With 2012 nearly upon us, it’s time to bid adieu to 2011 – a topsy-turvy year in golf that managed to entertain, start to finish, with or without Tiger Woods on stage. Here are one blogger’s picks for the year’s best – and best forgotten – people, moments and assorted objects.
Putter of the Year: Long (by a grip handle over Belly)
Putt of the Year: Keegan Bradley, PGA Championship, 17th hole of the final round
Quote of the Year: “As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.” – Ernie Els on using a belly putter
Prize of the Year: Cured Spanish ham
Headline of the Year: Saltman wins body eight in ham for hole-in-one
Ham of the Year
Ham of the Year: Ben Crane
Player of the Year, Men: Luke Donald
Player of the Year, Any Gender: Yani Tseng
Youngster of the Year: Lexi Thompson
Streak of the Year: Donald’s 449 holes without a three-putt
Meaningful Meaningless Win of the Year: Tiger Woods, Chevron World Challenge
Performance for the Ages of the Year: Rory McIlroy’s eight-shot victory at the U.S. Open
Cutthroat of the Year: McIlroy, who dumped his girlfriend and his agent in 2011
Gag-Inducing Celebrity Couple Nickname of the Year: Wozzilroy (McIrloy and his new squeeze, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki)
Resurrected Career of the Year: Tie -- Sergio Garcia and Thomas Bjorn
Celebrator of the Year: Open champion Darren Clarke
Beverage of the Year
Beverage of the Year: Guinness Stout
#$!*& of the Year: Steve Williams
Innocent Bystander of the Year: Adam Scott
Captain of the Year: Fred Couples (Presidents Cup)
City of the Year: Jupiter, Fla. (aka the “new Orlando”)
Amateur of the Year: Patrick Cantlay
Lowlife of the Year: John Daly (who has officially retired this dubious honor)
Tags: Adam Scott, Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, John Daly, Keegan Bradley, Lexi Thompson, Long Putter, Luke Donald, Presidents Cup, Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Steve Williams, Thomas Bjorn, Tiger Woods, Yani Tseng
A quick trek around the golf galaxy, with stops in South Korea, Oregon and Jupiter on the itinerary.
Your in-flight movie is “Drive,” so we can all figure out how the film inspired a California man to toss a hot dog in the general direction of Tiger Woods last Sunday. Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction…
Rickie Fowler
Fowler wins, draws yawns: Much debate this week about Rickie Fowler’s victory at the Korean Open, a stop on the OneAsia tour. Thanks to its remote dateline, Fowler’s first win as a pro was met with a collective so-what by a large chunk of pundits.
But considering he won by six shots over fellow wunderkind Rory McIlroy, we’d say Fowler deserves some credit. Former PGA champion Y.E. Yang finished 11 shots behind despite the home-country advantage.
Prediction: Fowler wins at least twice in 2012. On the PGA Tour, that is.
A-Bandon hope, Pebble Beach: All hail Bandon Dunes, the new king of North American resort golf. So says Golf Digest, and – having yet to make the Bandon pilgrimage -- who am I to argue?
Frankly, I have no desire to debate GD on this one. Given Bandon’s expansion to four courses, all of which rank among America’s 100 best, it was only a matter of time before Mike Keiser’s pure-golf wonderland knocked Pebble Beach Resorts from the top spot.
If you’re thinking of visiting all 75 properties, you’d better be well funded. Nineteen of them feature nightly room rates of $500 or more, including the breathtaking $1,445 commanded by Sandy Lane in Barbados.
At a paltry $250, Bandon’s a relative bargain, too.
Jupiter is the new Orlando: If it often seems the pros’ games are other-worldly, this might be why: A large number of them have relocated to Jupiter.
Sorry, wrong Jupiter. Apparently, Jupiter, Florida, is the hot place to be for the PGA Tour’s elite. Everyone knows Tiger Woods recently moved into his $54 million palace on Jupiter Island, but the likes of Dustin Johnson, Luke Donald and Charl Schwartzel have also set up shop in or near the Palm Beach County golf haven.
As luck would have it, this blog is based in Jupiter as well. Here’s hoping some of that pro golfer mojo rubs off on the locals.
Els supplies belly laugh: We nominate this paradoxical gem from Ernie Els, addressing his use of a belly putter, for Quote of the Year: “As long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating like the rest of them.”
Now that honors for the year’s best quote and headline (Saltman wins body weight in ham for hole-in-one) are wrapped up, all that’s left are trivial titles like Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Leading Money Winner.
We almost forgot: Brandon Kelly of Petaluma, Calif., the man who threw the wiener at Woods, is our Tosser of the Year.
Who’s the fresh-faced fellow winning another golf tournament every time you turn around?
Webb Simpson
That’s Webb Simpson, an emerging young talent on the PGA Tour. (Not a drone from sector 7G.)
Simpson, eh?
Yep, Webb Simpson claimed his second victory in three weeks by outlasting a stellar cast at the Deutsche Bank Championship. The guy’s developing an appetite for trophies to rival Homer Simpson’s (no relation) taste for donuts.
Simpson’s recurring theme is one of several that keep popping up week after week. (See: Els, Ernie; putter, long.) Herewith, our Golf Clap winners and Silent Treatment losers from the Deutsche Bank:
Golf Claps
- Webb Simpson: More like thunderous applause for the genteel North Carolinian. With a final-round 65, Simpson zipped past the likes of Luke Donald, Jason Day and Adam Scott, then took out Chez Reavie in a playoff at TPC Boston. Simpson is now the unlikely leader of the FedEx Cup race heading into the final two events.
As for the gratuitous Simpsons reference each time Webb wins… Get used to it. It’s all the excuse we need to flog our all-time favorite show.
- Ernie Els: Once again, the Big Easy was staring at FedEx Cup elimination. Once again, he survived to play another week, his 72nd-hole birdie securing spot No. 68 in the 70-man BMW Championship two weeks hence. If he keeps living on the edge, Els’ nickname may get revoked.
- The long putter: Simpson’s wand of choice added another feather to its cap; four of the past five Tour winners have wielded extra-long putters. This week, ever-experimenting Phil Mickleson joined the belly brigade en route to a 10th-place tie – and proving that you really never know what Phil will do next.
- Thomas Bjorn: A shout-out across the pond to the 40-year-old Dane, who won for the second week in a row on the European Tour. Considering he’d all but disappeared a few years back, you might say Thomas has been Bjorn again.
Silent treatment
- Bubba Watson: The big lefty spit the bit on Monday, stumbling to a 74 after leading through three rounds. A two-time winner in 2011, Watson made seven bogeys before redeeming himself with an eagle on the last. He wasn’t alone among faltering leaders. Scott started hot, then staggered home with a par-free 37 on the final nine.
- Nick Watney: No one sank further than Watney, whose 11 on the par-5 second hole was the centerpiece of a closing 80 – and a 49-spot tumble down the board. That’s gotta hoit.
That gust you heard wasn’t Hurricane Irene, but a sigh of relief coming from the PGA Tour officials who decided Saturday was a suitable day to conclude The Barclays.
Yes, with all of New Jersey under a state of emergency and nearby New York shutting down its mass transit system in advance of the cyclone, the show went on at Plainfield CC in Edison, N.J. Fortunately, they managed to finish the FedEx Cup’s first 2011 event early Saturday afternoon and get everyone off the course safe and sound.
Dustin Johnson weathered the storm better than anyone. The lanky, athletic wonder swamped 36-hole leader Matt Kuchar with a final-round 65, vaulting into the top spot in the Cup standings with three tourneys to go.
The next sound you hear will be our polite acknowledgement of the weekend’s winners.
Golf Claps
- Dustin Johnson: Hurricane, schmurricane. Johnson rained on Kuchar’s parade with a front-nine 29 (6-under), then cruised home with nine straight pars as Kuchar crumbled. The win was Johnson’s first this season and fifth of his career. It put him not only in command of the FedEx Cup race, but in contention for the subjective title of Best American Golfer.
- Vijay Singh: Thought ol’ Veej was done for, didn’t you? Hardly. By tying for third, Singh jumped from 36th to eighth in the Cup standings, giving him a chance to take the whole shooting match for the second time. While he hasn’t won in three years, Singh, now 48, is feeling fine thanks to a recent injection in his ailing back. Watch out for him at this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship, which he won in 2008.
- Ian Poulter (pictured): Staring at FedEx Cup elimination, the colorful Englishmen needed a furious finish to
keep his season alive. Four birdies in the last five holes and a closing 64 did the trick, pushing Poulter from 114th all the way to 78th.
- Ernie Els: Likewise, Els fired a final-round 67 to sneak into the top Cup’s 100 – 99th to be exact – and qualify for the Deutsche Bank. Things don’t come as easy for big Ernie as they once did, but at least he’s showing signs of life.
Silent Treatment
- Tour planners: OK, so all’s well that ends well. But it seemed odd, almost arrogant, to be playing a golf tournament amidst the chaos Irene brought to the Northeast. While families sought shelter and supplies in preparation for the worst – which thankfully didn’t materialize – pro golfers whistled while they, um, worked. Weird.
- The eight who dropped out: Say goodbye to Bryce Molder, Hunter Haas, Chris DiMarco, Paul Goydos, Nick O’Hern, Matt Bettencourt, Tim Herron and Michael Bradley. They slipped from the top 100 in the Cup standings and failed to qualify for the remaining events. But hey, that means plenty of free time to watch football!
