2008 in golf

This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2008.

Men's professional golf

Major championships
*10-13 April: The Masters - South African Trevor Immelman won his first major by a three-stroke margin.
*12-15, 16 June: U.S. Open - American Tiger Woods won his 14th major by making birdie on the 72nd hole in regulation, and forcing an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate on Monday June 16. They each finished the playoff at even par 71, and then went to a sudden death playoff. Woods made a par to Mediate's bogey on the first hole for the win.
*17-20 July: The Open Championship - Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive Open Championship in a four stroke victory over Ian Poulter.
*7-10 August: PGA Championship - Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive major by two shots over Ben Curtis and Sergio García.

FedEx Cup playoff events
*21-24 August: The Barclays -
*28 August-1 September: Deutsche Bank Championship -
*4-7 September: BMW Championship -
*25-28 September: The Tour Championship -

Other leading PGA Tour events
*20-24 February: WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship - Tiger Woods won the tournament for the third time, beating Stewart Cink in the final 8 and 7. He also becomes the first golfer to hold all three individual World Golf Championships titles simultaneously.
*20-23 March WGC-CA Championship - Geoff Ogilvy wrapped up the win on Monday after bad weather pushed the tournament into a fifth day.
*8-11 May: The Players Championship - Sergio García outlasted Paul Goydos in a one-hole playoff to claim his first PGA Tour title in three years.
*31 July-3 August: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational - Vijay Singh won his first World Golf Championship event and his 32nd PGA Tour event overall, putting him in the record books for most victories by an international player.

"For a complete list of PGA Tour results see PGA Tour."

Other Leading European Tour events
*22-25 May: BMW PGA Championship - Miguel Ángel Jiménez of Spain defeated Englishman Oliver Wilson in a play-off.
*30 October-1 November: Volvo Masters -

"For a complete list of European Tour results see 2008 European Tour."

Team events
*18-21 September: Ryder Cup -

Tour leaders
*PGA Tour -
*European Tour -
*Japan Golf Tour -
*Asian Tour -
*PGA Tour of Australasia -
*Sunshine Tour -

Awards
*PGA Tour
**FedEx Cup –
**Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Trophy) -
**Leading money winner (Arnold Palmer Award) -
**Vardon Trophy -
**Byron Nelson Award -
**Rookie of the year -
**Comeback Player of the Year -
*Champions Tour
**Player of the Year -
**Rookie of the Year -
**Comeback Player of the Year -
*Nationwide Tour
**Player of the Year -
*European Tour
**Player of the Year -
**Rookie of the Year -

Other happenings

Women's professional golf

LPGA majors
*3-6 April: Kraft Nabisco Championship - The number one ranked player in the world, Lorena Ochoa, eased to a five-shot win over Suzann Pettersen and Annika Sörenstam to claim her second consecutive major.
*5-8 June: LPGA Championship - Taiwanese teenager Yani Tseng becomes the youngest ever LPGA Championship winner and the first Taiwanese golfer to win a major.
*26-29 June: U.S. Women's Open - Inbee Park notched a 4-stroke victory, becoming the youngest-ever winner in the 63-year history of the tournament.
*31 July-3 August: Ricoh Women's British Open - Ji-Yai Shin, a member of the KLPGA, won her first major tournament in a three-stroke victory over Yani Tseng.

Ladies European Tour major (in addition to the Women's British Open)
*24-27 July: Evian Masters - Helen Alfredsson won in the third sudden-death playoff hole over Na Yeon Choi. Alfredsson previously won this event in 1994 and 1998.

"For a complete list of Ladies European Tour results see Ladies European Tour."

Additional LPGA Tour events
*2-5 October: Samsung World Championship -
*20-23 November: LPGA Playoffs at The ADT -

Team Events
*18-20 January: Women's World Cup of Golf - Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin representing the Philippines won the tournament with a winning score of 18 under par 198. The team from Korea was second in the 40-team field.

"For a complete list of LPGA Tour results see LPGA Tour."

Money list leaders
*LPGA Tour -
*Ladies European Tour -
*Duramed Futures Tour -
*LPGA of Korea Tour -
*LPGA of Japan Tour -
*Ladies Asian Golf Tour -
*ALPG Tour -

Awards
*LPGA Player of the Year -
*LPGA Rookie of the Year -
*LPGA Vare Trophy -

Other happenings
*13 April: With a win at the Corona Championship, Lorena Ochoa earned enough points to qualify for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Her qualfiication will become final when she completes ten years as an LPGA Tour member in 2012.

*27 April: 17-year-old rookie Vicky Hurst broke the Duramed FUTURES Tour 54-hole scoring record with an 18-under par 198 performance at the Jalapeno Golf Classic. The previous record had been set by Grace Park in 1999 at the Betty Puskar Golf Classic.

enior men's professional golf

Senior majors
*22-25 May: Senior PGA Championship - Jay Haas won his second Senior PGA title.
*24-27 July: Senior British Open - Bruce Vaughan won his first Champions Tour event.
*31 July-3 August: U.S. Senior Open - Eduardo Romero finished four strokes ahead of Fred Funk, becoming the second Argentinian to win the Senior Open.
*14-17 August: JELD-WEN Tradition - American Fred Funk won his fourth Champions Tour event and his first major tournament on any tour.
*9-12 October: Senior Players Championship -

"Full list of Champions Tour results.

Money list leaders
*Champions Tour -
*European Seniors Tour -

Amateur golf

*20-23 May: NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships - USC won its second team championship. Azahara Muñoz of Arizona State won the individual title on the first hole of a playoff with UCLA's Tiffany Joh.
*28-31 May: NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships - UCLA sweeps the team and individual titles, with Kevin Chappell earning the individual title.
*30 May-1 June: Curtis Cup - Team USA won the Cup for the sixth consecutive time, defeating Team Great Britain & Ireland 13–7.
*16-21 June: The Amateur Championship - Reinier Saxton of the Netherlands defeated Tommy Fleetwood of England, 3 & 2.
*4-10 August: U.S. Women's Amateur Championship - Amanda Blumenherst of the United States defeated Azahara Muñoz of Spain, 2 & 1.
*18-24 August: U.S. Amateur Championship - Danny Lee of New Zealand became the youngest winner in the history of the tournament, breaking the previous record set by Tiger Woods in 1994.

Other happenings
*5 May: Amanda Blumenherst, a junior at Duke University, won the Nancy Lopez Award for the second consecutive year. The award is given to the world's most outstanding female amateur golfer.

Other

Broadcaster Kelly Tilghman was suspended from The Golf Channel for two weeks in January after discussing Tiger Woods's dominance on the PGA Tour and saying that young players should "lynch him in a back alley." The comment came during the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship. cite web
last = Sirak
first = Ron
title = Can Golf Channel announcer suspended 2 weeks for 'lynch' Tiger comment
publisher = ESPN
date = 2008-01-14
url = http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3189374
accessdate = 2008-01-20 ]

Table of results

This table summarises all the results referred to above in date order.

The following biennial events will next be played in 2009: Presidents Cup, Seve Trophy, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup.

References

External links

Men's tours' official sites

* [http://www.pgatour.com/ PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour]
* [http://www.europeantour.com/home/default.sps European Tour, European Seniors Tour and Challenge Tour]
* [http://jgto.org/jgto/WG01000000Init.do Japan Golf Tour (English version)]
* [http://www.asiantour.com/ast/jsp/index.jsp Asian Tour]
* [http://www.pgatour.com.au/ PGA Tour of Australasia]
* [http://www.pgatour.co.za/ Sunshine Tour]

Women's tours' official sites

* [http://www.lpga.com/ LPGA Tour]
* [http://www.duramedfuturestour.com Futures Tour]
* [http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/ Ladies European Tour]

Rankings

* [http://www.owgr.com/home/default.sps Official World Golf Rankings] - updated each Monday
* [http://www.wgwr.net/public/ Women's World Rankings] - updated each Monday
* [http://wagr.randa.org/ World Amateur Golf Rankings]

Golf news sites

Australia based
* [http://www.iseekgolf.com/index.php iseekgolf.com]

UK based
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/default.stm BBC golf coverage]
* [http://www.golftoday.co.uk Golftoday.co.uk]
* [http://www.golf365.com/Home/index.shtml Golf365.com]

U.S. based
* [http://www.golf.com/golf/ golf.com]
* [http://www.thegolfchannel.com/ The Golf Channel]