MY MAGICAL MOMENTS AT THE MAJORS
This was a major season that had it all. From Tiger Woods’s remarkable comeback to ireland’s Portrush party of all parties, here are the biggest and best of this Grand slam season.
BEST MAJOR
The Us PGA was good, the Us Open very good, while the Open was brilliant. But there’s no argument as to the number one this year, and a Masters story scripted by Tiger Woods that will surely belong on the silver screen one day.
eleven years on from his last major victory, after all the scandal and injuries he went through? it still feels unreal.
BEST VENUE
in a year when Augusta, Pebble Beach and Bethpage were all on the schedule, there’s no finer compliment you can pay Royal Portrush than to declare it the best host of all. everything was spot on. Well, apart from the weather. They need to do something about that.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
The stupid, ridiculous schedule that leaves us now twiddling our fingers and thumbs in terms of the majors.
To think, the Ashes hasn’t even started yet and golf is done in terms of its four big ones, with half of the summer still to run.
BEST PLAYER
DOn’T need to spend time thinking about this one, do we? Brooks Koepka was so far above everyone else, it was positively Tiger-esque.
indeed, if he hadn’t bogeyed the last hole on sunday, he would have become the first man to finish in the top three in all four majors in the same season.
As it is, with a 2-1-2-4 record, he joins Tiger, Jack nicklaus and Jordan spieth as the only men with four top-four placings in the same year.
BEST SHOT
TheRe were lots of wonderful blows, of course, but the one that stood out for me was Gary Woodland’s fabulous chip off the green at the 17th hole at Pebble Beach to seal the Us Open.
What helped to make it special was that he didn’t have the technique to pull it off a year earlier and yet here he was, not only trying it under enormous pressure but executing it perfectly.
BIGGEST FOOL
WhAT on earth could have possessed John Daly to think it was a good idea to use a buggy at the Us PGA? What’s so difficult to understand about the principle that if you’re not fit enough to walk, you shouldn’t play?
Thank goodness the R&A stood firm at the Open.
BEST ROUND
This one’s a toss-up between shane Lowry’s 63 last saturday and Koepka’s identical score on day one at the Us PGA. The American might just get the nod for the impact his stunning performance had not only on the rest of the field, but the rest of the tournament. You knew this major was done and dusted three rounds from home.
BIGGEST SHOCK
The UsGA had cocked up so many Us Opens in a row, it was hardly surprising that everyone turned up at Pebble Beach wondering how they would manage to put a scar on the face of another masterpiece. But they didn’t. Lo and behold, they kept out of their own way.
BIGGEST DRAMA
The 12th hole at Augusta was the place to be on sunday afternoon in April as some of the best players in the world, led by then Open champion Francesco Molinari, decided to fill up Rae’s Creek with their golf balls. Woods — one of the few to find dry land — could hardly believe his luck.
BIGGEST LETDOWN
nOT much argument here. i went to Augusta national expecting to see the red-hot Rory Mcilroy complete the career Grand slam. i left Portrush troubled by the thought of where his next major is coming from. Once we thought he might reach Tiger’s majors total. now there’s doubt he’ll reach sir nick Faldo’s mark of six.
BEST QUOTE
‘i’ve felt for a while he’s going to win again. so, you know, he’s got me shaking in my boots, guys.’
Jack Nicklaus, after Tiger won the Masters to move within three of his majors record. Three months on, he might not be shaking in his boots any more.
BIGGEST RELIEF
AMeRiCA’s golfers came to Portrush with the chance to complete their first clean sweep of all four majors since 1982.
Can you imagine the insufferable crowing if they’d pulled it off — and that’s just in the press room. Thanks, shane.