2005 in golf: Encyclopedia II - 2005 in golf - Men's professional golf

2005 in golf - Men's professional golf

Major championships

• 7-10 April: The Masters - Tiger Woods defeated fellow American Chris DiMarco at the first playoff hole to claim his 4th Masters title, and his 9th major. He returned to Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
• 16-19 June: U.S. Open - Michael Campbell came from behind in the fourth round to win his first major with an even par score. He was the first New Zealander to win a major since Bob Charles won the British Open in 1963. Retief Goosen led after three rounds, but fell away badly on Sunday and tied for eleventh. Tiger Woods had a good final round to move claim second place, but talk of him winning a Grand Slam was ended for another year.
• 14-17 July: The Open Championship - Tiger Woods leads wire-to-wire at the historic Old Course at St Andrews and wins his second Open Championship, and 10th major, by 5 strokes. Scottish favourite Colin Montgomerie closed within a shot at one point on Sunday and finished on his own in second, his best ever result at The Open Championship. Woods becomes only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to win each major more than once.
• 11-15 August: PGA Championship - Phil Mickelson wins his second major championship, taking the PGA at Baltusrol Golf Club by scoring a -4 276. Thomas Björn and Steve Elkington both tied for second with -3. The tournament had to be completed on Monday due to bad weather: this was the first time that a Monday finish happened at the PGA since 1986.

World Golf Championships (individual events)

• 23-27 February: WGC-Accenture World Matchplay Championship - David Toms defeated fellow American Chris DiMarco 6&5 in the final.
• 18-21 August: WGC-NEC Invitational - Tiger Woods defeated Chris DiMarco by one stroke to win this tournament for the fourth time in his career.
• 6-9 October: WGC-American Express Championship - Tiger Woods beat John Daly in a playoff. It was his fourth win in six stagings of this tournament.

Other leading PGA Tour events

• 24-27 March: The Players Championship - American Fred Funk picked up the biggest win of his career at the age of 48.
• 3-6 November: The Tour Championship - Bart Bryant, a 42 year old who had come good in 2004 and 2005 after a difficult career, won by six strokes.

For a full list of PGA Tour results click here.

Other leading PGA European Tour events

• 26-29 May: BMW Championship - Argentina's Angel Cabrera picked up the most prestigious title of his career.
• 15-18 September: HSBC World Match Play Championship - Reigning U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell beats Paul McGinley to claim the richest prize in golf.
• 27-30 October: Volvo Masters - Paul McGinley of the Republic of Ireland won the tournament, and Colin Montgomerie finished ahead of Michael Campbell to top the 2005 European Tour Order or Merit.

For a full list of PGA European Tour results click here.

Tour money list / order of merit winners:

• PGA Tour - Tiger Woods topped the money list for the sixth time, with earnings of $10,628,024. Full list
• PGA European Tour - Colin Montgomerie topped the Order of Merit for a record eighth time with earnings of €2,794,222.84. Full list
• Japan Golf Tour - Shingo Katayama topped the money list for the second consecutive year, winning 134,075,280 Yen. Full list
• Asian Tour - Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant topped the order of merit with US$510,122, the first time a player has won over $500,000 in a season on the Asian Tour. Full list
• PGA Tour of Australasia - Adam Scott topped the money list with earnings of AUS$545,429

Full list

• Sunshine Tour - Charl Schwartzel of South Africa topped the 2004/05 order of merit with earnings of 1,635,850.44 South African Rand (full list). Current 2005/06 order of merit.

Team events

• 22-25 September: Seve Trophy - After conceding an early lead Great Britain & Ireland pulled level before the singles, and then dominated the singles matches to win 16½ to 11½ and retain the Trophy.
• 22-25 September: Presidents Cup - The match was all square going into the singles, but the USA pulled away to win 18½ to 15½.
• 17-20 November: WGC-World Cup - Third round leaders Wales, represented by Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge, were declared the winners after the final round was called off due to bad weather.

Other happenings

• 26 February: Former British Open champion Max Faulkner died.
• 6 March: Tiger Woods won the Ford Championship at Doral and returned to Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings, displacing Vijay Singh.
• 20 March: Vijay Singh's tied second place finish at the Bay Hill Invitational restored him to Number 1 after just two weeks.
• 10 April: Tiger Woods became World Number 1 again after winning The Masters.
• 13 May: Tiger Woods' record breaking run of 142 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour came to an end at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
• 22 May: Vijay Singh started his third spell as World Number 1, reclaiming the position from Woods even though neither man played that weekend.
• 13 June: Tiger Woods became World Number 1 yet again.
• 2 July: Tiger Woods became the first man to pass $50 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Men's professional golf", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki