First-half bests: 2011 regular season at the midway point

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Charl Schwartzel posted a final-round 66 to win the Masters on a breathtaking Sunday at Augusta National.

Eighteen tournaments are in the books. Nineteen more are left in the 2011 regular season, starting this week with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Then the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup crank up, the four-tournament race that decides who gets the FedExCup crown (and the big bonus check that goes with it).

Here's a quick look at the first half of the regular season:

MOST IMPRESSIVE RESULTS

1. Luke Donald wins the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. The victory was Donald's first in America in five years, and it came in dominating fashion. The Englishman never trailed in six matches, playing just 89 holes and leading after 81 of them. And Donald mowed down the man who was about to ascend to No. 1 in the world, Martin Kaymer, by a 3-and-2 margin in the finale.

FEDEXCUP AT THE MIDWAY POINT: Everything you need to know in terms of the FedExCup points race at the midway point of the regular season. Click for story

2. Mark Wilson wins twice in the first four weeks of the 2011 season. Forget all the jockeying for No. 1 in the world -- Wilson was the hottest golfer on the planet at the start of this season. First, he survived a 36-hole Sunday to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in his 2011 debut. Two weeks later, Wilson ground out a Monday finish, including a two-hole playoff with Jason Dufner, to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The two wins propeled Wilson to the top of the FedExCup standings -- a spot he still owns at the midway point of his breakout season.

3. D.A. Points wins the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. D.A. Points had never won a PGA TOUR event before this Cinderfella story unfolded on the signature links. And making the two-stroke win even more memorable was the fact that his partner for the four days at Pebble Beach was comedian Bill Murray. Instead of folding under the kind of spotlight that comes with being paired with the Caddyshack star, Points thrived in the atmosphere created by one of his idols -- and Murray got his first victory in 20 years of playing the pro-am, to boot.

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MOST MEMORABLE ROUNDS

1. Charl Schwartzel's 66, final round, Masters. He holed out for birdie on the first hole. Holed out from the fairway for eagle on No. 3. Dropped a shot at No. 4, parred the next 10 holes, birdied the last four holes, then slipped on the Green Jacket. Just another average Sunday at Augusta National.

2. Brandt Snedeker's 64, final round, The Heritage. You hear it all the time -- "post a number" That's what Sneds did. He teed off 100 minutes ahead of the leaders, ran roughshod through Harbour Town, finished at 12 under and then waited in the clubhouse. And waited. And waited. After Luke Donald emerged as the only player who could tie him, Snedeker then went out and beat the red-hot Englishman in a playoff that extended three holes.

3. Phil Mickelson's 63, third round, Shell Houston Open. Mickelson tied the course record and produced his lowest round in two years while moving into position for the win the next day. After Mickelson holed out from 50 yards to save par early in his third round, the caddie for playing partner Lee Westwood kneeled and bowed, paying mock homage to Mickelson's short-game greatness. But that 63 was no joke.

BIGGEST SURPRISE WINNERS

1. Jhonattan Vegas at Bob Hope Classic. No one disputes that Vegas -- with that smooth swing -- will make a big impact on the PGA TOUR. But the rookie was making just his fifth start on TOUR when he won in La Quinta. The Venezuelan became the first rookie in the Hope's 52-year history to win the event.

2. Brendan Steele at Valero Texas Open. Like Vegas, Steele is a TOUR rookie. He was ranked 231 in the world coming into San Antonio, and had made little noise in his first 11 starts of the year (missing six cuts). But on four tough days at TPC San Antonio, he made himself heard. Loudly.

3. Johnson Wagner at Mayakoba Golf Classic. Wagner won the Shell Houston Open in 2008 ... and then struggled to contend again. In his next 72 starts over a three-year span, he produced just three top-10 finishes (one was at the limited-field event at Kapalua, the other two were in the Fall Series). He had fallen to 375th in the world -- but magically found his game in Mexico.

Most Memorable Shots

1. Bubba Watson's driver off the deck, Round 1, Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The 18th at Kapalua measures 663 yards. Bubba hit it in two. Do the math: He nailed a 305-yard driver from the fairway to 12 feet and made the putt. Mere text doesn't do it justice -- watch the video at right -- but know this: Bubba is among only a few people in the world who could have pulled off such a shot. 2. Phil Mickelson's wedge on the 72nd hole, Farmers Insurance Open. Mickelson needed to hole a 75-yard pitch shot to force a playoff with Bubba Watson -- and he nearly did it. As CBS' cameras rolled, Mickelson's attempt went over the hole, spun back and finished four feet. An added flair: Mickelson had caddie Jim Mackay tend the pin. 3. Nick Watney's 8-iron on the 72nd hole, World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship. With Dustin Johnson playing right behind him, Nick Watney knew he had to conquer the watery 18th at TPC Blue Monster to seal the win at Doral. After a 315-yard drive, Watney roped an 8-iron to 12 feet and made the putt to seal a two-shot win. His final-round 67 sealed the biggest victory of his career.

BIGGEST UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

1. When will Tiger win? Many expected the former world No. 1 to come out with something to prove in 2011. But aside from a tie for fourth at the Masters, where he made some noise on Sunday but still finished four strokes off the pace, Woods' results have been relatively pedestrian. He says he feels increasingly comfortable with his new swing but announced this week that damage to his surgically repaired knee suffered at Augusta National would keep him out of next week's Wells Fargo Championship. The most likely spots for the PGA TOUR drought that began in September of 2009 to end are at the Memorial Tournament, where he has won four times, or at Firestone, where he is a seven-time champ.

2. Who will be No. 1 at the end of the year? With the volatility of the first four months of the season, the best we can offer is an educated guess. Right now there are about six suspects -- all of whom had a chance to topple Martin Kaymer at the Masters. Of that group (Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and the ubiquitous Tiger Woods), Donald may be the most consistent right now. That said, it would be nice to have a world No. 1 who has won a major again -- so Donald and Westwood, who is now in his second stint atop the world rankings, could help their cases tremendously at the U.S. Open.

3. Will an American win a major this year? OK, so for the first time since 1994 -- and just the second time since the 1934 birth of the Masters -- international players own all four major titles. And yes, we know that six of the top 10 players in the world are European. But don't forget that 10 of the 18 tournaments on the PGA TOUR this year have been won by Americans, so it's not exactly like the United States has met its Waterloo or anything. And that four-for-four major surge by international players came very close to not happening. Dustin Johnson took a three-stroke lead into the final round of last year's U.S. Open, and he came within a two-stroke penalty of making it two Americans against one German in the playoff at the PGA Championship. Don't count out the red-white-and-blue just yet.