As another year comes to a close, here’s a quick look back on the best of 2018 from the world of golf:
Best Performance: This goes to Brooks Koepka, who became the first player since Curtis Strange to win back-to-back U.S. Open Championships. As if that wasn’t enough, Koepka closed the major championship season by winning the PGA, meaning he won three of the last six majors he played in. His play was so strong that he earned the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings and holds that spot as the year comes to a close. He was the PGA Tour Player Of The Year and the PGA Of America’s Player Of The Year.
Best Major: This goes to the Open Championship at Carnoustie. Going into the final nine holes, no less than seven players had a chance to hoist the Claret Jug, including Tiger Woods, who grabbed the lead after 10 holes. This is when most of the world began to believe that Woods has another major championship in him. In the end, it was Francesco Molinari who emerged as the Champion Golfer Of The Year. He would later be named the European Tour’s Player Of The Year.
Best Moment: The 72nd hole of the Tour Championship when the crowds broke through the gallery ropes and flooded onto the fairway on the closing hole of East Lake Country Club to create a massive celebration of Tiger Woods’ 80th PGA Tour victory. It capped one of the greatest individual comebacks in the history of the game.
Most Dominant: Ariya Jutanugarn was easily the most dominant player in golf for 2018. She won three times, including the U.S. Open. She was the LPGA Player Of The Year, she won the Vare Trophy, the Race To The CME Globe and the million dollars that went with it. She led virtually every statistical category of any meaning, she won the money title and set a single season record with 57 rounds in the 60s. How’s that for dominant? And yes, she finished the season No. 1 in the world.
Best Villain: Easily Patrick Reed. He wasn’t the best-liked guy to begin with then threw everyone under the bus at the Ryder Cup matches.
Best No-Show: The United States Ryder Cup team.
Best Team Effort: The European Ryder Cup team.
Best Break-Through: Bryson DeChambeau, in only his second full season on the PGA Tour, won four times in calendar year 2018, sending a message that he is becoming a factor on the PGA Tour for years to come. He’s risen to No. 5 in the world.
Best Break-Through (Europe): England Matt Wallace won three times on the European Tour. He started the season ranked 127th in the world and finished at No. 44.
Those were just a handful in a year where Tiger Woods dominated the landscape with a comeback for the ages.
Going into 2019, it’s wide open, there’s talent galore, a compressed major schedule, new rules and some huge, huge money available for the winner of the 2019 FedEx Cup.
