Tiger Woods' 2002 US Open Win At Bethpage Black
2002 was the first time Bethpage had hosted a Major Championship
Tiger Woods' 2002 US Open Win At Bethpage Black
The USPGA Championship takes place at Bethpage State Park this year on the famous Black Course, as the venue hosts its third Major.
It most recently hosted the US Open in 2009 but also held the tournament in 2002.
2002 was the first ever staging of a US Open at a public facility, and the course more than lived up to expectation.
Related: Past champions at Bethpage Black
The 102nd staging of the United States' national Open was won by Tiger Woods, who captured his second US Open title and eighth Major Championship.
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Woods went wire-to-wire to win by three strokes from Phil Mickelson, with a total of three under par for the four days.
He was the only man under par, with Mickelson at even, Jeff Maggert two over, Sergio Garcia three over and the trio of Nick Faldo, Scott Hoch and Billy Mayfair at five over par.
Woods shot rounds of 67, 68, 70 and 72 on the Par 70 layout for a total of 277.
His victory was the first time the year's Masters champion went on to win the US Open in 30 years.
Since then, Jordan Spieth in 2015 is the only man to match that.
Woods began the final round four clear of Garcia and five ahead of Mickelson but he was just two ahead of Lefty after a bogey-bogey start to Mickelson's birdie-par.
However, that was as close as the gap got all day, as Tiger recovered to be level par for his round after 13 holes which had him three clear with five to play.
Despite a bogey at the 16th, he was four ahead of Mickelson after 17 when Lefty went bogey-bogey at 16 and 17 to drop to level par.
Woods would also bogey the 18th to drop to three under, which was three ahead of Mickelson.
"I know it will happen eventually," the then-majorless Mickelson said.
"Having the chance to compete against arguably the greatest player of all time is a special opportunity, and I'm getting closer to breaking through."
"This one was hard fought," Woods said.
" You couldn't just slap it around and play poorly and contend for this championship. You had to play well, and I was able to do it the entire week."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddwhwzffqzo
Garcia dropped from one under to three over after a four over par 74 with his chances all-but-gone after four bogeys and eight pars in his opening 12 holes.
American Jeff Maggert briefly got to level par on his front nine to claw within three, but he played his last 12 holes in two over to ultimately finish five back.
Nick Faldo was the leading Brit, and the 54-year-old shot the round of the week, a 66 (-4), in the third round.
The fact that his 66 was the low round of the week was testament to how difficult the 7,214 yard course was playing.
It was a wet week on what was, at the time, the longest US Open course in history.
"If they keep doing this, they'll take the fun out of the game, because only a few guys can win," three-time Major winner Nick Price said.
Faldo finished T5th with Scott Hoch and Billy Mayfair in what was his best Major finish since the 1996 Open.
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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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