In the year's final Backspin, let's look back ... and ahead

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I'll admit this is one of my favorite times of the year. Not because a long golf season is over or because Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favorite holidays (OK, maybe all that has a little to do with it). But the real fun is sitting around remembering the year that was. The good: Tiger Woods is indeed No. 1. The bad: What happened to Adam Scott? The ugly: Henrik Stenson stripping down to his underwear.

In that same spirit, each week during the season Monday Backspin has, in large part, tried to provide some perspective on the biggest stories of the week, while bringing you some behind-the-scenes type of knowledge and other interesting or informative tidbits. Hopefully it's done that. Now it's time to reflect on an entire season.

We've done a lot of that already on PGATOUR.COM (click here for our Year in Review package), so I'll try to share some items that never made it out of my notebook for one reason or another, dish out some post-season awards and share some of my favorite moments on and off the course from the season, starting with a look at the best and most disappointing players of 2009.

Feel free to share your thoughts by clicking here. Hope you enjoy it, and we'll see you on Jan. 12 for the next edition of Monday Backspin, right after the season-opening SBS Championship.

Stock up

Tiger Woods: Six wins on TOUR, another in Australia, plus the FedExCup title should add up to Player of the Year honors. What's just as impressive is that Woods did all this after having major knee surgery in 2008 and that he had 14 top-10s, including three runner-ups, in 17 events. He also led the PGA TOUR in eight major statistical categories, including scoring with a 68.05 average -- nearly 1 1/4 strokes lower than the No. 2 player on the list. Phil Mickelson: When the news broke in May that Mickelson's wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer, we weren't sure when, or if, we would see Mickelson again in 2009, but he was back on the course six weeks later at Bethpage Black, where the New York crowd nearly willed him to victory. After his magical run at the U.S. Open, Mickelson ended his year with wins at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, and also threw in a 4-0-1 mark at The Presidents Cup. No wonder we're left drooling in anticipating of an epic Phil vs. Tiger battle in 2010. Steve Stricker: It was a career year for Wisconsin's best -- Stricker won three times, had three other finishes in the top three, 11 top-10s in all and reached as high as No. 2 in the world at one point. Stricker, who earned the name Mr. September for his performance in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup that included a win, a tie for second and a sixth-place finish, also proved unbeatable when paired with Woods at The Presidents Cup.

Stock down

Sergio Garcia: On the course, Garcia had just three top-10s on TOUR, only one of which came in a major. Off the course, Garcia had his heart broken by longtime girlfriend Morgan Leigh Norman. The latter bothered Garcia so much that he admitted it affected his play. He also continued to struggle with the putter, ranking 116th on TOUR in putting average, and with the driver, ranking 138th in accuracy. Anthony Kim: The 24-year-old did have three top-10s, including a second- and third-place finish, but he ran himself ragged, admittedly doing a poor job of scheduling. Combine that with a long list of nagging injuries and bad practice habits and Kim didn't exactly have the kind of sophomore season many expected after a 2008 in which he won twice on two difficult golf courses. Chalk this one up to maybe setting the bar too high too soon. Jim Furyk: The good news? Furyk had 11 top-10s, which was the second-most on TOUR. The bad news? Furyk had 11 top-10s. You have to go back to 2007 to find the last time he won. As good as a player as Furyk is, his ball-striking and play on the weekend took a nose dive in 2009 with his greens in regulation percentage dipping to 98th on TOUR and his scoring average going from sixth on TOUR before the cut to 120th in the third round.

A Quick 18

Front Nine Back Nine Three hotel reservations, three different cities. That sums up trying to figure out where Tiger Woods was going to return after an eight-month layoff following knee surgery. Arizona turned out to be the location, which was somewhat surprising. So was the result -- somewhat, anyway -- with the world No. 1 losing to Tim Clark in the second round. When you cover a golf tournament, you usually end up spending just as much, if not more, time in the media center and around the practice areas or locker rooms as you do on the course. Not so at the Travelers Championship, where the assignment involved walking 126 holes and tweeting the entire time. You learn a lot doing that -- like what it means to have a good pair of shoes. Of course, about eight seconds after that loss to Clark, there were all sorts of questions. How was the knee? Is there something wrong with your swing? And that would continue, mostly, until Woods won, which wouldn't be long (see No. 4 below). It's amazing how wide the Woods pendulum swings if he doesn't win every tournament. Speaking of shoes, Anthony Kim got a pretty quick lesson on what it's like to walk in, or behind, Tiger's when the two were paired together in the final round of the AT&T Championship. Kim set a course record in the first round, then got taken apart by Woods. Still, you can see that "it" in Kim -- when he's doing the things he needs to do. Something you expect to see: Phil Mickelson holding up a trophy at Doral. Something you don't: Henrik Stenson stripping down to his boxer-briefs to hit a shot from a hazard. The latter happened in the first round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Kyle Auclair was the lone photographer to capture the, uh, inner beauty. Even with the new "Watson" rule, I fear we may never see that kind of performance by Tom Watson at the British Open again. It is, however, the one tournament, as we've seen the last two years now, that makes stories like that possible and that's part of what makes the British Open as unique as it is special. All the whispers of when Woods would win again were quickly drowned out in the roar of a 15-foot putt that fell in near darkness on the 72nd hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. That ended all the "slump" talk, but Woods admitted he did not play his best that week. Only his putter saved him. Anyone who, in light of a 59-year-old nearly winning a major championship, still thinks golf isn't a sport, go through a workout of a typical TOUR player. I did and it wasn't pleasant. Just because most of these guys don't look like LeBron James doesn't mean they don't have serious athletic ability that goes way beyond hand-eye coordination. A couple things stand out to you in your first trip to Augusta National. First, just how small and quaint the place is. Second, just how severe some of the hills and undulations on the greens really are. Television doesn't do it justice. The other striking sight there: John Daly hawking his merchandise down the street at Hooters. Was there a better shot this year than Tiger's 8-iron from just inside 200 yards during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational? Probably not, but Y.E. Yang's approach on the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship to beat Woods was close. So was Nicholas Thompson' double-eagle from 261 yards with a 3-wood during the third round of the Frys.com Open. Speaking of Augusta, there was certainly some renewed excitement thanks, in part, to the course set-up and a couple of guys named Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who were paired together and charged up the leaderboard on Sunday with so many people following them that day you'd think they were they only ones playing. Say what you want about the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, but they're working. Golf was on the radar deep into September and this year's Big Three of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker were all major factors. There were also other interesting plots that made for good stories (see: Heath Slocum). Stenson finally became known for something other than stripping down to his underwear when he won THE PLAYERS Championship, where he came from four shots back and was the lone player bogey-free in the final round. How good was his 66? Considering the greens were like baked concrete, very good would be an understatement. The Associated Press Athlete of the Decade will be announced on Dec. 16. Certainly, Tiger Woods is a candidate if not the favorite. The other serious contenders, among others, are Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant and Annika Sorenstam. I don't have a vote, but if I did I know who would get it: Woods. What a scene it was at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, where players and fans alike were clad in pink to show support for Phil Mickelson's wife, Amy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer just 11 days earlier. The Mickelsons were incredibly moved by the tribute and even more moved by the well-wishes that continued to pour in. Consider that Woods has more championships than any of those candidates, except for Federer, who has one more with 15 grand slam titles. Then consider how many people Woods has to beat on a weekly basis and that he wins at a clip of about 25 percent. That's an astounding figure. He also transcends his sport more than any other athlete does theirs and that has to count for something. What a wild year for Mickelson. He took two extended breaks from the game, nearly won the U.S. Open then closed out his year by winning THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions -- beating you-know-who both times. As Thanksgiving approaches, be thankful for what you have and say a prayer for those who lost someone or something in 2009: Kenny Perry, who lost his mom; Chris Smith, whose wife was killed in a car accident; Ken Green, who lost his girlfriend, brother, dog and had one of his legs amputated after a car wreck; Jonathan Byrd and Brad Adamonis, who each lost their fathers to cancer; and Tom Lehman, whose dad passed away.

The Forward Spin

What can we expect in 2010? Here are a few predictions: • Tiger Woods will win multiple majors. The only other time he went more than one season without one was when he was rebuilding his swing. Plus, major venues of Pebble Beach (U.S. Open) and St. Andrews (British Open) set up too well for him not to win at least one of them. • Phil Mickelson will continue to push Woods and remain the second-best (and most entertaining) player in the world. Combine his swing work with Butch Harmon with the putting tips from Dave Stockton, and we've got the makings of what could be the best season of the Woods-Mickelson rivalry. • Rory McIlroy will win somewhere. Whether it's on the TOUR or in Europe, McIlroy has shown game and poise well beyond his years. Now he just has to be careful not to over-schedule himself the way Anthony Kim did last year or Ernie Els has in the past. All indications are he won't -- and if he doesn't, he'll be just fine. • Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott will not win. Though Garcia's game is clearly in better shape than Scott's at the moment, they both share the same problem: putting. Both players struggled with the flat stick in 2009 and there's nothing to indicate that's going to change in 2010. • Tim Clark will break his winless streak on the PGA TOUR, which now stands at 195 events. He's too good not to. Period. We've been saying that for a couple of years about Clark, but there was a time when Phil Mickelson didn't have a major, either. Once Clark does produce that first win, he might win again sooner rather than later, the same way Mickelson did with majors.