Year in review: Tiger takes FedExCup, major surprises

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods combined for nine victories in 2009.

The PGA TOUR season begins each year on the island of Maui where the previous year's winners gather to play a dramatic mountainside course with breathtaking views of whales breaching in the Pacific Ocean.

For many fans, though, the 2009 season didn't begin until the last week in February when the TOUR headed to the Arizona desert for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

BEST MOMENTS: From another record-breaking Tiger performance to Stenson's decision to bare almost all, golf fans are left with plenty of indelible images from the year. Click here BEST SURPRISES: Who were the surprise players in 2009, the ones who played beyond our expectations? We've got the list. Click here BEST PLAYERS: Who joined Tiger and Phil in the Big Three? Can you name all eight multiple winners? Which big name had 11 top-10s but no wins? Click here BEST FINISHES: The PGA TOUR had 13 playoffs in 2009, including two at major championships, and 13 more were decided by just a shot. Click here BEST ROUNDS: Count down the 10 most memorable rounds of the season, including Troy Matteson's back-to-back 61s and Tiger Woods' 62 at Cog Hill. Click here

Season in review

How it shook out in 2009

PGA TOUR: Tiger's return, surprise major winners and Phil's finish were just some of the headlines from an exciting year. Click here CHAMPIONS TOUR: A thrilling season-long battle for the Charles Schwab Cup begs the question: Just who had the best year on Tour? Click here NATIONWIDE TOUR: Michael Sim. Michael Sim. Michael Sim. The Australian phenom lit it up in 2009 with the most successful individual season in Tour history. Click here

That's because Tiger Woods -- missing in action for the previous eight months after reconstructive surgery on his left knee -- was among the top 64 players in the world gathered there in Tucson.

Woods' return to competition and his trek to a second FedExCup was the biggest story of a year that brought triumph amid sadness and a wealth of spirited competition throughout the season. Oh, and don't forget -- golf was added to the Olympics for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The hopes were high, albeit unrealistic, that week in the desert north of Tucson, but Woods didn't win -- he was beaten in the second round of match play by Tim Clark. He then tied for ninth in his next start at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

But once the world No. 1 got to Bay Hill where he was the defending champion and had won four other times, Woods was ready. He came from five strokes off the pace to nip Sean O'Hair with a birdie on the 72nd hole.

The victory was the first of six for Woods. He also finished second three times, including at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola where he clinched the FedExCup. He made the cut in 15 of the 16 stroke-play events he entered and only once finished outside the top 10 -- and that was a more-than-respectable 11th at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Oddly enough, the one missed cut came at the 138th Open Championship -- only his second in a major since turning pro. And Woods failed to win a major for the first time since the 2004 season -- although he challenged at the PGA Championship only to be denied by South Korea's Y.E. Yang.

"To win the FedExCup and to be as consistent as I have been all year is something that I'm very proud of," Woods said. "... There's so many unknowns at the beginning of the season, and to play as consistently as I have, I certainly wouldn't have expected that going into my first event, the Match Play, to end up where I'm at right now.

"I'm very proud of that and proud of what Hank (Haney) has done and my trainers to get me to this point."

Another player who had to be proud of his season is Phil Mickelson. He successfully defended his title at the Northern Trust Open, then won his first World Golf Championships event at Doral, as well as THE TOUR Championship. But there is so much more to his story.

In between his second and third wins, Mickelson revealed that both his wife, Amy, and mother, Mary, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. He took an extended break while treatment options were considered, then returned to challenge for the U.S. Open -- finishing second for the fifth time -- before shutting it down again until the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

Shortly before his win at East Lake, where he out-dueled Woods down the stretch, Mickelson took a putting lesson from Dave Stockton, who advised the lefthander to go back to the way he putted as a youngster. His confidence was restored, his enthusiasm renewed and that win at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions was seen as a good omen for 2010.

"It means a lot to finish the year off on such a good note," Mickelson said. "We've been through a lot, and I'm very proud of my wife and my mom on the fight that they've been through, and we've been fortunate in the long-term. ... The hardest part was that first month, not knowing, so much uncertainty. But although we have a long road ahead, to get the first part behind us feels good and to finish this year off with a win feels terrific.

"Also, I feel like I have some direction now on where I want to go with my putter. I felt like I've been hitting it this well for quite some time since working with Butch (Harmon), and yet I have not had the results. So to be able to put it all together from tee to green as well as on the green feels great."

Mickelson's family wasn't the only one touched by the harsh reality of life and death, either.

Chris Smith's wife was killed in a fiery crash that severely injured their two children while Kenny Perry's mother lost her long battle with cancer just before The Presidents Cup. And Ken Green, a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR who was starting his Champions Tour career, had to have his leg amputated after being injured in a automobile accident that killed his brother, girlfriend and dog.

Mickelson and Woods weren't the only multiple winners on TOUR in 2010, either. Steve Stricker matched Mickelson's three wins while Geoff Ogilvy, Zach Johnson, Perry, Yang and Brian Gay won two each. There were seven first-time winners, too, including Paul Casey, who rose to No. 3 in the world before being sidelined by a nagging rib injury.

The majors went to four different people, and two were decided in playoffs. Angel Cabrera outlasted the 48-year-old Perry and Chad Campbell in extra holes while Stewart Cink ended the storybook run of 59-year-old Tom Watson at the Open Championship. Glover captured a rain-plagued U.S. Open at Bethpage while Yang was the third straight first-time major champ.

And don't forget Henrik Stenson's four-stroke, come-from-behind victory at THE PLAYERS Championship that came courtesy of a brilliant 66 on Sunday. Or the fact that two months earlier he had made headlines -- and highlight reels -- by stripping to his skivvies to play a shot from the water at the CA Championship.

Just as Perry and Watson proved golf is a game for the ages, two teenagers served notice that they would have an impact for years to come. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan made their first forays to the United States as pros with varying degrees of success but tremendous promise.

McIlroy, who was 19 when he tied for fifth in his TOUR debut at the Accenture Match Play Championship, played in 11 events and posted three top-10s -- including a tie for third at the PGA, his second in a major. Ishikawa, a four-time winner in Japan this year who was 17 when he debuted at the Northern Trust Open, had limited success in six TOUR events but showed poise beyond his years in going 3-2-0 as a Captain's Pick in The Presidents Cup.

The Americans took a decisive victory at Harding Park, though, thanks to the dynamic duo of Woods and Stricker, who won four matches together, and Mickelson, who had three different partners and went 4-0-1 overall. When Woods beat Yang in their Singles grudge match, he became just the third player ever to win all five matches at The Presidents Cup.

The FedExCup had a banner year, too. The competition was close, the newly instituted points reset meant that more players had a chance to win, and every player who was healthy and eligible competed in all four Playoffs events.

Doesn't that make you eager to see what unfolds in 2010?