Tiger Woods will be attempting to accomplish something that has not been done for 72 years in America and has never been achieved in the 31 year history of The European Tour when he competes in the World Golf Championships - NEC Invitational at Sahalee Country Club near Seattle.
Woods has won each of the first three WGC - NEC Invitational titles, all of which were held at Firestone Country Club's South Course in Akron, Ohio. Should he win the title for a fourth consecutive time, he would join Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen as the only players in US PGA Tour history to win the same event four straight times.
Hagen won the US PGA Championship from 1924-1927, while Sarazen won the Miami Open in 1926, and after the event was not played in 1927 due to a schedule change, he triumphed again in 1928, 1929 and 1930.
On The European Tour International Schedule, three players have won events in three successive years. Ian Woosnam captured the Monte Carlo Open in 1990, 1991 and 1992; Nick Faldo won the Irish Open in 1991, 1992 and 1993 while Colin Montgomerie reeled off three Volvo PGA Championships in 1998, 1999 and 2000. However the quartet of wins has remained elusive.
This year the WGC- NEC Invitational has been opened up to a greater number of players and the total field in 2002 will be 78 with no fewer than 30 European Tour Members aiming to deprive Woods of that fourth consecutive title.
Heading The European Tour entry is new Open Champion, Ernie Els, who claimed the Claret Jug after a sudden-death play-off against Thomas Levet of France, Australians Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington having been eliminated after an initial four hole play-off.
Both Teams for The 34th Ryder Cup Matches will be in the high quality field while several emerging tournament winners on The European Tour will be making their debuts, namely Tobias Dier (The TNT Open), Anders Hansen (Volvo PGA Championship), Søren Hansen (Murphy’s Irish Open), Graeme McDowell (Volvo Scandinavian Masters) and Justin Rose (dunhill championship and Victor Chandler British Masters).
