sluman and Dennis Paulson.

Then there was a bloke called Jason Bohn, an American playing on the Canadian Tour, who carded a 13-under 58 to win the Bayer Championship at Huron Oaks Golf Club. Bohn’s round was the lowest ever in official tournament play in a PGA Tour sanctioned event and also the lowest ever last round.

It is worth recording, though, that Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama shot a 58 in qualifying for the 2000 US Open at the Woodmont CC in Rockville, Maryland.

Incredibly Bohn’s round included 10 birdies, two eagles and a dropped shot. He missed the chance to shoot 57 when he decided to lay up short of water at the long finishing hole and then pitching and two-putting for a par.

The year will also be remembered for the emergence of the like of Charles Howell III, David Gossett, Bryce Molder, Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Paul Casey. Time will tell which of them will become major winners and whether the like of Jean Hugo, Trevor Immelman, Martin Maritz or Richard Sterne will keep up South Africa’s presence in the higher echelons of the game.

In Deerfield Beach, Florida a 101-year-old golfer thought it was nothing special when he aced the 16th hole at his local club. It was, after all, his sixth. But the four-iron shot on the 98m par three made Harold Stilson the oldest golfer to achieve a hole-in-one, breaking a 16-year-old record set by a 99-year-old Spaniard.

The standard of golf just seems to get better. They say it’s new clubs and balls… but I don’t know so much, why doesn’t it work for me?