2002 WGC-American Express Championship
The 2002 WGC-American Express Championship was a golf tournament that was contested from 19–22 September at Mount Juliet Golf Course in Thomastown, Kilkenny, Ireland. It was the third WGC-American Express Championship tournament, following the cancellation of the 2001 edition in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and the third of four World Golf Championships events in 2002.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 19–22 September 2002 |
| Location | Thomastown, Kilkenny, Ireland |
| Course(s) | Mount Juliet Golf Course |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,246 |
| Field | 65 players |
| Cut | None |
| Prize fund | $5,000,000 |
| Winner's share | $1,000,000 |
| Champion | |
 Tiger Woods | |
| 263 (–25) | |
World number 1 Tiger Woods won the tournament, to capture his second WGC-American Express Championship and his fifth World Golf Championship. He set the tournament record for score to-par at 25 under. Woods also went the first 71 holes of the tournament without making a bogey, only bogeying the 18th hole in the final round.
Field
- 1. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking as of 9 September
Robert Allenby (2), Stuart Appleby, Paul Azinger, Rich Beem (2), Thomas Bjørn (3), Ángel Cabrera (3), Mark Calcavecchia, Michael Campbell (3), Darren Clarke, José Cóceres, John Cook, Chris DiMarco (2), David Duval, Ernie Els (2,3), Bob Estes (2), Niclas Fasth (3), Brad Faxon (2), Fred Funk (2), Jim Furyk (2), Sergio García (2,3), Retief Goosen (2,3,5), Pádraig Harrington (3), Scott Hoch, Jerry Kelly (2), Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie (3), Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard (2), Peter Lonard, Davis Love III (2), Steve Lowery (2), Shigeki Maruyama (2), Len Mattiace (2), Scott McCarron (2), Rocco Mediate (2), Phil Mickelson (2), Colin Montgomerie (3), Craig Parry (4), Kenny Perry (2), Nick Price (2), Chris Riley (2), Eduardo Romero (3), Justin Rose (3,5), Adam Scott (3), Vijay Singh (2), David Toms (2), Scott Verplank, Mike Weir, Tiger Woods (2)
Craig Perks, John Rollins, Jeff Sluman, Kevin Sutherland
- 3. Top 20 on the 2002 European Tour Order of Merit as of 9 September
Gary Evans, Anders Hansen, Søren Hansen, Trevor Immelman, Stephen Leaney, Carl Pettersson
- 4. Top 3 on the 2002 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit as of 9 September
- 5. Top 3 on the 2001–02 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
- 6. Top 3 on the 2002 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit as of 9 September
- Nobuhito Sato and Toru Taniguchi did not play.
- 7. Winner of the 2001 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit
Round summaries
First round
Second round
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | United States | 65-65=130 | –14 |
| 2 | Jerry Kelly | United States | 67-65=132 | –12 |
| T3 | Steve Lowery | United States | 66-67=133 | –11 |
| David Toms | United States | 66-67=133 | ||
| 5 | Retief Goosen |  South Africa | 67-67=134 | –10 |
| T6 | Stuart Appleby | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 69-66=135 | –9 |
| Ernie Els | South Africa | 68-67=135 | ||
| Gary Evans |  England | 67-68=135 | ||
| T9 | Chris DiMarco | United States | 67-69=136 | –8 |
| Bob Estes | United States | 68-68=136 | ||
| Stephen Leaney | Australia | 69-67=136 | ||
| Justin Leonard | United States | 68-68=136 | ||
| Davis Love III | United States | 69-67=136 | ||
| Rocco Mediate | United States | 69-67=136 | ||
| Vijay Singh |  Fiji | 67-69=136 |
Third round
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | United States | 65-65-67=197 | –19 |
| T2 | Retief Goosen | South Africa | 67-67-68=202 | –14 |
| Jerry Kelly | United States | 67-65-70=202 | ||
| Steve Lowery | United States | 66-67-69=202 | ||
| Scott McCarron | United States | 71-67-64=202 | ||
| Vijay Singh | Fiji | 67-69-66=202 | ||
| David Toms | United States | 66-67-69=202 | ||
| 8 | Rocco Mediate | United States | 69-67-67=203 | –13 |
| 9 | Davis Love III | United States | 69-67-68=204 | –12 |
| T10 | Stuart Appleby | Australia | 69-66-70=205 | –11 |
| Bob Estes | United States | 68-68-69=205 | ||
| Justin Leonard | United States | 68-68-69=205 | ||
| Mike Weir | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada | 67-70-68=205 |
Final round
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | United States | 65-65-67-66=263 | –25 | 1,000,000 |
| 2 | Retief Goosen | South Africa | 67-67-68-62=264 | –24 | 540,000 |
| 3 | Vijay Singh | Fiji | 67-69-66-65=267 | –21 | 367,500 |
| T4 | Jerry Kelly | United States | 67-65-70-66=268 | –20 | 235,000 |
| David Toms | United States | 66-67-69-66=268 | |||
| 6 | Scott McCarron | United States | 71-67-64-67=269 | –19 | 180,000 |
| 7 | Sergio García |  Spain | 69-69-70-62=270 | –18 | 155,000 |
| 8 | Davis Love III | United States | 69-67-68-67=271 | –17 | 130,000 |
| T9 | Michael Campbell |  New Zealand | 71-66-71-64=272 | –16 | 111,000 |
| Bob Estes | United States | 68-68-69-67=272 |