The world expects nothing but the best from Tiger Woods, but at the U.S. Open in June, he proved he can still shock us.
Someday, when Tiger Woods has settled down into a life of designing courses rather than obliterating them, pundits will reflect on the defining moment of his career.
Was it the 12-shot win at the 1997 Masters, a victory that was as socially significant as competitively satisfying? What about the record 15-stroke triumph in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the second major in what would become known as the "Tiger Slam?"
Both are good candidates, to be sure. Many, though, will point to another Southern California victory -- the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines -- as the most revealing since the willful Woods essentially played not 72, but 91 holes on one leg, finally beating Rocco Mediate with a par on the final playoff hole.
The game's No. 1 player already had six victories at Torrey Pines, including his fourth straight Buick Invitational earlier this year. As he hobbled to victory in June, though, Woods could not mask the pain of the two stress fractures that had developed as well as the torn left ACL that surgery in April had failed to repair.
A week after the inspirational victory -- the 65th overall and 14th major of his career -- Woods went under the knife again. The surgery was more complicated, involving a complete ACL reconstruction, and, since then, Woods has been on the sidelines -- with his return in 2009 the subject of considerable speculation.
In Tiger's absence, much has happened on the PGA TOUR. Players stepped up to fill the void, and one even rose to do the unthinkable -- challenge Woods for what was shaping up to be yet another Player of the Year by acclimation.
PGATOUR.COM takes a look at some of the highlights of the 2008 season below.
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| Two in a row |
This time, Padraig Harrington got to enjoy his win at the Open Championship.
He didn't have to sweat out a playoff with Sergio Garcia like he did a year ago after squandering the lead with a double-bogey on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie. Harrington's successful title defense at Royal Birkdale came with a four-shot cushion -- thanks to a brilliant 5-wood that left him with a 3-foot eagle putt at the 17th hole -- so he could bask in the adulation of the crowd as he walked down the 18th fairway.
Harrington liked the feeling so much, he did it again the next time the game's best players met on a major stage, at the PGA Championship. This time his foil was again Garcia, whose approach at the 16th hole found water instead of land, while Harrington rode weekend 66s to a three-stroke win at Oakland Hills.
Ben Curtis, who tied for second with Garcia, deemed Harrington's performance "Tiger-like." Indeed. And those two consecutive majors may enable the pensive Irishman to snap the game's No. 1 player's stranglehold on the Jack Nicklaus Award that goes to the PGA TOUR's top performer each year.
Suddenly, Harrington has won three of the last six majors, and he will go to Augusta National in April seeking the third leg of the "Paddy Slam." And if that's the week Woods returns to the TOUR, Harrington just might be able to slip in under the radar -- which is just what the quiet man from Dublin prefers. |
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| Twentysomethings |
There were 13 different players in their 20s who won on the PGA TOUR this year, but few had the pedigree -- or the potential -- of Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and Trevor Immelman.
The 23-year-old Kim picked up the first two victories of his career on two of the PGA TOUR's toughest courses, Quail Hollow (Wachovia Championship) and Congressional (AT&T Championship). He led the U.S. charge at the Ryder Cup, too, setting Sunday's tone with a decisive 5-and-4 win over Sergio Garcia.
The two wins were indicative of a new-found maturity for Kim, who finally realized that practice, not partying, paid dividends. He toned down the bravado, too, and concentrated on getting the most out of his game.
Villegas, on the other hand, is the more methodical sort, and the enormously talented Colombian was patient as he plotted his path during the last three years. The 24-year-old picked the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup to emerge -- winning the final two events and finishing second to Vijay Singh in the competition for the $10 million bonus.
Immelman, a protégé of Gary Player, had similar seasoning when, at age 27, he made the Masters his first major championship, beating Woods by three strokes. As if any more drama were needed, just four months earlier, Immelman had emergency surgery to remove what turned out to be a non-cancerous mass from under his ribs. |
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| Fortysomethings |
Don't think the young guns dominated, though. Kenny Perry and Davis Love III -- among others -- would have to set you straight.
Perry wanted dearly to compete in the Ryder Cup in his native Kentucky, and the 48-year-old played his way onto the team when he won three times in five starts during the summer. He was a stalwart for America, too, contributing two points to a decisive U.S. win -- much to the delight of the home crowd.
Love, on the other hand, just wanted to keep his card. The 44-year-old hadn't won since the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, and the former UNC All-American wasn't even among the top 144 in the FedExCup standings when the Playoffs began.
Love used the time off wisely, though. He entered the Fall Series on a mission -- to retain his playing privileges and jump-start a campaign to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team, which his best friend, Fred Couples, would captain next year.
His first top-10 finish of the season came at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. A tie for sixth and a share of 11th followed before Love broke through in the final event of the year -- the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart -- winning for the 20th time and earning a lifetime TOUR exemption. |
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| Major Mojo |
Garcia can still fit in the twentysomething category, but this young man who has been in our consciousness since he was 19 and going toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods at the '99 PGA deserves his own category.
The talented Spaniard won the TOUR's signature event, THE PLAYERS Championship, in May -- beating a field that was second to none, as well as Paul Goydos in a playoff. He might have changed the course of the FedExCup, too, but Singh outlasted Garcia in a playoff at The Barclays and Villegas beat him in extra holes at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
While that first major still stubbornly eludes him, Garcia posted his 13th top-10 finish in 37 starts when he tied for second at the PGA. And he vaulted to second in the Official World Golf Ranking in November after a win at the HSBC Champions on the European Tour. |
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| The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup |
The powers that be wanted more volatility in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup -- and they got it. But when a player wins the first two events, he's going to be tough to beat, and that's exactly what Vijay Singh did.
The big Fijian -- at 45 years old, still the lead horse in the fortysomething stable -- had just embarked on a six-week plan that began with a win at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He convinced himself that he was the best putter in the world, and it showed when he rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff he would later win at The Barclays.
A closing 63, that included eight birdies, gave Singh his second straight title -- and the third in five starts -- at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His lead in the race for the $10 million bonus was so large at that point, all Singh had to do was complete 72 holes at East Lake to win.
Not that there wasn't excitement, though, as Villegas leapt into the spotlight with a wire-to-wire victory at Bellerive Country Club in the BMW Championship and then fired a 66 on Sunday at East Lake to get into a playoff with Garcia -- which he won. |
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| The Ryder Cup |
It was starting to get ridiculous: The Americans' futility in this highly anticipated, biennial match play competition with Europe. Team USA had lost the last three Ryder Cups -- the last two by the most lopsided margins in history.
American Captain Paul Azinger had a plan, though. He engineered a change in the selection process that weighted the points in favor of the current year and allowed him four wild card picks rather than two. He even divided the team into four distinct "pods" based on temperament for practice rounds and pairings.
What Azinger couldn't control, though, was the way the team responded at Valhalla. Six of his team members had never played in the Ryder Cup, so they didn't know what it was like to lose. The enthusiasm on the team was infectious -- cue Boo Weekley riding his driver down the first fairway on Sunday -- and the competitive fire second to none.
The result was a convincing 16½ - 11½ U.S. victory that left the Kentucky fans rocking and the Americans celebrating with gigantic champagne bottles on the balcony of the clubhouse. In a great show of sportsmanship, the Europeans later joined the festivities.
Can anyone wait for the 2009 Presidents Cup in San Francisco? |
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Tiger Woods
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