Now that 2012 is winding down let’s take a look back at the best golf stories of the year.
The five golf stories from 2012 Nos. 6-10 that did not make the cut into the Top-5 can be viewed at: http://edraft.com/golf/news/top-golf-stories-of-2012/
Normally Tiger Woods is the No. 1 story in golf. Since he first went on the Michael Douglas show as a two-year-old and wowed Bob Hope, Tiger has been on display for the world to see.
Even with his return to being a factor in every event that he plays Tiger has been bumped down to No. 5 on the Top-5 golf stories of 2012.
Tiger’s good run actually started in the fall of 2011. He finished third in the Australian Open and then was very solid the next week in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. He showed flashes of the “Old Tiger” in both events.
He was five-under par through 15 holes in his singles match with Aaron Baddelley on Sunday in the Presidents Cup and won 4-3. Tiger’s ball striking and putting conjured up memories of years gone by.
He even performed well down the stretch at his own World Challenge in December, 2011 and beat Zach Johnson down the stretch. It was his first win of any kind since his nasty altercation with that fire hydrant and Elin, of course.
Tiger carried his good play from 2011 into this year. Starting the year in Abu Dhabi he carded 70-69-66 to be tied for the lead after 54 holes. He could only post an even-par 72 in the final round and finished T-3 behind the winner Robert Rock and runner-up Rory McIlroy.
This was the beginning of a trend that would continue throughout the year. Tiger had problems shooting good scores on the weekend and finishing behind Rory McIlroy.
Woods chose Pebble Beach to make his 2012 PGA Tour debut. Paired with Dallas Cowboy Quarterback, Tony Romo for the AT&T National Pro-Am he played solid through three rounds with 68-67-67 and was in contention.
He was grouped with Phil Mickelson in the final round and shot one of the worst rounds of golf Tiger has ever played in front of a crowd. Tiger’s 75 was 11 shots worse than Mickelson’s 64. Phil picked up the win and Tiger fell to T-15.
Tiger got bounced in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play 5-4 by Nick Watney. We were beginning to see that Tiger’s game was improving but was not completely back to its original state.
Woods had another flash of brilliance, however, the very next week at the Honda Classic. He fired a 62 on Sunday to put some heat on the tournament leader Rory McIlroy but eventually fell short as Rory was able to hang on, collect the win and move into Tiger’s old spot as the No. 1 in the world.
Tiger knew he was getting close and did finish the deal at Arnie’s little shindig at Bay Hill. It was Tiger’s first official PGA Tour win in over two years and you could see the relief when he putted out on the last hole.
Tiger went on to win at the Memorial where he tied host Jack Nicklaus with 73 career wins and then won the AT&T National at Congressional to get to 74 career wins and second place behind Sam Snead who had 82 career wins.
The Palmer, Memorial, and the AT&T gave Tiger three wins for the year in just 11 starts. This was more like the Tiger Woods that we have come to know and love.
The biggest story of the year for Tiger, however, was his lack of a major title, again.
He was never a factor in the Masters and finished T-40. He even showed his frustration with a temper tantrum on No. 16 tee on Friday.
At the U.S. Open in June Tiger played nearly perfect golf through the first two rounds and led at Olympic Club. He couldn’t break par on the weekend shooting 75-73 and fell to T-21.
Tiger was in position to collect his 15th major title at Royal Lytham in the Open Championship but an untimely triple-bogey on No. 16 in the last round was his undoing. Once again he was not able to finish down the stretch.
Moving on to Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship high winds and inclement weather was the story for the week. Tiger posted 69-71 over the first two rounds and was in the mix heading into the weekend, but once again failed to break par in the final two rounds and shot 74-72 to finish T-11.
2012 was a very good year for Tiger with three wins, a runner-up, and two thirds. He was Top-10 in three of the FedEx Cup Playoff events and finished No. 2 to Rory McIlroy on the PGA Tour money list.
He moved from outside the Top-50 in the world to No. 3 behind Rory and Luke Donald by the end of the year and was even No. 2 for a time.
Tiger’s game is definitely returning to his previous form but the story of the year for him was zero major titles in 2012.