Adam Scott Wins in Singapore and 10 Lessons from 2010
Adam Scott travels well. He won early in the year in San Antonio—at the new TPC course—and again in Singapore, to go along with his late-season win in 2009 at the Australian Open. That is three victories in less than 12 months, just after Greg Norman made him a captain’s pick for the 2009 Presidents Cup. It must have been just what Scott needed.
Scott became one of several multiple-tournament winners in 2010, including Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Edoardo Molinari, and Miguel Angel Jimenez. He was one of a handful to win on multiple continents, the others being Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen, Ben Crane and Stewart Appleby.
Kuch Tops The Tour
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Matt Kuchar proved that nice guys can finish first. Kuchar went from not having a PGA Tour card to winning the Arnold Palmer Award as the leading money winner for 2010. And that’s not all. He also won the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted-scoring average for 2010, at 69.61. Steve Stricker was second with 69.66, but there’s no trophy for that.
Fall Season Fading?
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The fall season on the PGA Tour is in a state of limbo. While McGladrey and Frys.com are recent additions, others seem to be fading away. This year’s casualty: Turning Stone. The season-ending Disney Children’s Miracle Network event seemed an afterthought on the schedule—an island surrounded by foreign events—with top PGA Tour players on other continents, preceded by a dark week. Rickie Fowler made Disney interesting by flying back from Asia to play for the $1 million Kodak Challenge. It’s nice to know a million still means something to one gazillionaire in training.
Bye Bye Silly Season, Hello Appearance Money
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The Silly Season has been replaced by the Appearance Fee Season. It used to be that November kicked off four weeks of fun events in the U.S. with players who had successful years, letting them grab a few extra handfuls of cash. We called it the Silly Season. Now those who have success leave home and country to chase appearance money in China, Korea, Singapore, Australia or all three. Paying players to appear in tournaments is banned in the US. Anything goes abroad. This must be the real reason top players wanted a shorter PGA Tour season. They want to play for pay.
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$10 Million Buys A Lot Of Alarm Clocks
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Jim Furyk showed us that one missed tee time does not a bad season make. Furyk, whose alarm clock nearly cost him $10 million, showed more grit than John Wayne by getting disqualified at the first event in the FedEx Cup playoffs only to win the Tour Championship and the $10 million top prize. No wonder he didn’t leave the country for appearance money. He had plenty right here. Plus, Appearance Season interferes with Ohio State and Steelers seasons for the Furyks. Anybody want to ask him what his curtains are made of?
Lee's No 1
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The World Golf Rankings demonstrated that with goofy math, a guy who hasn’t won a major can be No 1. Nothing against Lee Westwood. He’s a peach, as they say in Georgia. He’s been a superb golfer for a long time, but how he’s No. 1 without a major is a major mystery. That must be new math, for those who are old enough to remember that phrase.
Martin Gets His Major
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Martin Kaymer emerged as the surprise Best Player of The Year Who Isn’t No. 1 Due To Ridiculous Rankings. Admit it. When the first shot of the 2010 PGA Championship was struck, you weren’t thinking Martin Kaymer was going to win. Only one person was thinking that: Martin’s mom. Now having gone through the harrowing ordeal of a Ryder Cup and winning a major in a playoff in semi-hostile turf, there’s nothing to scare him, except maybe a rogue go-cart. Kaymer also won in Dubai in January of this year, the KLM Open and the Dunhill at St. Andrews.
Mickelson Or Byrd? Whose Shot Was Best?
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Shots of the year were a hole-in-one and one off of a pine straw. The first belongs to Jonathan Byrd, who won a sudden-death playoff with a hole-in-one in Las Vegas. The latter was Phil Mickelson’s famous shot at the 13th hole at August National on Sunday on the way to another green jacket.
Dustin Johnson Ups and Downs
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Bad shots of the year—well there were a lot of them—but two or three memorable ones belong to Dustin Johnson. Johnson flubbed a series of shots on the second hole in the final round of the U.S. Open and subsequently lost the tournament. At the PGA Championship, he did not realize that the messed up ground on the 18th hole was actually supposed to be played as a bunker, not a waste bunker. Since when is a pile of sand, grass, cans and other trash with footprints all over it, when half the golf course looks like that anyway, immediately identifiable as a bunker? Apparently it is not. At least not in the heat of battle. Johnson was penalized and did not make the playoff. His best revenge: winning the BMW a few weeks later.
Ho, Hum. 59 Here, 59 There.
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59 anyone? It’s a really big deal when someone shoots 59, but this year we saw two of them on television. First was Mr. Everyman, Paul Goydos, who had no idea he would turn into such a celebrity. Just a few short weeks later, Stewart Appleby shot a 59 to take the Greenbrier Classic away from Jeff Overton. Overton’s consolation: making the Ryder Cup team.
Tiger Winless
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Tiger Woods was winless for the last 12 months, since last year’s JBWere Masters. On the bright side, his final round in Australia did include two eagles and two birdies. He had a hole-out and looked amazingly like Old Tiger for a few holes. He clawed his way to a fourth-place finish, which was one of the two best he’s had this year. No one ever thought they’d say Tiger Woods’ best finish for the year was fourth. He still won more than $1 million in 2010, so that brings his average for the last two years to $5,901,464
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