Best of '09: The top 10 rounds of the season

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Zach Johnson carded the lowest round on TOUR in 2009, a Saturday 60 in winning the Valero Texas Open.

There were many memorable rounds posted during the PGA TOUR season. Some of them were responsible for helping a player make the cut after a poor first round. Some of them enabled a guy to climb the scoreboard on the final day and move a few notches up the earnings list.

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

Other big rounds came when the pressure was on and put a player in a position to win a tournament, or on some occasions, to alter their destiny.

From the thousands of rounds completed on the PGA TOUR this season, here are ten of the most memorable rounds:

10. Zach Johnson shoots 60 at the Valero Texas Open. Johnson's 60 came in the third round and put him in position to win, which he did in a playoff against James Driscoll. Johnson left a birdie putt for 59 short on the final hole, but the 60 was the lowest round posted on TOUR all year.

9. Brian Gay shoots 64 at the Verizon Heritage. It was a still a race when Gay teed off in the final round, but he never faltered and closed with a 7-under round. That was good for a 10-shot win and Gay's second TOUR victory. (He added another runaway win two months later in Memphis.)

8. Troy Matteson shoots a pair of 61s at the Frys.com Open. Matteson entered the week needing a strong performance to avoid a trip to q-school. He got in the mix with a 61 and backed it up with another improbable 61, a TOUR record for back-to-back rounds. The former NCAA champion from Georgia Tech then beat young guns Jamie Lovemark and Rickie Fowler in a playoff.

7. Tiger Woods shoots 67 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Woods followed the same formula from a year ago by making a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to erase a five-shot disadvantage and win another one in front of The King. This time Woods' victim was Sean O'Hair. It marked his first win since his knee surgery following the 2008 U.S. Open.

6. Sean O'Hair shoots 69 at the Quail Hollow Championship. Five weeks after being caught from behind by Woods, O'Hair closed the deal to beat Bubba Watson and Lucas Glover by one. Hard to believe, but O'Hair didn't make a putt longer than 10 feet all week.

5. Tiger Woods shoots 62 at the BMW Championship. Wasn't the new Cog Hill course supposed to be tougher? Tell that to Woods after he set a course record with a 62 in the third round. That set up an eight-shot win in the third leg of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and gave Woods his 71st career win.

4. Stewart Cink shoots 69 at the Open Championship. Cink birdied the final hole at Turnberry and watched 59-year-old Tom Watson stagger into a playoff at the finish. Cink then won the playoff by six shots to claim his first major championship.

3. Henrik Stenson shoots 66 at THE PLAYERS Championship. Stenson closed with a 6-under final round to separate himself from the field and win his second PGA TOUR event by four shots. "This is obviously going to be the latest thing on the resume," Stenson said.

2. Lucas Glover shoots 64 at the U.S. Open. Glover's 64 came in the second round and lifted him into the limelight. Glover held things steady through the crazy weather and countless delays at Bethpage and wound up with a two-shot victory and his first major championship. "I hope I don't downgrade it or anything with my name on it," Glover said afterwards.

1. Y.E. Yang shoots 70 at the PGA Championship. Yang's round of 2 under tied four other players for the lowest during the final round at Hazeltine. His effort was especially exceptional since it came while paired with Tiger Woods and enabled him to become the first man to run down Tiger in the final round of a major. Yang, who put himself in position to win with a third-round 67, became the first Asian player to win one of golf's four major titles.

That's 10 exceptional rounds under intense scrutiny. Can't wait to see what they have in store for us in 2010.