2018 HITS & MISSES
BANG! NAILED IT • South Korea’s Jin Young Ko to be the LPGA rookie of the year. BANG! Brooks Koepka will win the US PGA
(Jimmy Emanuel). BANG! Cameron Smith will be the top Aussie finisher in the FedEx Cup (Jimmy
Emanuel). BANG! Tiger Woods will win once and go close in a major (Jimmy Emanuel). BANG! NEAR MISSES • Dustin Johnson will hit a drive over 450 yards and add gasoline to the fiery debate over modern equipment and balls, but nothing will change. (Only missed this one by 20 yards). Tiger Woods will play a minimum of 15 events, including all four Majors, and collect five top-10 finishes. His best result will come at Firestone Country Club where he will finish runner-up to Justin Thomas at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He will end the year in the Top-50 of the world ranking. (Tiger played 18 PGA Tour events, had seven top-10s, won the Tour Championships and, at the time of writing, was No.14 in the world). Hannah Green will push for Rookie of the Year honours on the LPGA Tour. Expect a strong performance from her at the Women’s Australian Open, before a few months of OK finishes before finish the season strong. (Hannah Green finished third in the Women’s Australian Open) After once again dominating the LPGA Tour, South Korean players will amass 15 tournament victories. But a player not from South Korea will end the year as World No.1. (South Korean players won 10 titles and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn is World No.1) AIR SWINGS • PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will announce the 2018 World Cup of Golf will be played in Japan in November. Sponsor ISPS Handa will return as the naming rights’ sponsor and the big drawcard will be the American teaming of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. SWISH! • Marc Leishman will collect top-10 finishes at three of the four majors, ending the year entrenched in the top-10 of the world ranking and securing backto-back Greg Norman Medals. SWISH! • Adam Scott will play the Australian Open at The Lakes and emulate his feat of 2009 and win the Stonehaven Cup. SWISH!