2002 WGC-American Express Championship
# 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.

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)

### 2. Top 30 on the 2002 PGA Tour money list as of 9 September

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

Scott Laycock, Peter O'Malley

### 5. Top 3 on the 2001–02 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Tim Clark

### 6. Top 3 on the 2002 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit as of 9 September

Kenichi Kuboya

* Nobuhito Sato and Toru Taniguchi did not play.

### 7. Winner of the 2001 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit

Thongchai Jaidee

## Round summaries

### First round

| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 65 | −7 |
| T2 | Steve Lowery | 66 | −6 |
| T2 | David Toms | 66 | −6 |
| T4 | Chris DiMarco | 67 | −5 |
| T4 | Gary Evans | 67 | −5 |
| T4 | Retief Goosen | 67 | −5 |
| T4 | Jerry Kelly | 67 | −5 |
| T4 | Vijay Singh | 67 | −5 |
| T4 | Mike Weir | 67 | −5 |
| T10 | José Cóceres | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Ernie Els | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Bob Estes | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Niclas Fasth | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Justin Leonard | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | José María Olazábal | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Craig Parry | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Kenny Perry | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Nick Price | 68 | −4 |
| T10 | Scott Verplank | 68 | −4 |

### Second round

| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 65-65=130 | −14 |
| 2 | Jerry Kelly | 67-65=132 | −12 |
| T3 | Steve Lowery | 66-67=133 | −11 |
| T3 | David Toms | 66-67=133 | −11 |
| 5 | Retief Goosen | 67-67=134 | −10 |
| T6 | Stuart Appleby | 69-66=135 | −9 |
| T6 | Ernie Els | 68-67=135 | −9 |
| T6 | Gary Evans | 67-68=135 | −9 |
| T9 | Chris DiMarco | 67-69=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Bob Estes | 68-68=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Stephen Leaney | 69-67=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Justin Leonard | 68-68=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Davis Love III | 69-67=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Rocco Mediate | 69-67=136 | −8 |
| T9 | Vijay Singh | 67-69=136 | −8 |

### Third round

| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 65-65-67=197 | −19 |
| T2 | Retief Goosen | 67-67-68=202 | −14 |
| T2 | Jerry Kelly | 67-65-70=202 | −14 |
| T2 | Steve Lowery | 66-67-69=202 | −14 |
| T2 | Scott McCarron | 71-67-64=202 | −14 |
| T2 | Vijay Singh | 67-69-66=202 | −14 |
| T2 | David Toms | 66-67-69=202 | −14 |
| 8 | Rocco Mediate | 69-67-67=203 | −13 |
| 9 | Davis Love III | 69-67-68=204 | −12 |
| T10 | Stuart Appleby | 69-66-70=205 | −11 |
| T10 | Bob Estes | 68-68-69=205 | −11 |
| T10 | Justin Leonard | 68-68-69=205 | −11 |
| T10 | Mike Weir | 67-70-68=205 | −11 |

### Final round

| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 65-65-67-66=263 | −25 | 1,000,000 |
| 2 | Retief Goosen | 67-67-68-62=264 | −24 | 540,000 |
| 3 | Vijay Singh | 67-69-66-65=267 | −21 | 367,500 |
| T4 | Jerry Kelly | 67-65-70-66=268 | −20 | 235,000 |
| T4 | David Toms | 66-67-69-66=268 | −20 | 235,000 |
| 6 | Scott McCarron | 71-67-64-67=269 | −19 | 180,000 |
| 7 | Sergio García | 69-69-70-62=270 | −18 | 155,000 |
| 8 | Davis Love III | 69-67-68-67=271 | −17 | 130,000 |
| T9 | Michael Campbell | 71-66-71-64=272 | −16 | 111,000 |
| T9 | Bob Estes | 68-68-69-67=272 | −16 | 111,000 |
