Annus Horribilis

Meanwhile, three of 2014’s four major championships were blowouts, and the fourth was marred by a rushed, post-sunset finish in which the PGA Championship sacrificed competitive integrity on the altar of televisual convenience. The highest-profile drama of the year was probably Martin Kaymer’s near-choke on Sunday at the Players; when you think about it, professional golfers should never have 28-foot par putts on the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass, but Kaymer made his to spark a weirdly dominant stretch for a golfer who only had four top-10 finishes all year and finished the year ranked 12th in the world despite dominating most of two of the five biggest events in golf.

On the course, the year clearly belonged to Rory McIlroy. With wins at Wentworth, Hoylake, Firestone and Valhalla – plus five runner-up finishes along the way – he ends the year further ahead of second-placed Henrik Stenson in the Official World Golf Rankings than Stenson is ahead of 14th-placed Jordan Spieth. Off the course, though, McIlroy had a high profile breakup with Caroline Wozniacki and is embroiled in an intense legal case which could cost him up to £25 million, not to mention valuable preparation time in the run-up to next year’s Masters. Would you bet on him remaining number one at the end of 2015? I’m not sure I would.

Off the course is where Tiger Woods remained most of the year, slipping from first to 24th in the world rankings. In the past few weeks Woods has gained a new swing coach (Chris Como) and a new public enemy number one (legendary columnist Dan Jenkins) as the media’s single-minded quest to turn golf from a spectator sport into a tabloid spectacle continues apace. But who else can move the needle like Tiger does? How many people really care that Rickie Fowler finished in the top five at every major this year? Or that Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia are both back into the top five in the world? Or even that Dustin Johnson has been on double-secret probation for nearly six months, allegedly after testing positive for cocaine?

The good news, I guess, is that 2015 doesn’t have to be like 2014: nothing structural in the PGA Tour suggests this year’s lack of drama will repeat itself. But really, when an avowed Tiger-skeptic like me starts kinda missing him, you know things must be dull. What price a Woods-McIlroy-Mickelson shootout at Augusta in April, I wonder? A boy can dream…

 Other notable golfers and their Official World Golf Rankings
at the start of 2013 (“Was”) and as of 23 November 2014 (“Is”)