10 Best/Most Significant Moments of the 2012 PGA Tour season

With the 2012 PGA Tour season drawing to a close we take a look at our 10 best/most significant moments of the 2012 PGA Tour season excluding the Majors.

Charlie Beljan – Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic

Rookie Charlie Beljan came into the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic - the final event of the season - outside the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list, and needing a top-ten finish to secure his 2013 playing privileges.

During the second round, the 28-year-old suffered shortness of breath, dizziness and an increased heart rate. Despite being attended to by medics, he somehow managed an eight-under-par 64 to take a three-shot halfway lead.

He spent Friday night in hospital undergoing medical tests, and despite doctors’ instructions, returned to action on Saturday morning after one hour’s sleep. Remarkably, he clung on to his lead and held on for victory, earning himself $860,000 and a two-year PGA Tour exemption.

Rickie Fowler – Wells Fargo Championship

Rickie Fowler is one of the most talented young golfers in the game, but fears were starting to grow over his mental strength and inability to win at the top level when he triumphed at Quail Hollow. He shot 69 on Sunday and did enough to force his way into a play-off with D.A. Points and Rory McIlroy, not someone you’d hope to face in extra holes with a first PGA Tour title on the line. Fowler, however, wasn’t overawed, and knocked his approach to five feet before holing the putt for victory. Now the first one is out the way, there is simply no telling how many tournament wins the gregarious youngster could notch.

Kyle Stanley – Phoenix Open

Kyle Stanley suffered one of the most heartbreaking collapses to throw away the Humana Challenge. With a three shot lead standing on the 72^nd tee, he proceeded to find water, three-putt and fall into a play-off with Brandt Snedeker, a play-off he would unsurprisingly lose. Tears streamed down his face on the 18^th green as he contemplated the worst moment of his career, but to his eternal credit, he bounced back in style the very next week. Starting the final round of the Phoenix Open seven-shots adrift, he tore through the field, and with 54-hole leader Spencer Levin suffering a collapse of his own, Stanley took the title. Everyone linked to the game felt a pang of joy for the young American.

Rory McIlroy – FedEx Cup play-offs

Rory McIlroy was insatiable at the PGA Championship, storming to a record-breaking eight-shot victory, and he carried that form into the FedEx Cup play-offs. He overcame a three-shot final round deficit to win by one shot from Louis Oosthuizen at the Deutsche Bank Championship, moving to the top of the Money List. The next week, he won the BMW Championship, recording a 40-under-par total for the two tournaments. His BMW victory made him the first European to win four tournaments on the PGA Tour in the same season, and gave him an unassailable lead atop the Money List.

Brandt Snedeker – FedEx Cup

Brandt Snedeker won his first tournament in 2012 rather fortuitously, courtesy of Kyle Stanley’s final-hole collapse at Torrey Pines. Shortly after he was selected as a wildcard pick for Davis Love’s American Ryder Cup team, he found himself leading the Tour Championship after three rounds. Overcoming a strong chasing pack and the most pressure he’d have felt on a golf course, he played near flawless golf and held on for victory. What’s more, he came into the week inside the top five in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning his win earned him the trophy and an additional $11m dollars.  

Bill Haas – Northern Trust Open

The final hour of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera was one of the most enthralling passages of play all season. Bill Haas owned the clubhouse lead, and despite the 18^th being the hardest hole all week, Phil Mickelson and playing partner Keegan Bradley both made birdies to force their way into a play-off. The drama didn’t stop in extra holes, either. All three players were out of position off the tee, and none had legitimate birdie chances. That didn’t matter to Bill Hass, who knocked in a sloping 35-footer to secure his first victory of 2012.

Justin Rose – WGC-Cadillac

Justin Rose had been earmarked as a future star ever since his astonishing pitch-in at the 1998 Open Championship. Over the past few years he has been getting better and better, and this year he breached the world’s top five for the first time. Rose had won big tournaments in the past, such as the Volvo Masters at Valderrama and the Memorial Tournament, but his victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March – where he held off Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson coming down the stretch - was the biggest of his career. Let’s hope he can go one better next season and win a major championship.   

Ted Potter Jr – Greenbrier Classic

With enormous sums of money on offer every week on the PGA Tour, it is easy to forget the struggles that some have endured to earn their cards.

Ted Potter Jr is one such player; someone who spent years playing on mini-tours, struggling to get by financially and hoping for a break. He played his way onto the tour via the Nationwide Tour, and found himself in a play-off with Troy Matteson at the Greenbrier Classic after a brilliant final round.

On the par-3 18^th, the third play-off hole, he put his approach to four feet and knocked in the putt for victory, letting out an enormous sigh. It wasn’t just a sigh of relief, but recognition that all those years of toil had been worth it.

Tiger Woods - Memorial

Tiger Woods was one behind standing on the 16^th tee at Muirfield Village, and his chances of victory diminished even more when his tee shot settled down in the rough through the green. With a downhill chip towards water, the 14-time major champion bravely opened the club face, landed his ball on a six pence and unleashed a trademark fist pump after watching it drop into the hole. It was arguably the shot of the season and earned Woods his third PGA Tour title of 2012.

Inclusion of Asian events

At the start of November, it was announced that the CIMB Classic and the WGC-HSBC Champions, previously unofficial PGA Tour events, would form part of the FedEx Cup from 2013. For years and years, the European Tour has staged events in Asia, but the PGA Tour following suit is an extremely significant move. Helping golf to grow all around the world is the responsibility of all top-tier tours, and it’s good to see senior PGA Tour officials recognising that.