Five years later, golf still feels the impact

Updated: September 12, 2006, 12:26 PM ET

Email Print Share

By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN.com
Archive

The sky was blue, the outlook clear. What a nice day for flying, Blaine McCallister thought.

The PGA Tour player was headed to the Tampa Bay Classic, an event played opposite the American Express Championship that week. With an outing scheduled in New Jersey, he scheduled a private plane to take him out of Newark, N.J., at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11

And he flew right over the World Trade Center on his way to Tampa.

"It was beautiful," he said. "It was one gorgeous morning."

A few hours later, McCallister learned of the horror that had been inflicted at those twin towers.

The world had changed.

And it effected golf, although those associated with the game are almost sheepish when talking about it. How could any inconvenience they faced -- or still do -- compare with the worst terrorism act in our country's history?

Those scheduled to compete in the Tampa Bay Classic and the AmEx were, for the most part, relieved to learn that the events had been canceled. And they were never played. The Senior PGA Tour and Buy.com events that week were also called off, as was a tournament on the LPGA Tour.

Players such as Charles Howell III and Kevin Sutherland had taken a private plane from Oklahoma City and were on their way to Tampa when traffic controllers across the country ordered planes to land. They landed in New Orleans, then drove 10 hours to Palm Harbor, Fla., not knowing if the tournament was on or not.

Ben Crenshaw was taking a private plane from his home in Austin, Texas, and was forced to land in Mobile, Ala. From there, he drove to Tallahassee, spent the night, then drove five hours to the course and arrived less than an hour before the tournament was called off.

After the AmEx, which was to be played in St. Louis that week, was called off (never to return to Bellerive Country Club), Tiger Woods got in a car and drove all the way home to Florida.

Surreal.

Except for weather problems, nobody could remember a PGA Tour event being suspended or canceled going back to the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Jack Nicklaus remembered that day. He was informed of Kennedy's death while playing in the Cajun Classic Open Invitational in Louisiana. The tournament was suspended for a day, then resumed.

Today, golf tournaments are like many sporting events, with heightened security -- although they still allow spectators to get closer to competitors than any other sport.

Nowhere was the impact on security more evident than at the Ryder Cup, which was postponed one year. Just weeks away from being staged when the events of 9/11 occurred, the Ryder Cup was put off out of respect.

Now it is staged in even-numbered years. That also set back the Presidents Cup a year, and the LPGA's Solheim Cup, which are played on odd-numbered years.

When players and spectators arrived at the Belfry in England for the 2002 Cup, they were met by armed guards and electronic security. The situation promises to be much the same in a few weeks at the K Club in Ireland.

Perhaps the biggest difference, though, was the attitude about the event.

Gone were the trite phrases such as "War By The Shore" and "Battle at Brookline." The sniping across the Atlantic between the United States and European teams was nonexistent. The buildup was slow.

The event changed, and many believe that is fine.

"The edge has been taken off the tournament a little bit, and I think it's going to be a good thing for the Ryder Cup," Woods said at the time. "I think we're going to see how it used to be played. This is supposed to be a celebration of golf. It's not life or death, and I think that's what a lot of the public, as well as the press, make it out to be. And even some of the players.

"We're going out there and we're supposed to have fun, enjoy competing against the person in your group, and shake hands and let's go have a beer afterwards. That's how the Ryder Cup used to be, and I wish it would get back to that."

Although a year passed, the teams remained the same because "it was the proper thing to do," said U.S. captain Curtis Strange. "It's as simple as that. It's important to keep them the same, because it's the 2001 team. The reason we're delayed a year is because of the worst disaster to ever hit our country."

The Ryder Cup is about to be played for the third time since the disaster. Captains, as well as players, have come and gone.

But nobody has forgotten.

Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com.