Tiger Woods: yes, he cheated and it's been mentioned on a regular basis. Nevertheless, let's not forget that this guy had some pretty nice accomplishments on the course: he won six times, he had 3 top tens in four majors, was named PGA Player of the Year, won the FedEx Cup and took home 10 million dollars in earnings. If this was not enough, Forbes magazine named him the richest athlete in the planet with a 1 billion estimated fortune and AP considered him the Athlete of the Decade.
Y. E. Yang: he took home the PGA Championship, which was special for several reasons; one, he became the first Asian player to accomplish that feat; and two, he overcame a 2 shot deficit to surpass Tiger. This was the first time Woods lost an event after being the 54 hole leader.
Steve Stricker: he had his best season ever thanks to three victories: Crowne Plaza Invitational, John Deere Classic and Deutsche Bank Championship. This and other good results during the year gave him the opportunity to grab the 3rd position at the World Golf Rankings.
Lorena Ochoa: the Mexican superstar won her 4th Player of the Year Award, which came as a result of 3 wins and 10 top tens. Even when Ochoa didn't get as much titles as she used to in previous years, she maintained the first position at the Rolex World Rankings. She experience some changes in her personal life since she got married to Andrés Conesa, Aeromexico's CEO.
Jiyai Shin: the South Korean won 3 times and was named Rookie of the Year. She almost grabbed the tour's most prestigious awards in a single season, something that has been only accomplished by Nancy Lopez (1978). Shin has shown that she's a very classy lady, with both fans and media, which makes her a favorite in the golf community.
Anna Nordqvist: along with Shin, she was the only rookie who won multiple times in the tour. In her fifth appearance she kept it calm to claim the second major of the season, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, which gave her exempt status and media attention; she was also compared to fellow Swedish woman Annika Sörenstam. Nordqvist closed her season in style after winning the LPGA Tour Championship with a 2 stroke advantage over Lorena Ochoa.
It's pretty obvious that there's a lot of talent and next year's performances should be solid and fun, even with Woods' "retirement", which might end by the Augusta Masters, and Lorena's marriage, which kept her focused on different matters, the toughest difficulty that the executives from all tours will experience will be the financial crisis; they need to find new business models in order to bring more sponsors and, at the end, new tournaments. 2010 must be the year in which golf reemerges.
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