2007 in Review - A Banner Year for Golf

The rebirth of professional golf in the Metro Area. The birth of a child for the game’s greatest player. An American wins the British Amateur, and he happens to be a Hokie. A local legend
proves to be the top PGA Pro in the country.

What follows is a monthly synopsis of the events that we viewed as the most important and riveting in the year 2007.

JANUARY

• Tiger Woods captures his seventh consecutive PGA TOUR event when he wins the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Woods challenges one of the greatest records in sports– the 11 tournaments won in a row by Byron Nelson in 1945. Tiger’s streak ends with an early exit at the WGC-Match Play Championship.

• Local boy, George Berger, PGA Tour Executive and one of the proponents of the FedEx Cup Series, dies of complications from meningitis. George was a long-time advocate of The President’s Cup and a friend of Pros N’ Hackers. Rest in peace, dear friend.

FEBRUARY

• Titliest, which has the two most successful balls in history, Pro V1 & Pro V1x, announces that it is making changes to them. This causes a rush by some pros to gather up stockpiles of their favorite old version of the Pro V1 or Pro V1x.

• The International Tournament, a long-time stop on the PGA Tour with a special format called The Modified Stableford, decides to fold. This enables Tiger Woods to announce his decision to host a new tournament in the Washington, D.C. area, backed by corporate giant AT&T. Congressional Country Club is the first choice for the event, however a member vote is still in the balance.

• Fairfax native Steve Marino earns the first top-10 of his career, finishing in 8th place at the PGA TOUR event in Cancun, Mexico. Ironically the tournament winner was another local product, Fred Funk. Marino would finish his first full season with 4 Top-10s and over a million dollars in earnings.

MARCH

• Ernie Els makes a big move. The man, nicknamed “The Big Easy” for the remarkably fluid swing he possesses, surprises nearly everyone when he announces he is leaving Titliest. He will now play Callaway instead.

• Sergio Garcia creates a little bit of a tempest in a cup when he spits into one during play at Doral. While the PGA TOUR doesn’t release information on player fines, you can bet it was more than just a drop in the bucket.

• Several PGA TOUR players, most notably Rich Beem and Brad Faxon complain about the invitational format suggested by Tiger Woods and the tour. Even though Nicklaus and Palmer have their own limited field invitational tournaments, it seems Woods pushed the needle on the issue. The matter at hand involves the lack of spots in the field, compared to a normal tour field.

APRIL

• Zach Johnson, in a memorable Sunday back-nine, holds off Tiger Woods and captures his first Masters. The victory surprises most, however experts will claim that the win validates Johnson’s immense skill and major championship toughness.

• Lorena Ochoa takes over as the number one ranked women’s golfer in the world, grabbing the torch from Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam.

• In the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship, Morgan Pressel wins to become the youngest woman to capture a major championship at age 18.

• In college golf, Virginia Tech ties for the ACC Championship with Georgia Tech. This takes place just six days after a gunman kills 32 students and faculty on the Blacksburg campus.

MAY

• Working with his new teacher Butch Harmon, Phil Mickelson wins golf’s “fifth major,” The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. In the same month, Mickelson injures his wrist and withdraws from the Memorial.

• Virginia Governor Tim Kaine declares May 15 “Play Golf Virginia Day,” based on the study that golf is a $3.1 billion industry in the state and employs over 40,000 people.

• Suzann Pettersen captures the LPGA’s Michelob ULTRA at Kingsmill. It’s her first career victory which paves the way for 4 more in 2007 including the McDonalds LPGA Championship the very next month at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace, MD.

• Michelle Wie continues her downward spiral when she takes herself out of the Ginn Tribute rather than risk shooting 88, which would have prevented her from playing on the LPGA Tour for a year. Wie blames a nagging wrist injury for her poor play.

• The Inaugural Melwood Prince George’s County Open on the Nationwide Tour features a milestone by winner Paul Claxton. Claxton, a Georgia native, became the first player to top the $1 million career earnings on the Nationwide Tour.

JUNE

• Angel Cabrera played steady and sometimes spectacular golf, fashioning a 5-over par score at difficult Oakmont. He becomes the first South American Native to win the United States Open Championship.

• Alexis Thompson earns the recognition, at 12 years, 4 months and 1 day, as the youngest to ever qualify for the Woman’s U.S. Open.

• Middle Atlantic standout, Chip Sullivan, wins the PGA Professional National Championship. Along with the Walter Hagen Cup, Sullivan also received a winner's check worth $75,000, a berth in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in August, six PGA TOUR exemptions over a 12-month period and a Rolex watch to ensure he's not late for any of those tee times.

• On June 18th, Tiger Woods becomes a father for the first time with the arrival of daughter Sam Alexis Woods.

• At the Maryland State Amateur Championship, Brad Hastings from Hog Neck holds on for a 2 & 1 victory over Richard Holland of Columbia Country Club.

• Drew Weaver, a student at Virginia Tech, wins the British Amateur Championship. He is the first American since Jay Sigel nearly 30 years ago, to triumph at the British Am.

JULY

• The AT&T National Hosted by Tiger Woods highlighted the week of July 4th. Aside from the blazing hot weather, the tournament has a very successful debut, as K.J. Choi hoists the trophy (a fine-looking bronzed Capitol Building) in victory.

• Pat Tallent (Vienna) wins the 2007 VSGA State Amateur Championship at Lowes Island Club. Tallent, 53, defeats Longwood University senior John Rosenstock 7 & 5 in the 36-hole finale.

• Billy Wingerd of Mount Pleasant finishes birdie-birdie at the Maryland State Open to edge out Chip Sullivan by one stroke.

• Padraig Harrington wins the British Open over Sergio Garcia and becomes the first European in eight years to win the title. Of course this would have
held true for Garcia as well. Paul Lawrie, at the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, was previously the last Euro to hold the Claret Jug.

• The man with one of the best nicknames in golf, Brad Bryant, aka “Dr. Dirt” beats out Hall of Famer Tom Watson to capture the U.S. Senior Open.

• Cristie Kerr plays the final 36 holes at Pine Needles in 6-under-par, and wins her first major, nipping world number one Lorena Ochoa at the U.S. Woman’s Open.

• Josh Meador of Mechanicsville, VA wins the 2007 SunTrust State Open of Virginia, sealing the deal with a final round 68 at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian.

• Five-Time British Open Champion, and honorary son of Scotland Tom Watson found some of that old Scottish magic in winning his third Senior British Open,
a Champions Tour major. If anybody is counting, that’s 8 Majors for Watson across the Pond. Bobby Jones holds the record for R&A Championships with 9.

AUGUST

• Tiger Woods avoids a “majors shut-out” by capturing the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in a route. Rory Sabbatini doesn’t learn the “Stephen Ames lesson” as he shoots his mouth off about Tiger. He loses big. The win is Woods 13th major title, putting him 5 behind Jack Nicklaus.

• Colt Knost becomes only the second person in history to garner the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and U.S. Amateur Championship in the same year. Ryan Moore was the first in 2004.

• Women’s Number One, Lorena Ochoa wins her first major, the Women’s British Open, at St. Andrews.

• Virginia triumphs over Maryland at the annual Potomac Cup competition at Nemacolin Resort.

• The first round of the PGA TOUR playoffs, also known as the FedEx Cup is played at Westchester CC in New York. Steve Stricker, who had a career year on tour, wins to take over the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings. The man he stole the honor from, Tiger Woods, chose to sit out the very first PGA TOUR Playoff event.

SEPTEMBER

• U.S. Presidents Cup team handily defeats the International team at Royal Montreal Club 19 1/2 to 14 1/2. Mike Weir makes Canadian hearts swell when he beats Tiger Woods, and Woody Austin turns the Presidents Cup into a set for his “Aquaman” role.

• Tiger Woods captures the Tour Championship and (surprise) wins the first FedEx Cup over the likes of Phil Mickelson and a resurgent Steve Stricker.

OCTOBER

• Baltimore hosts The Champions Tour’s Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, which is a major. With some of golf’s all-time greatest names in competition, the man with the greatest nickname won it all: “The Boss of the Moss”, Loren Roberts.

• LPGA Tour veteran Beth Daniel is awarded the captaincy for the 2009 Solheim Cup which will be played at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club in Sugar Grove, IL. Daniel was an 8 time competitor in the Solheim Cup.

NOVEMBER

• Proud Virginian Curtis Strange, along with fellow golfers Joe Carr, Hubert Green, Charles Blair MacDonald, Kel Nagle, and Se Ri Pak are inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

• The PGA TOUR, in a move to better its FedEx Cup, states it will move the TOUR Championship after the Ryder Cup in conflicting years, furthermore the series annuity will be severely reduced – The good news for the golfers and the fan and media interest is that $9 of the $10 million winners check will now be paid in cash.

DECEMBER

• LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament: Former UCLA standout, Jane Park leads list of 17 graduates, as she wins wire to wire. Kelli Kuehne is among them in 4th place.

• PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament: After finishing 139th on the season money list. Former tour winner Frank Lickliter – lit it up in the first round, firing a 62. He never looked back in taking home medalist honors.

• PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem announces that the organization will begin mandatory drug testing for its competitors following the steroid and HGH backlash in other sports.

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