FEATURE: Golf365’s 2019 advent calendar review of the year, including Tiger Woods Masters moment

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Tiger Woods celebrates Masters win

To celebrate the festive season Matt Cooper reviews 2019 golfing year in his brilliantly unique way with a rundown of the numbers from 1 to 25, and naturally Tiger Woods features heavily.

1 – time that Jin Young Ko didn’t finish in the top 30 in 2019 and that was because she had to withdraw through injury; the new world number one in the women’s game had nine top three finishes in her 22 starts including four wins.

2 – missed cuts in his first two starts as a professional, then Matthew Wolff won his first title on the PGA Tour in just a third appearance at the 3M Open.

3 – tours playing in one tournament for the first time at the Jordan Mixed Open in April; a ground-breaking combination of the Ladies European, Challenge and Staysure Tours.

4 – major championship top four finishes for Brooks Koepka in 2019, he’s now won four of them in his last ten major starts.

5 – million dollars won by Jon Rahm when he completed the DP World Tour Championship / Race to Dubai double in November.

6 – wins in the World Golf Championship for Dustin Johnson, the latest being the Mexico Championship in February; only Tiger Woods has won more (18) and the next best total is three.

7 – under-par final rounds of 65 with which Tommy Fleetwood closed his final two tournaments of the 2019 European Tour season; the first earned him victory in the Nedbank Challenge, the second pushed Jon Rahm to the line.

8 – shots which Rory McIlroy famously needed to complete the par-4 first hole in the Open at Royal Portrush.

Rory McIlroy driving

9 – wins for Europeans on the 2018-19 PGA Tour and …

10 – victories on the 2019 European Tour by Americans.

11 – shot-winning margin, the biggest in professional golf this year, earned by Naoki Sekito on the Asian Development Tour.

12 – th place for Viktor Hovland in the U.S. Open with a total of 280, the lowest 72-hole score by an amateur in the championship, besting Jack Nicklaus’ 282 in the 1960 tournament.

13 – under-par was the winning total of Tiger Woods at the Masters in April.

14 – years after Tiger had last tasted victory at Augusta National, beating the previous record held by Gary Player.

15 – majors for Tiger after slipping his arms in that green jacket (yes, this is a lot of Tiger, but he’s worth it).

16 – career finishes in the top two on the European Tour for Bernd Wiesberger, the comeback player of the year who won three times in 2019 after missing seven months of 2018.

17 – th start of the 2019 season earned Erik Van Rooyen his first European Tour title.

18 – year-old Rasmus Hojgaard from Denmark won a European Tour card at Q School; twin brother Nicolai didn’t, but he served notice of his promise when second at the KLM Open in September.

19 – worldwide top tens for Rory McIlroy in the year.

20 – of the world’s top 47 ranked women golfers are Korean.

21 – Solheim Cup points for Suzann Pettersen, the last of them sealing victory for Europe at Gleneagles in September.

Suzann Pettersen celebrates at Solheim Cup

22 – starts in professional golf, all of them at home in Japan, before 20-year-old Hinako Shibuno won the AIG Women’s British Open.

23 – finishes of T33rd or better (in 25 starts) for Jeong Eun Lee 6 on her way to the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year title.

24 – rounds of golf that Shane Lowry has played in the Open – and the last four of them were magical as he claimed the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.

25 – cuts Phil Mickelson has made in the U.S. Open, the latest this June at Pebble Beach, but the win remains elusive; he returns to Winged Foot, where in 2007 he came closest to the win, in 2020.

 

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