From teenagers to seasoned veterans and everyone in between, the 2011 season said goodbye to many records broken and hello to a new age in golf.
From teenagers to seasoned veterans and everyone in between, the 2011 season said goodbye to many records broken and hello to a new age in golf.
Luke Donald became the first golfer to win both the PGA Tour and European Tour money titles in the same season.
Phil Mickelson became the all-time Presidents Cup points scorer with 21 after combining with Jim Furyk for a 4-and-3 win over Retief Goosen and Robert Allenby in Thursday foursomes at the 2011 Presidents Cup. Lefty went on to win two more matches for an overall 18-14-10 record in nine Presidents Cup appearances and a point total of 23.
Tom Lehman is the only player to win player of the year honors at every stage in his career. Two decades ago, Lehman was player of the year on what was then called the Hogan Tour. He was voted player of the year on the PGA Tour in 1996 and was voted the 2011 Champions Tour player of the year after a season in which he won three times, secured the Charles Schwab Cup and won the money title, surpassing $2 million.
In 2011, the 18 playoffs needed to decide PGA Tour victors was the most on Tour than in any previous year in the circuits history. The last time we saw 16 or more playoffs in a year was 1991.
Lexi Thompson won her first LPGA event at 16 but was too young to meet the minimum age requirement ' 18 ' for membership onto tour. Shortly after her win, Thompson petitioned the LPGA and commissioner Michael Whan granted Lexi membership for the 2012 season.
Lexi Thompson became the youngest winner on the LPGA when she clinched the Navistar LPGA Classic at age 16. She made history, again, three months later when she won the Dubail Ladies Masters to become the youngest professional to win on the Ladies European Tour at 16 years, 10 month and seven days. South Korean Amy Yang was 16 years and 192 days old when she won the ANZ Ladies Masters in New Zealand in 2006, but she was an amateur at that time.
Keegan Bradley became the first golfer to win a major championship using a long putter with his playoff victory over Jason Duffner at the 2011 PGA Championship. Bradley rattled in a 35-foot putt on the 17th hole and then made a critical two-putt to save par on No. 18 to force the playoff. Bradley birdied the first playoff hole and then tapped in for a winning par on the 18th.
At 22, Yani Tseng became the youngest female to secure four major championships and the youngest player ' male or female ' to win five majors. By comparison, Annika Sorenstam was 24 when she won the first of her 10 majors and Tiger Woods didn’t win his fourth major until he was 24.
Nineteen-year-old UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay shot a course-record 10-under 60 ' the lowest PGA Tour round ever by an amateur ' on Friday of the Travelers Championship in June and led the field by four. He followed with rounds of 72, 70 to finish T-24 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.
En route to his first major championship victory, Rory McIlroy tied or broke 12 records at the 111th U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. McIlroy finished at an astounding 16-under 268 to break the U.S. Open scoring record by four shots and only four of his 72 holes were worse than par. Among the records he set were the 54-hole record at 199, the 36-hole record at 131 and most under par at any point at 17 under.
Charl Schwartzel birdied the final four holes of the 2011 Masters en route to his first major tilt, a feat no one has ever achieved in major championship history. Eight different players held or shared the final-round lead, but Schwartzels late Sunday birdie run put him atop Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day by two strokes.