Tiger Woods' walk, Rory McIlroy's roar, Scottie Scheffler's stellar year: A to Z of golf in 2022

It’s been a wild year on the fairways, with the world order disrupted by the emergence of LIV Golf.

Away from the politics of it all, there was some seriously good golf played, an Englishman getting his hands on a major for the firsts time and Rory McIlroy returning to the top of the sport.

Tiger Woods did not play much, but he was still front and centre and the biggest name in the sport.

Before the focus turns to 2023, where hopefully the on-course action will dominate more than court cases, claims and counter claims, let us take you through 2022.

A is for Armitage. One of the biggest and most likeable characters on the DP World Tour, Marcus Armitage showed he has more than just good golf in his locker when nailing the crossbar challenge. Never change, Marcus.

B is for bunker. Matt Fitzpatrick’s bunker shot on 72nd hole of the US Open, to be precise. US Open wins for English players are rare, but Fitzpatrick had that chance at Brookline. Stood on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead, his dreams turned to nightmares when he found a bunker on the left. With a huge lip to go over, it appeared he had no shot. But a chat with caddie Billy Foster fashioned a plan: aim to the left and hit a huge cut. Major championship on the line, absolutely no pressure. Fitzpatrick hit the shot of 2022 as contact was perfect, the ball arced from left to right and found the middle of the green. Two putts later and he was the first Englishman to lift the trophy since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

C is for Cameron: Smith, that is. The Australian had been trending in the right direction for a couple of years, but had a breakout year in 2022. He got on a roll in Hawaii in January when winning the Tournament of Championship and backed that up with success at The Players - the unofficial fifth major. An unofficial major became an official major when he showed the skills of an assassin to ruthlessly reel in Rory McIlroy and win in the Open. The golfing world was at his feet, but he dropped a cluster bomb when defecting to LIV for a reported $140 million. Time will tell on that decision, but his talent is undeniable.

D is for DJ. Put Dustin Johnson in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and he’d shrug his shoulders and keep on walking. Laid back does not do DJ justice as he is unfazed by anything, and the flak he got when joining LIV Golf was water off a duck’s back. As a US Open and Masters champion, he has exemption to those events (and his Masters win gets him into the Open and US PGA Championship until 2025), so there is no major pressure. As such, the move to LIV has not closed doors for DJ and he had quite the year on LIV, as he won in Boston and was named player of the year.

E is for Eminem. Wait, what? Bear with us, here. We had to shoehorn Jon Rahm in here somewhere and the Spaniard saying Eminem and Kendrick Lamar helped him learn English is the perfect segue. Rahm made his major breakthrough in 2021, and got a bit sick of being told 2022 had been a bad year. After winning the DP World Tour Championship in November - his third victory of the year - he hit out at the critics. There was no criticism here, and the icing on the cake for Rahm was the birth of his second child. Quite the year.

F is for Finau. Tony Finau is one of the most likeable players on the PGA Tour, the easy-going 33-year-old from Utah who had threatened to become the nearly man of golf and most famous for dislocating his ankle in the Par-3 contest at the Masters in 2018. Things changed in 2022, as Finau went from promising talent to serial winner. He won three titles in the second half of the year, two being the rare feat of in consecutive weeks, and now he knows how to close the deal Finau could be a threat in the majors in 2023.

G is for Grant. Remember the name, as the men on the DP World Tour who competed in the Scandinavian Mixed earlier this year certainly will as Linn Grant demolished the field to win by nine shots. There will be those who are stuck in the dark ages that will decry the event, saying Grant had an advantage as she played off forward tees. But from the fairways it was a fair fight. In this case, if it was boxing the referee would have stopped the contest as Grant gave the men - she beat the nearest woman by 14 shots - a bloody nose. It was no flash in the pan, as it was one of four wins on the LET for Grant in 2022 and she looks a major championship winner in waiting.

H is for Hull. Charley Hull is one of the most prodigiously talented players in the game, with her effervescence and carefree approach a breath of fresh air. But since winning her first title in 2014 at the age of 17, she has not won as much as someone with her talent should. Hull admitted to having lost the feeling of winning, but she broke a six-year duck on the LPGA Tour when winning the Volunteers of America Classic in October and she could be primed for a big year in 2023. And Hull is not one to take herself too seriously, as Laura Davies can attest to.

I is for Internationals. The Presidents Cup is a big thing, but it has been in danger of being used as a tune-up for the United States going into the Ryder Cup which takes place in the year after each Presidents Cup. It appeared for a couple of days that the United States would blow their Internationals opponents out of the water at Quail Hollow, but a fantastic rally from Trevor Immelmann’s men - led by the brilliant youngster Tom Kim - resulted in Davis Love III’s USA side fall over the line 16-14. The Presidents Cup is alive and well.

J is for Joo-hyung. We’e taking a bit of a liberty with this one. Tom Kim, birth name Kim Joo-hyung, had quite the year. The 20-year-old had been making waves on the Asian Tour, but had no status on the PGA Tour when he opted to roll the dice in 2022. He earned temporary membership with a decent showing at the Open Championship and boy did he make it count. Kim earned a Tour card for the 2022/23 season when finishing seventh in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and turned that into a two-year exemption when winning the Wyndham Championship. That victory was remarkable, as he opened the tournament with a quadruple-bogey eight and finished with a round of 61. He announced himself on the world stage with a talisman-like performance in the Presidents Cup, as he came close to inspiring the Internationals to victory over the United States. A second win on the PGA Tour followed in October, and if he can add a bit of length off the tee he could become the dominant force in golf.

K is for Ko. It’s barely believable that Lydia Ko is still only 25. She won her first LPGA title as a 15-year-old in 2012, her first major three years later and mopped up a string of titles. But things went a little lean after 2016, with only two wins in five years. Ko turned the clock back in 2022 as she secured three wins in a stellar season that saw her return to world No. 1.

L is for LIV. The Marmite (other yeast extract spreads are available) of golf. Love it or loathe it, LIV Golf made quite the impression. Possibly foolishly, it was dismissed by many as a fad that would never take off. With money seemingly no object for the Saudi-funded series, it has disrupted the sport and the head-one collision with the PGA Tour seems set to end in court. The hope is that common ground can be found, but with star names such as Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith heading the charge, it will be interesting to see its direction of travel.

M is for Mickelson. Arguably never has a golfer played so badly and commanded so much media attention. Phil Mickelson is one of the greatest golfers of all time, he has six majors to his name, and became the oldest major champion when winning the US PGA Championship at the age of 50 in 2021. He went from the highs of 2021 to a golfing pariah in the eyes of many in 2022 when becoming the first high-profile signing for LIV Golf. He joined LIV despite calling the series’ Saudi-funded owners “scary motherf*****s” in a controversial interview. There was a furious backlash to the interview, he lost a raft of sponsors and took time away from the sport before returning to play on the LIV circuit. To say he played badly is an understatement. He will hope things get better in 2023.

N is for Nelly. Women’s golf is on a charge, and it’s easy to see why given the superstars on show right now. With Linn Grant beating the men by nine, Lydia Ko continuing to rewrite the record books and Charley Hull threatening to realise her huge potential, the sport is in good shape. And arguably front and centre of the charge is Nelly Korda. The American is a player with no weaknesses, she overcame a blood clot in her arm early in the year to get back to No. 1 in the world, and showed her class against the men at the QBE Shootout.

O is for Open Championship. The home of golf played host to the 150th Open and it was a spectacular occasion at St Andrews. Tiger’s walk up 18, Cameron Smith’s eight-birdie blitz in the final round to secure the Claret Jug and huge crowds made for a special occasion. Roll on Hoylake in 2023.

P is for Pat. Pat Perez is living his best life. A 46-year-old journeyman whose last win on the PGA Tour came back in 2017, Perez was making a comfortable living - until he was parachuted into LIV Golf to play on his friend Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces team. While there was lots of talk about growing the game and managing schedules, Perez was brutally honest in saying it was all about the money. His golf was pretty bad, but piggybacking on the brilliance of Johnson he was a winner in four of the six team events - and the overall team championship - which padded out his earnings. His wife has enjoyed herself as well, taking shots at Tiger Woods on social media, so it has been quite the year for the Perez household.

Q is for QBE Shootout. Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson took on the men, both playing off the same tees - much to big-hitting Thompson's delight. The stars of the LPGA Tour impressed at Tiburon Golf Club, and it will be revamped to be a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour. Let's hope the star names come out in support.

R is for Rory. Northern Irish superstar Rory McIlroy has had a big year on and off the course. He returned to world No. 1, won the the FedEx Cup for a third time, the Harry Vardon Trophy for Europe’s top golfer for a fourth time and landed the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour. Off the course, he was leading the charge for the PGA Tour against LIV which has resulted in increased prize funds for 2023 and beyond. The only downside was a failure to end a major drought dating back to 2014, but the near misses suggest his turn is near.

S is for Scheffler. Few players have risen from relative obscurity as fast as Scottie Scheffler. Mid-way through 2021, he was loitering in the 30s in the world rankings (which is not to be sniffed at by the way), but he caught fire in early 2022 - winning four tournaments in a two-month period - culminating in the Masters in April, and was named the PGA Tour’s player of the year.

T is for turmoil. The emergence of LIV Golf split the sport down the middle, and a man front and centre of it was Greg Norman. A golf superstar of his age, a supremely talented player who won many fans not just for his talent, but also for the heartbreak he suffered with repeated near misses at the Masters. He was a disruptor, and was infamously put back in his box by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer when attempting to form a breakaway league in the 1990s. That stung, and in 2022 he was back as the figurehead of LIV Golf - sparking controversy with outlandish claims, so much so that he made Rory McIlroy so angry that the world No. 1 said it became his mission to be a “pain in the a**e” of the Australian. It was a big year for Norman, and 2023 could be wild for him and LIV.

U is for unfinished business. There was a feeling of that as Tiger Woods walked up the 18th fairway at St Andrews after missing the cut in the Open Championship. It felt like the end of an era, as the Open is not likely to be back at the home of golf for at least five years, but he told the media that retirement was out of the question. One last dance for Tiger? Do not rule it out.

V is for Valderrama. One of the most storied tracks in European golf, and the venue for Team Europe’s Ryder Cup victory under the stewardship of Seve Ballesteros in 1997. It is part of the fabric of the DP World Tour, but it won’t be on the rotation in 2023 after a deal was signed to be a venue for LIV Golf in 2023. A land grab from Greg Norman, and a smart one at that.

W is for Willett’s collapse. Sorry Danny, but we can’t ignore it. The 2018 Masters champion looked primed to win on the PGA Tour when holding a one-shot lead on the 18th at the Fortinet Championship. He stuffed his approach to four feet and it looked all over, especially so when Max Homa duffed his bunker shot. Homa made things interesting when holing his chip from the rough for a par. What was to follow was a horror show, as Willett missed the four-footer for the win and also the return putt to force a play-off.

X is for Xander. We’ve used it before and we’ll use it again. Keep playing golf, Xander Schauffele, X is never easy.

Y is for Yards. 432 of them to be precise. Brandon Matthews will be competing on the PGA Tour in 2023, and is likely one to watch after he hit a drive an astonishing 432 yards - becoming the first player to drive the green on the 18th in the Korn Ferry Championship finals at Victoria National Golf Club.

Z is for Zalatoris. The sweet-swinging American was forging a reputation as a nearly man after his second-placed finishes at the Masters, US PGA Championship and US Open over the past couple of years. He shook off the tag of best player yet to win a tournament when getting over the line to win the FedExp St Jude Championship in August. His season was ended by a back injury, but is expected to be back in action in early 2023 and will have majors in his sights.