THREE GREAT YEARS IN GOLF
THE PGA Tour’s social media army probably meant well.
The tweet it sent Monday night celebrated big years by Rory McIlroy and Lydia Ko, and for good reason. Both delivered some of their best, most consistent golf. Both won the points race on their respective tours and the trophy for the lowest scoring average. Money can be skewed. Scores don’t lie.
Golf royalty? Sure.
But for the PGA Tour to suggest they “ruled the golf world in ‘22” is to dismiss Scottie Scheffler and to ignore Cameron Smith.
It also overlooks that neither McIlroy nor Ko won a major championship. That’s not a prerequisite of a great year, but it stands out — especially on the men’s side — when players who won as much or more have a green jacket or a claret jug to show for it.
Besides, the year isn’t over yet.
Smith on Tuesday accepted the keys to his hometown of Brisbane, where he is playing the Australian PGA Championship. He will be going for his fifth win of the year, with the Australian Open still to come next week.
Scheffler closes out his year in the Bahamas against a 20-man field, with all but four of them among the top 20 in the world. Still to be determined is whether he has a chance to regain the No. 1 ranking he had for the majority of the year. All three had great years.
McIlroy joined Henrik Stenson as the only players to win the points title on the PGA Tour and the European tour in the same season.
Stenson played 10 regular European tour events when he won in 2013. McIlroy played six times without winning, but it spoke to the consistently high level he played all year. Only once did he finish worse than eighth — a tie for 12th to start the year in Abu Dhabi.