One of the most outspoken players, Rory McIlroy managed to put together a year to remember by claiming both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s season-long titles. Two rising stars in the game, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith, each won their first major championship in 2022. Scheffler led the Tour in wins with four (all in an eight-week period) and set a record for prize money. Smith won the Tour’s flagship event, then took his talents to the LIV where he continued a successful five-win season worldwide.
So, of the three noteworthy season, who stood out the most?
Without further ado, the 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Best Female Player of the Year goes to …
Heading into the 2022 season, fans were eager to see Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko build upon the rivalry that emerged in 2021. While health issues for both players kept that from materializing, a host of new winners kept the season fresh, as 11 players broke through to win for the first time.
Chief among those was Atthaya Thitikul, the rookie who rose to No. 1 in the world.
When it came to who had the best season in golf, however, the discussion at the table among staff was fairly short. It wasn’t a new face who impressed the most, but rather one who hadn’t been in such a position in a long, long time.
Without further ado, the 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Best Female Player of the Year goes to …
As far as making a decision for Golfweek’s Male Amateur of the Year, that wasn’t easy. You had champions and multiple-time winners. You had golfers who broke out and became stars. All in all, a banner year for men’s amateur golfers made it difficult to make this decision. But ultimately, it came down to who was the best when it mattered most.
The 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Male Amateur of the Year goes to …
Here’s a look at the top 10 golf course equipment stories, as clicked on by you, in 2022.
For the final days of 2022, we’re offering up snapshots of the top 10 stories from each of Golfweek’s most popular sections, including the PGA and LPGA tours, travel, instruction and fitness. Here’s what we’ve already counted down.
Now it’s time to put our top equipment features in the spotlight.
Here’s a look at the top 10 golf gear stories, as clicked on by you, during 2022:
Sure, there were talented athletes across the world who made their mark during the 2022 calendar year. There were first-time winners, young stars shining on the brightest stage and others cementing their legacy, But one female golfer stood out among them all.
In the end, it came down to three athletes, two who made honorable mention and the Golfweek Female Amateur of the Year. The best women’s amateur in the game has held this title for some time, and she’s going to make plenty of splashes in the professional ranks before long. The 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Female Amateur of the Year goes to …
Four tournaments stood out from the pack, three of which were major championships.
The discourse that dominated professional golf in 2022 largely focused on the off-course battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Despite the back-and-forth war of words and lawsuits, the on-course action in both the men’s and women’s game was just as compelling. But which tournament was the best of the rest?
The Golfweek staff debated the topic, and after all the deliberation, four events stood out from the pack, three of which were major championships, and two even included a tie to LIV, the upstart Saudi Arabia-backed circuit.
Check out the 2022 tournament of the year (as well as the three honorable mentions).
The Shot of the Year divided the staff more than any other category among the 2022 Golfweek Awards because there are so many to consider.
Pros make difficult shots look routine every week, and sometimes Lady Luck plays a part too, but the writers, reporters and editors at Golfweek also felt that the circumstances and the moment mattered.
A miraculous shot in a major championship is just bigger than the same shot hit on a Thursday at a week-to-week event.
In the end, it came down to six shots. Five have been awarded honorable mention, and in some other years they each could have been the winner, but the 2022 Shot of the Year delivered in every way. A star player, on a massive stage, in a tight situation. The 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Shot of the Year goes to …
It’s tough to reach consensus on some year-end awards, but Woods crossing the Swilcan Bridge was a slam dunk.
For good reason, the moment of the year in golf drew several nominations at the Golfweek editorial summit earlier this month. But once Tiger Woods crossing the Swilcan Burn Bridge was proposed the debate was over. It’s tough on some of these year-end awards to reach consensus, but there was unanimity as everyone nodded in agreement and we quickly moved on to the next category. Such was the goosebumps-on-goosebumps moment that was Tiger Woods potentially saying farewell to his competitive days at the Old Course at St. Andrews in the 150th British Open.
All that was missing from this moment was it happened on Friday afternoon with Woods missing the cut badly rather than being feted on Sunday. Woods, who won three Claret Jugs among his 15 major championship victories and two of them at St. Andrews, in 2000 and 2005, skipped the U.S. Open in order to allow his surgically repaired right leg and the rest of his ailing body to heal enough so he could even play. This was the one tournament Woods had circled on his calendar to play in 2022 and he wasn’t about to miss it.
And so it didn’t really matter that he was 9 over and destined to miss the cut by a long shot. Fans had arrived early that morning and assembled around the 18th hole. They waited for Woods to approach the famed Swilcan Bridge that leads players over the burn, which meanders across the first and 18th holes, and onto the 18th fairway.
Playing competitors Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa as well as Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava hovered behind as Woods approached the bridge alone, the stage set for the monumental moment. Here is where Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson before him took turns bidding adieu to the Old Grey Toon. Woods slowed his walk and lifted his white Nike cap in appreciation but never truly broke stride for the long ceremonial stop that many expected. Did that signal that Woods expected to have at least one more spin around the Old Course down the road? Not even he knows.
“I don’t know if I ever get back to playing St. Andrews in a British Open, but to be able to experience that maybe one last time at this level was very special to me,” he said afterward. “That was my favorite golf course in the whole world, and if that was it, that was it, to be able to possibly finish up my career there, I don’t know. That’s one of the reasons why I was kind of emotional because I don’t know if I’ll ever play St. Andrews again. I’ll play Open Championships in the future but I don’t know if I’ll be around when it comes back there again.”
Tiger Woods tips his hat to the crowd after teeing off on the 18th hole during the second round of the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews Old Course. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
As Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio wrote, “There were tears in his eyes, weight in his heart.”
“It’s very emotional for me,’’ Woods said. “I had a few tears. The warmth and the ovation at 18, it got to me. I’m not one who gets very teary-eyed very often about anything.’’
Woods speculated that the Open likely won’t return to St. Andrews until 2030 when he’d be 53 years old.
“I don’t know if I will be physically able to play by then,’’ he said. “So, to me, it felt like this might have been my last British Open here at St. Andrews.’’
Fans weren’t the only ones to shower Woods with applause as he walked the 18th fairway. Rory McIlroy played nearby on the first fairway and tipped his cap to the golfer who inspired him to take up the game. And when Woods reached the 18th green, Justin Thomas had just teed off and did likewise.
“It was just incredible,” Woods said. “The nods I was getting from guys as they were going out and I was coming in, just the respect, that was pretty neat. And from a players’ fraternity level, it’s neat to see that and feel that.”
Fitzpatrick said the scene “gave me goosebumps,’’ adding, “It’s something that will live with me forever.’’
And with all of us. That’s why it was the moment of the year.
“This isn’t about money and contracts, this is about meaning.” — U.S. Golf Association CEO Mike Whan
It was a U.S. Open like no other. Every player in the 96-player field at the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open had a story to tell. One that could uplift and inspire both the disabled and able-bodied to push through boundaries in the pursuit of excellence.
There were 24 players at Pinehurst No. 6 with handicaps better than scratch. Pros and amateurs, men and women, competed alongside each other. The oldest player was 80-year-old Judi Brush (leg impairment) and the youngest was 15-year-old Sophia Howard (arm impairment).
“If you were here,” said Dennis Walters, “I don’t think you would ever forget this.”
Dennis Walters practices for the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst No. 6 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. (Photo: Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Walters, who competed in the seated players division, went on to say that he’d like to see everyone involved in the golf industry come out to watch the Adaptive Open, from players on the PGA Tour and LPGA to golf manufacturers.
The field had at least five male players and two females in each impairment category: arm impairment, leg impairment, multiple limb amputee, vision impairment, intellectual impairment, neurological impairment, seated players and short stature. Four separate yardages were used spanning from 4,700 to 6,500 yards and men and women competed in the same groups.
South Korea’s Simon Lee (intellectual impairment) and Kim Moore, the head coach at Western Michigan who was born without a right and severely clubbed left foot, were the inaugural champions.
The competitors oozed appreciation, but really, this championship was a gift to the game.
“This isn’t about money and contracts,” said U.S. Golf Association CEO Mike Whan, “this is about meaning.”
