2012 will go down as one of the best years ever to be a golf fan.
The Ryder Cup at Medinah was historic. Rory McIlroy ascended to No. 1. Tiger Woods has found a new playmate and a semblance of his old golf game. The USGA and The R&A have started a “Great Debate” over anchored strokes. Even ultra-conservative and super-secret Augusta National made news headlines.
As the year is winding down let’s reflect back to the biggest stories of the golf season. I will be submitting my Top-5 stories of the year in individual posts over the next week.
Here are five that missed the cut.
#10 Certainly Yani Tseng maintaining her No. 1 ranking as the best lady golfer was a big story. Especially since she did not win a golf tournament after March. Her three wins all came early in the season and she struggled from April to the end of October. Na Yeon Choi and Stacy Lewis gained valuable ground in 2012 and either could overtake Yani if she falters early in 2013.
#9 Stacy Lewis was the first American woman to win the award for LPGA Player of the Year since 1994. She was the model of consistency throughout the year and proves that there are some capable American women that can compete with the European and Asian ladies that have dominated the LPGA in recent years.
#8 42-year-old Ernie Els used a belly putter to win the Open Championship at Royal Lytham. He had fallen out of the Top-50 in the world and lost his eligibility to play in the 2012 Masters. He worked hard to earn a spot early in the year, but fell just short. When most felt that the “Big Easy’s” best golf was behind him he fooled everyone and got his second Claret Jug and fourth major title.
#7 Bubba Watson pulled off a miraculous shot to win the 2012 Masters. He cried at the presentation, cried some more on the Golf Channel, and then shed more tears on Letterman. Poor boy must be dehydrated.
#6 The PGA Tour made big news with significant changes to the tour schedule and qualification process. The 2014 PGA Tour season will actually start in October of 2013.
After the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup are done the PGA Tour will start 2014 with six events in a Fall Series. All will offer $6 million purses and FedEx Cup points. That is $36 million more for tour players to split up. Merry Christmas!
These six events are also played in some very exotic locales. Malaysia, China and Mexico have become PGA Tour destinations. Better get those passports in order.
The tour held its last PGA Tour Q-School in 2012. In the future all PGA Tour members must earn their playing privileges through the Web.com Tour. Next year Q-School graduates will only earn exemptions onto the Web.com Tour.
Watch for the Top 5 Golf Stories of 2012 in the coming days.