Golf Network News
Sunday 12 January 2003PGA TourYear in Review
Els wins Mercedes Championships
Plantation Course at Kapalua, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii · Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 January 2003 · Ernie Els’s win no. 11 on the PGA Tour · purse $5,000,000 USD · Mercedes
The headline is set by GNN from the record. Reports from the papers of the day are below as they are found.
The weather
10 h 50 m
of daylight on the final day, the sun 47° up at noon, and that night a waxing gibbous moon (computed from the date and the place).
- R122°/22°C · wind 21 km/h W, gusts 32 · 0 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R222°/21°C · wind 22 km/h W, gusts 30 · 0.3 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R321°/20°C · wind 32 km/h NNE, gusts 46 · 0.7 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R421°/20°C · wind 25 km/h NNE, gusts 38 · 0 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
The name over time
Not yet traced: its earlier names, sponsors and courses come with research.
The ones it got away from
- Rocco Mediate USA · 269Closed with a 10-under 63, missing a 7-foot birdie putt at the last that would have tied the course record, to tie for second, eight shots behind Mediate marvels at how easily Els won it (Bill Kwon, The Honolulu Advertiser, 2003-01-13)
- K.J. Choi KOR · 269Two behind after a course-record 62 on Saturday, he pulled within one with birdies at 10 and 11 but bogeyed 13 and 14 and closed with an even-par 73 to tie for second Golf Today: Els breaks records on way to victory (Wayback Machine copy of dead page; unattributed report)
36 started, 36 made it
Same week
PGA Tour event
Mercedes Championships
Kapalua Resort (Plantation Course), Plantation Course at Kapalua, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
4 of 5 researched
Winner
Ernie Els
Runner-up not yet researched.
From the papers
ASAP Sports (interview transcript)
12 January 2003
I'm not trying to send a message to anybody. I'm just trying to prove to myself that I can play well, just keep improving on the things that I'm working on
PGA notebook: Galleries drop at Mercedes (Ann Miller, The Honolulu Advertiser, 2003-01-13)
12 January 2003
You can put us on the hardest golf course in the history of the world with no wind and we will destroy it, period, as a tour. We'll kill it. That's what happened here.
Mediate marvels at how easily Els won it (Bill Kwon, The Honolulu Advertiser, 2003-01-13)
12 January 2003
This course is not that easy. It really isn't. I don't know what's going on. I don't want to know why,
Top 10
| Pos | Player | Rounds | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernie Els | 64 · 65 · 65 · 67 | 261 | −31 |
| T2 | Rocco Mediate | 72 · 69 · 65 · 63 | 269 | −23 |
| T2 | K.J. Choi | 67 · 67 · 62 · 73 | 269 | −23 |
| T4 | Vijay Singh | 68 · 70 · 67 · 65 | 270 | −22 |
| T4 | Retief Goosen | 70 · 65 · 66 · 69 | 270 | −22 |
| T6 | Jonathan Byrd | 68 · 69 · 71 · 63 | 271 | −21 |
| T6 | Jim Furyk | 64 · 72 · 67 · 68 | 271 | −21 |
| T6 | Chris Riley | 65 · 70 · 67 · 69 | 271 | −21 |
| T6 | Bob Estes | 66 · 66 · 70 · 69 | 271 | −21 |
| T10 | Gene Sauers | 65 · 72 · 69 · 66 | 272 | −20 |
| T10 | Jerry Kelly | 65 · 70 · 67 · 70 | 272 | −20 |
The golfer
born 1969-10-17, Johannesburg, South Africa; RSA; turned pro 1989; age 33 that week; tour wins to date: 11; majors to date: 3; world No. 3 that week (OWGR rankBefore as stated by the OWGR player profile events table).
What’s in the bag
No bag on file yet