- Patrick Reed has to be the most unpopular Masters winner ever
Golf fans have a love/hate relationship with Patrick Reed. His stellar performance in the 2016 Ryder Cup earned him the nickname, Captain America, but his past antics in collegiate golf and revelations about a complete split with his family have turned golf purists against the 2018 Masters Champion. His post 2018 Ryder Cup rants didn’t win him any fans either.
- Bernhard Langer is quiet during the season, but turns it on at the end of the Charles Schwab Cup race
Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship Pro-Am held at Baltimore Country Club/Five Farms (East Course) on September 30, 2009 in Timonium, Maryland
In 2017 Bernhard Langer won seven events on the Champions Tour, three of which were majors and yet was denied the Charles Schwab Cup at the end of the season. He made a new plan for this season and paced himself for a big finish.
In the end, two wins, six runners-up and 21 top-25 finishes in 24 starts was enough to win the 2018 Charles Schwab Cup for the fourth time in the last five years and his fifth career Charles Schwab Cup.
Now at the age of 61, will anyone step up in 2019 to dethrone the stoic German.
- Nine Americans win on LPGA Tour in 2018, but Ariya Jutanugarn is just better and the South Koreans won the UL International Crown.
The perception is that Asians dominate the LPGA Tour, but the fact remains that American women won nine of the 32 events on tour this year. Sisters, Nelly and Jessica Korda both won, along with Michelle Wie, Angela Stanford, Marina Alex, Brittany Lincicome, Annie Park, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn did win the Race to the CME Globe and is the best player on tour right now.
The South Koreas won the UL International Crown and account for nine tournament victories, but the American women are gaining ground.
- Senior Women get two major Championships
One of the feel-good stories of the year was the first-ever U.S. Senior Women’s Open held at historic Chicago Golf Club. Nancy Lopez did the announcing on the first tee and there were smiles, tears, plus lots of hugging among the competitors.
In the end, Laura Davies dominated both the U.S. Senior Women’s Open and the Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick. It was wonderful to see these great women still competing in major events.
- Justin Rose adds a FedEx Cup to his Olympic Gold Medal and U.S. Open Trophy.
Justin Rose has been one of the top players in the world for several years. He added yet another bauble to his trophy case by winning the FedEx Cup filled with $10 million that goes with it.
Rose even made it to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking briefly, but will end the year at No. 2 behind Brooks Koepka.
With an Olympic Gold Medal and a U.S. Open Trophy, his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame is waiting.
- Francisco Molinari blitzed through the summer. Quicken, The Open and Ryder Cup
Francisco Molinari was not having much success on the PGA Tour at the beginning of the year. Through the U.S. Open in June, he only had a couple of top-25 finishes and was way down the FedEx Cup Ranking.
In danger of losing his PGA Tour card, he decided to skip a European Tour event to play in the Quicken Loans, which he won. In his next start he finished runner-up at the John Deere and then won a Claret Jug the following week at Carnoustie. He added top -10’s at the PGA Championship and the BMW Championship.
In September, he along with his partner, Tommy Fleetwood, helped the Europeans hand Team USA a rousing defeat in the Ryder Cup, at Le Golf Club National in Paris.
- U.S. loses Ryder Cup in a most inglorious fashion.
This was supposed to be the first win in Europe for the American Ryder Cup team in 23 years, but something went terribly awry on the way to the trophy ceremony.
After Tiger and Phil were added as picks to Captain Jim Furyk’s team, it was loaded with many saying it was the best American Ryder Cup team ever assembled.
Thomas Bjorn’s European Team begged to differ, however and authored a 17 ½-10 ½ victory over the favored Americans. The Euros have now won nine of the last 12 Ryder Cups, plus they have not lost on European soil, since 1995.
After the loss, the Americans turned ugly, pointing fingers, calling names and whining about who played with who. It was quite undignified for this group of elite golf professionals.
The aftermath was even worse than the actual defeat. The bright spot is that we get to watch it all again in 2020 at Whistling Straits.
- The Match
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods came up with an idea worthy of P.T. Barnum. In an exhibition strictly on pay-per-view television and contested in Las Vegas for the multitude of devoted gamblers. Nine Million dollars was put up for the winner-take-all event. The players and caddies wore microphones for the viewers to here first-hand conversations, but the announcers continually talked over the players. Bleacher Report’s website could not handle the heavy traffic and the tournament was streamed live to the chagrin of those that actually shelled out the $19.99 to pay for it.
Side bets were won and lost, the match went into extra holes and in the end, golf fans were given a glimpse of what golf may look like with the advent of legalized gambling.
- Brooks Koepka wins two majors
Brooks Koepka’s length and putting touch led to his winning the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills. A hand injury forced him to sit out the 2018 Masters, but his time away from golf made his fire to win even brighter.
He validated his first U.S. Open victory with a win on a completely different layout over the burned-out fairways and greens at Shinnecock. His double dip was only the seventh time in U.S. Open history, that feat has been accomplished.
In August, he calmly held off a surging Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship, to win his second major of the year and third major title in his last five starts.
Koepka went on to add two runners-up, won over $7 million and ended the year at No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
1.Tiger Woods culminates comeback with a win at the Tour Championship.
By far the top story of the year was the return to the winner’s circle for Tiger Woods.
After four back surgeries, countless knee surgeries, personal issues, and a stint in rehab for abusing prescription medications, Woods completed one of the most miraculous comebacks in the history of golf.
Only Ben Hogan’s return to win major championships, after his horrific car crash and Ken Green’s return to play competitively on the Champions Tour, after leg amputation, rank equal or better than Woods’ return.
Woods began the year outside the top 1,000 in the World Golf Ranking, wondering if he would ever be able to compete at a high level again and ended the year at No. 13 in the world.
He gave of a small glimpse of what might be possible with a tie for runner-up at the Valspar in March. He finished T-32 at the Masters, and T-11 at the Players, but missed the cut at the U.S. Open.
He then went T-4 at the Quicken, T-6 at The Open, thrilled everyone by contending and finishing runner-up at the PGA, plus qualifying for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
