Well after Stenson holed the final putt of the Tour Championship to win it, the 2013 PGA Tour season came to an end.
Stenson is one of the obvious winners of this season, mostly because he regained his status as one of the elite players in the world. But who are the other big winners? And who are the losers?
Some of the biggest winners include Phil Mickelson, the 20 year old Jordan Spieth, and Tiger Woods.
Phil was a huge winner this season, and it all started with his win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when he lipped out a long lag putt to miss out on a 59 by one shot. Phil then won the Open Championship with a huge comeback during the final round, which included magnificent putting, and excellent management of the conditions. Phil who is starting to run out of years showed excellent form this season, and will be apart of another Presidents Cup team next week.
Jordan Spieth, the 20 year old sensation, was just playing this year to gain tour status without playing on the Web.com Tour. He succeeded. Spieth actually broke through with a win at the John Deere Classic, and then brought the same play to the Tour Championship, where he ended up tying for second place. Spieth has made his name, and is now the young star in golf. Spieth is hoping to keep the play next week, where he will be repping the U.S. in the Presidents Cup.
And last but not least (for sure), Tiger Woods. Tiger had a five win season, he didn't win a major, but still he had the most wins on tour. This season might not go down in Tiger's record books as being great. But the man has high standards. When Tiger reflects on his season, he should think of it as another year where he was still fine tuning his game, and its another step in the right direction for Jack's record. Tiger ended up second in the Fed Ex Cup standings, and he was leading it pretty much the whole season, until Stenson won two of the last three playoff events.
Some of the biggest losers this year were Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, and Lee Westwood. All three of these former world-number-ones had less than stellar seasons in 2013.
Rory opened the season with a new contract with Nike, and soon after the signing, when there were many lows, there was talk about him switching back. Rory stayed with Nike, but nothing really got better. Rory struggled this season with only seven top-25's of the 14 cuts he made. McIlroy, who was on top of the world after his PGA Championship victory late in 2012, didn't have anywhere near the year he has had in the past. I would like to say the future is bright for this young star, but right now it's difficult to state that.
Donald was in the hunt on Sunday at this years U.S. Open, but fell short after some early miscues. Donald has won in the past two seasons on the PGA Tour, and had won the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour both years. This year Donald struggled a little more than normal, his highest finish was a T-3 in the RBC Heritage, and missed three cuts including the British Open and the PGA. Donald looks to be going in the right direction with good finished at the final two playoff events, but it's going to be an up hill battle if Donald wants to get to where he once was, now that Tiger Woods playing at full strength.
Lee Westwood was the talk of the majors going into the season, and was on everyone's list to finally win one this season. Westwood looked very good after three rounds of the British Open, holding the lead, but with Mickelson's late round charge, his efforts suddenly fell short. Westwood did not miss a cut this season, and was looking good most of the season. But with getting really nothing going late this year, Westwood missed the Tour Championship. This year showed promise out of Lee, but it also showed defeat. It's going to be interesting to see how Westwood can play next year, as once again he sits on top of the best players without a major going into the offseason.
The 2013 PGA Tour season created a lot of up and coming stars, as it did returning. But it also faced some of the worlds best with many struggles.
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