Jim McCabe

We’ve passed out the Tour Championship trophy. You know what that means, right? Players who had rich years were afforded the chance to get even richer. It also means that the envelopes get opened.

To the winners (so to speak), we say, “Congratulations.”

Player of the year (PGA Tour): Brett Wetterich. Only kidding. Just making sure you’re paying attention. This goes to — surprise, surprise — Tiger Woods.

Player of the year (LPGA Tour): Lorena Ochoa. She didn’t win a major, but what a major breakthrough.

Player of the year (Champions Tour): Jay Haas, though in his heart, he’d rather be on the PGA Tour.

Player of the year (European PGA): Paul Casey, because his three wins mean more than Padraig Harrington’s one money title.

Best tournament performance: Woods’s commanding victory in the British Open. It was done with a surgeon’s precision.

Most underrated tournament performance: Stephen Ames at The Players Championship. He was brilliant in tough conditions on a demanding golf course. Closing with a 67, he won by a whopping six shots.

Worst major venue: Medinah Country Club. Yes, it produced a premier winner (Woods), but there was a serious lack of major atmosphere that I can only relate to the course setup. The greens were too soft, the doglegs too mundane.

Worst parking lot at a major venue: You need to be a rock-climber to navigate through the one at Bulle Rock GC. Nicole Castrale was in contention at the LPGA Championship until she sprained her ankle walking through the parking lot after her second round.

Biggest roller-coaster ride: Woods mourned the death of his father, but won two more major championships.

Saddest loss for the game: “Lord Byron,” the esteemed Byron Nelson, passed away.

Best celebratory move: Darren Clarke needed a mere five seconds to down a pint of Guinness after the European Ryder Cup victory.

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Worst celebratory move: His team totally embarrassed in the Ryder Cup and his own effort painfully weak, Chris DiMarco gave a fist pump after holing a birdie putt at the 17^th hole of his singles match with Lee Westwood. Europe had already clinched and DiMarco was still losing his match. What was he thinking?

Worst year for a quality player: John Daly. Sad, is what it was — and spare me the injuries and personal problems. He was 54-over in 50 rounds of stroke-play golf, missed 13 cuts in 21 starts, finished within the top 25 just once, and earned a mere $192,134 to rank 193d on the money list. Yes, he is without full-exempt status for the 2007 season, so he’ll be saying “yes” to a string of sponsor exemptions. No one has done so little with so much talent in recent years.

Worst year for an unknown entity: Steven Bowditch made just two cuts in 22 starts and earned $11,160.

Worst year for anyone in golf: The caddie for Bowditch. What’s 10 percent of nothing?

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Best shot (gold): Woods’s 4-iron from 204 yards on the par-4 14^th in Round 2 of the British Open at Royal Hoylake. It slammed into the cup, an incredible eagle as he shot 65, pushed to 12-under, and pretty much set in motion his ownership of a third claret jug.

Best shot (silver): Karrie Webb also holed out for eagle in a major championship, but it was a more realistic shot — coming at a soft par-5. It was the 72nd hole of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, however, and it enabled her to get into a playoff, which she won over Lorena Ochoa.

Best shot (bronze): Se Ri Pak’s 4-iron from 201 yards didn’t produce an eagle, but only by inches did it miss at the 18^th hole of Bulle Rock GC in Havre de Grace, Md. The tap-in birdie in a sudden-death playoff gave her the LPGA McDonald’s Championship over Karrie Webb.

Worst hole (gold): Phil Mickelson chops up the 18^th in his final round of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, hitting a tent with his drive and a tree with his second shot. From a two-shot lead with three to play, he finishes behind Geoff Ogilvy.

Worst hole (silver): That same 72nd hole was a nightmare for Colin Montgomerie, who would have won a major title had he not hit a 7-iron fat.

Worst hole (bronze): The par-3 17^th at Bay Hill is difficult, though not from where Greg Owen was. With a three-foot putt for par, he figured to maintain his two-shot lead; instead, he missed it, then he missed from two feet, too. When he bogeyed the 18^th, he lost by one to Rod Pampling.

Best serving of humility: Ames talks of Woods’s errant ways and suggests he can beat the world’s No. 1 in the Accenture Match Play Championship, then gets drilled, 9 and 8.

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