You can clamor all you want about Tiger Woods winning five tournaments this year, (three of them early, limited field events and one – Sawgrass – besmirched with an ugly asterisk for a highly questionable drop), but Adam Scott had by far and away the best year of any golfer.
A. Scott won the Masters. Woods wasn’t competitive in a single major except the first two days of the Masters where he was almost disqualified for – you guessed it – an improper drop). Indeed, Scott outplayed Woods at every other major this year.
B. Scott won a FedEx Cup event. Woods flushed a gargantuan lead – and the 10 million bucks – by foundering in the nether-reaches of the leaderboard for a month, often finishing before the leaders reed off.
C. Scott won the Grand Slam of golf. Tiger didn’t even qualify.
D. Scott nearly won the entire triple crown of Australian golf, taking to events and leading the third late before bowing to eventual winner Rory McIlroy.
In the biggest moments of the year, Scott was there, Woods wasn’t. He was too busy deflecting criticism for rules disputes, threatening a journalist for his published opinion, and showboating with Lindsay Vonn while also wagging his finger and demanding we respect his privacy. It’s not even close. Tiger was good from Jan to May…Scott was truly great from April to December. Game, set, match, Scott.
PAST WINNERS
2012 Rory McIlroy
2011 Webb Simpson
2010 Graeme McDowell
2009 Geoff Ogilvy
2008 Padraig Harrington
2007 Zach Johnson
