Golf is resting from a long, grueling season and rest it shall; it was a doozie of a 2008. We had some of the same old names winning consistently, some of the same old names losing consistently and a list of new golfers sure to find their way in golf conversation for years to come. Without further ado, here are your winners and losers of the 2008 PGA Tour Season.
Winners Padraig Harrington -- With all respect to Tiger Woods and what he accomplished early this season, Harrington is our player of the year and for good reason. Padraig won two major championship in a row, making it three of the last six, and trying his best to accomplish what Sergio Garcia once said his goal was, to top both the PGA Tour money list and the Order of Merit in Europe. Harrington's second shot on the 17th hole at Royal Birkdale was one of the better executed shots of the year considering the pressure, setting up a Claret clinching eagle and repeating at the Open.
Sports
The Tango at Torrey Pines
-- The most memorable moment of the year for two individual has to go to Tiger and Rocco Mediate, two golfers with absolutely nothing in common besides the urge for birdies. Woods was literally on his last leg of the year, fighting off a 45-year-old opponent with five career PGA Tour victories, just one more than Tiger had this year. It was truly a David versus Goliath showdown in San Diego and Mediate basically had the knockout punch in his grasp two times on the par-5 18th. It might be easy to card Steve Stricker's putt in the Ryder Cup as the stroke of the year, but Woods must-make birdie on the 72nd hole literally shook the sports world. When 90 holes weren't enough to decide the U.S. Open, Tiger took one more to dispose of Mediate, and put himself just four shy of Jack Nicklaus' major championship record of 18.
Tiger Woods -- A major championship win, a World Golf Championships victory, two other trophies at the Buick Invitational and Arnie's tournament and he only played six events all season! It is easy to forget how talented this guy is, and at 32-years-old he isn't exactly the kid we remember, but the U.S. Open win was as much about heart as it was about talent. When you are second on the PGA Tour money list playing 17 less tournaments than the man in first, you played some pretty good golf when around. Oh, and he finished second in the Masters, which is pretty terrible.
Paul Azinger and the U.S. Ryder Cup Team -- It is one thing to see a problem and want to change it and it is a whole other thing to actually go in and fix it. Azinger realized the Americans weren't stepping on the links in the Ryder Cup with their best possible team and decided to tinker with the system and allow four captain's picks instead of just two. Hunter Mahan and J.B. Holmes appreciate the gesture. The Americans got off to a fast start on Friday and never let up, joining some charismatic groupings like Mahan and Justin Leonard, Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson. This was a group of guys that found camaraderie and cohesion and it showed on the golf course. Can you imagine joining this group together with a healthy Woods in two years? Scary spice.
Anthony Kim -- Belt buckles, brash bravado and a better than most personality, the 23-year-old Kim won twice on tour this season and really cemented his name into the golf elite with his Ryder Cup performance. Facing down the Europeans older version of himself, Kim took down Garcia in singles and didn't even know it. He can be a little cocky at times, but he's good enough to be, and it looks like the attitude needed to give Woods a run for his money might actually be here. Who isn't excited for a Kim-Woods final round pairing in '09?
LosersSergio Garcia -- The Players Championship win was the biggest of his career and looked to be the breakthrough he might need to start racking up those major championship wins, but it turned out to be the highlight of his season. A second place finish at the PGA Championship, a sloppy playoff loss to Vijay Singh in the Barclays and a bogey in the playoff last week against Camilo Villegas showed that while he is improving his game, he still struggles with pressure. Also, he's always had that Ryder Cup record to fall back on, but he didn't even win a match at Valhalla this year. Oh, and Nicklaus said he didn't think Garcia would ever win a major championship at the rate he's going, which is never good. This phrase is getting pretty old for Garcia fans, but here goes -- "maybe next year."
Phil Mickelson -- He did win twice, but that is beside the point. Mickelson is one of the top-3 golfers in the world and his year is measured in major championships. Lefty had a decent finish at the Masters, a t-5, but he only broke 70 three times in 12 major championship rounds, never more than once at each tournament. Also, in the Ryder Cup he didn't exactly tear it up, winning just one full point and losing two matches, including a singles loss to rookie Justin Rose.
The Australians -- Pushing Greg Norman's great performance at the British Open aside, the young guns from the Land Down Under did next to nothing this year on tour. Geoff Ogilvy won the WGC-CA Championship in March and Adam Scott won the Byron Nelson a month later and that was it for the Australian boys. In the four major championships of 2008, the Australians finished in the top-10 three total times, without a single top-10 in both the Masters and PGA Championship.
The FedEx Cup -- Two years, two misses for the golf playoff system, and it isn't getting any better. Viewers were down, Tiger was out and the winner was announced before the Tour Championship, similar to announcing the Patriots Super Bowl champs before they played the Giants last year (oh, people did that? Never mind). The European Tour starts a new Race to Dubai next season that is sure to draw some big names away from the FedEx Cup. So if it wasn't having enough trouble standing alone, sharing that podium will be all the more difficult. Hey, here's a crazy idea, include the PGA Championship in the mix next season!
Nick Faldo -- The worst part about the Nick Faldo captain performance is he did it without a smug demeanor and a "never question my authority" dictatorship. His picks of Ian Poulter and Paul Casey were obvious cold shoulders to Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke and while Poulter stepped up, it still didn't take away from the missing European Team feel. Faldo benched Garcia and Lee Westwood for Oliver Wilson and if that wasn't enough, let his team leave Valhalla bad sports instead of good losers. If there is a loser face for 2008, it has to be this.
Okay, that does it for 2008. The best part about this golf season is it ended so well 2009 looks to be just as good if not better. A healthy Tiger, a group of young studs eager to win and a solid economy, what could go wrong?
