Year in Review: Top 10 rounds of 2008

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Tiger Woods held off Rocco Mediate in a dramatic sudden-death playoff to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Nov. 12, 2008
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.com Site Producer

There were more than 18,000 rounds played and more than 1.3 million strokes taken on the PGA TOUR this season. From when the first tee shot was struck to when the final putt was sunk, here are our picks for the 10 best rounds of 2008.

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1. Tiger Woods' sudden-death playoff victory at the U.S. Open: In arguably the greatest victory of his career Woods overcame a pesky opponent, a bum knee and a difficult course to capture his 14th major championship. Having not played since the Masters because of surgery on his left knee -- the same knee that would later require season-ending surgery for a torn ACL -- Woods held off Rocco Mediate with a par on the first hole of sudden death at Torrey Pines. How he got to that point however is the stuff of Tiger legend. After Woods made a dramatic birdie on the 72nd hole to force an 18-hole playoff, the two traded the lead three times on the front side on Monday. Tiger then built a three-stroke lead before Mediate rallied to take a one-stroke lead of his own to the 18th. Woods again birdied the hole to force sudden-death before making a two-putt par to finally put Mediate away and an end to what was far and away the best and most memorable round of golf in 2008.

2. Padraig Harrington's final round at the British Open: On another windswept day at Royal Birkdale, Harrington shot a 32 on the back nine and was one of only five players under par (1-under 69) for the day en route to capturing his second straight Claret Jug. The Irishman overcame three straight bogeys on the front side with two birdies and an eagle (at No. 17) on the back. He'd also injured his right wrist just eight days earlier, playing only nine holes on Tuesday and taking all of three swings on Wednesday.

3. Anthony Kim defeats Sergio Garcia at the Ryder Cup: It was Kim's first Ryder Cup to Garcia's fifth and it was the all-important opening match of Sunday's singles play. But the brash 23-year-old was unfazed as he handed Garcia his worst-ever Ryder Cup defeat, 5-and-4, in a match that set the tone early for the Americans. Two up when they reached the 11th, Kim put Garcia away with a pair and two birdies before ending the match officially with a matching par on No. 14. Kim was so locked in he started walking to the next hole before someone alerted him that the match was over.

4. Padraig Harrington's final-round 66 to win the PGA Championship: You could argue Harrington's third-round 66 was more impressive on the basis it came a day after he struggled to a 2-over 74 that left him five shots off the lead. However, his final round at Oakland Hills included playing the last three holes in 1 under with the weight of a major championship hanging in the balance. Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis both faltered on that stretch but it was the steady play of Harrington and his back-nine 32 that was so impressive.

5. Greg Norman's third-round 72 at the British Open: Not even the 53-year-old Norman, who admitted to playing more tennis than golf of late, expected to find himself in contention at the British Open. He'd arrived on an extended honeymoon with his new bride Chris Evert and had played just 19 rounds all year. With winds howling across an exceedingly difficult Royal Birkdale, Norman called it one of the three hardest rounds he's ever played, but he managed his game and the course, shooting a 2-over 72 to give himself an improbable two-stroke lead heading into Sunday's final round.

6. Tiger's finale at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship: Woods was absolutely dominating in the 36-hole final, recording 14 birdies in 29 holes on his way to a crushing 8-and-7 win over Stewart Cink. It was the largest margin of victory in the 10-year history of the event and also the fourth straight win for Tiger, moving him past Arnold Palmer on the all-time wins list. For the week Woods had a staggering 51 birdies in 117 holes.

7. Vijay Singh's final round at the Deutsche Bank Championship: Singh all but wrapped up the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup with an 8-under 63 that included what seemed like a mile's worth of putts -- among them a 35-footer for birdie on No. 13, a 60-footer for birdie on the 14th and a 35-footer for birdie on No. 17 among them -- as he cruised to a five-stroke win. His 63 was the best score of the day by two and his four-day total of 22-under was two strokes better than the tournament record.

8. Tiger Woods' final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard: A dramatic 25-foot birdie putt on the last hole capped a final round 6-under 66 for Woods that included just one bogey as he beat Bart Bryant by a stroke. Woods' fifth victory in a row didn't come easily, either, with Bryant, the only player in the field to shoot under par in all four rounds, firing a final-round 67 of his own.

9. Tim Clark's second round at the Deutsche Bank Championship: Only a pair of bogeys on his final two holes prevented Clark from shooting golf's magic number of 59. Clark was 10-under through his first 13 holes and moved to 11-under with another birdie on the par-5 seventh before bogeying Nos. 8 and 9.

10. Daniel Chopra's final-round 66 and playoff at the Mercedes-Benz Championship: In a playoff with Steve Stricker, a birdie on the fourth extra hole secured Chopra's first invite to the Masters after he'd twice missed putts on the 18th -- both from inside 12 feet -- to win. A 25-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole (No. 6) also stopped on the edge of the cup before Chopra, who shot a final-round 7-under 66, got the victory when Stricker failed to get up-and-down for birdie in the playoff.