The 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational was a professional golf tournament, held August 22–25 at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington. It was the fourth WGC-NEC Invitational tournament, and the second of four World Golf Championships events held in 2002. It was the only time the event was not held at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Sahalee hosted the PGA Championship four years earlier in 1998.
Craig Parry won the tournament, four strokes ahead of runners-up Robert Allenby and Fred Funk, for his first victory on the PGA Tour. It was Parry's only win in a World Golf Championship event, and the first WGC-NEC Invitational which Tiger Woods did not win; his winning streak was stopped at three as he finished in fourth, five strokes back. Rich Beem, winner of the PGA Championship the previous week, finished in a tie for sixth.
With the win, Parry moved to 45th in the Official World Golf Ranking, up 73 spots from the previous week.
Field 1. 2002 United States and European Ryder Cup teams United States: Paul Azinger (2,3), Mark Calcavecchia (3), Stewart Cink (2,3), David Duval (2,3,4), Jim Furyk (2,3,4), Scott Hoch (3), Davis Love III (2,3), Phil Mickelson (2,3,4), Hal Sutton (2), David Toms (3,4), Scott Verplank (3,4), Tiger Woods (2,3,4) Europe: Thomas Bjørn (3), Darren Clarke (3), Niclas Fasth (3), Pierre Fulke, Sergio García (3,4), Pádraig Harrington (3,4), Bernhard Langer (3, 4), Paul McGinley, Colin Montgomerie (3), Jesper Parnevik (3), Phillip Price, Lee Westwood
2. 2000 United States and International Presidents Cup teams United States: Notah Begay III, Tom Lehman (3), Loren Roberts, Kirk Triplett International: Robert Allenby (3,4), Stuart Appleby (3,5), Michael Campbell (3,4), Steve Elkington, Ernie Els (3,4), Carlos Franco, Retief Goosen (3,4), Shigeki Maruyama (3,4), Greg Norman, Nick Price (3,4), Vijay Singh (3,4), Mike Weir (3, 4)
3. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking as of August 19 Rich Beem (4), Ángel Cabrera (4), José Cóceres (4), John Cook (4), Chris DiMarco (4), Bob Estes (4), Brad Faxon, Fred Funk, Toshimitsu Izawa, Jerry Kelly (4), Justin Leonard (4), Peter Lonard, Steve Lowery, Len Mattiace (4), Scott McCarron, Rocco Mediate (4), José María Olazábal (4), Kenny Perry, Eduardo Romero (4), Justin Rose (4), Kevin Sutherland (4)
4. Tournament winners of worldwide events since the 2001 WGC-NEC Invitational with an OWGR Strength of Field Rating of 100 points or more K. J. Choi, John Daly, Tobias Dier, Joel Edwards, Matt Gogel, Ricardo González, Anders Hansen, Søren Hansen, Matt Kuchar, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Craig Parry, Craig Perks, Chris Smith
5. The winner of selected tournaments from each of the following tours Japan Golf Tour: Japan Golf Tour Championship (2002) – Nobuhito Sato PGA Tour of Australasia: Australian Open (2001) – Stuart Appleby, qualified in categories 2 and 3 Sunshine Tour: The Tour Championship (2002) – Nicholas Lawrence Asian Tour: Volvo China Open (2001) – Charlie Wi
Round summaries First round Thursday, August 22, 2002 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Retief Goosen65−6 Toshimitsu IzawaT3 Darren Clarke66−5 Davis Love III Phil MickelsonT6 Steve Lowery67−4 Kenny Perry Justin RoseT9 Paul Azinger68−3 Thomas Bjørn Chris DiMarco Fred Funk Sergio García Matt Gogel Rocco Mediate Craig Perks Vijay Singh Lee Westwood Tiger Woods
Second round Friday, August 23, 2002 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Robert Allenby69-63=132−10 Steve Lowery67-65=1323 Retief Goosen65-68=133−94 Justin Rose67-67=134−85 Phil Mickelson66-69=135−7T6 Fred Funk68-68=136−6 Loren Roberts70-66=136T8 Thomas Bjørn68-69=137−5 Jim Furyk70-67=137 Matt Gogel68-69=137 Rocco Mediate68-69=137 Craig Parry72-65=137 Kenny Perry67-70=137 Vijay Singh68-69=137 David Toms69-68=137 Lee Westwood68-69=137
Third round Saturday, August 24, 2002 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Robert Allenby69-63-71=203−10 Craig Parry72-65-66=2033 Fred Funk68-68-68=204−9T4 Ernie Els71-67-67=205−8 Jim Furyk70-67-68=205 Matt Gogel68-69-68=205 Steve Lowery67-65-73=205 Tiger Woods68-70-67=205T9 Phil Mickelson66-69-71=206 −7 Justin Rose67-67-72=206 Vijay Singh68-69-69=206
Final round Sunday, August 25, 2002 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Craig Parry 72-65-66-65=268 −16 1,000,000T2 Robert Allenby 69-63-71-69=272 −12 410,000 Fred Funk 68-68-68-68=2724 Tiger Woods 68-70-67-68=273 −11 215,0005 Justin Rose 67-67-72-68=274 −10 187,500T6 Rich Beem 74-67-67-67=275 −9 150,000 Jim Furyk 70-67-68-70=2758 Steve Lowery 67-65-73-71=276 −8 120,000T9 Matt Gogel 68-69-68-72=277 −7 105,000 Phil Mickelson 66-69-71-71=277 Source:
References
External links Coverage on the European Tour's official site