2008 in golf

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Years in golf

2008 in sports

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, 16 June. 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. Fifty-three-year-old Greg Norman who led after three rounds, finished tied third.
  • 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 - see 2008 FedEx Cup Playoffs

  • 21–24 August: The Barclays - Vijay Singh won in a playoff against Sergio García and Kevin Sutherland.
  • 28 August – 1 September: Deutsche Bank Championship - Vijay Singh won his second consecutive playoff event with a tournament record 22 under par.
  • 4–7 September: BMW Championship - Camilo Villegas won his first PGA Tour event. Vijay Singh's finish as tied 44th was enough to ensure ownership of the 2008 FedEX Cup, providing he completed 72 holes at the final event.
  • 25–28 September: The Tour Championship - Camilo Villegas defeated Sergio García in a playoff. Vijay Singh won the FedEx Cup.

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

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

Team events

  • 18–21 September: Ryder Cup - Team USA regains the trophy with a 16½–11½ win over Team Europe.

Tour leaders

Awards

Other tour results

Other happenings

  • 18 June – Tiger Woods announced he will miss the remainder of the 2008 season to recover from reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee.
  • 21 November – , an amateur from Hong Kong, became the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event, at 14 years and 304 days at the UBS Hong Kong Open.

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 became 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 - Jiyai 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 - Paula Creamer won the limited field event by one stroke to claim her fourth LPGA Tour win of the season.
  • 20–23 November: LPGA Playoffs at The ADT - Jiyai Shin won the season-ending championship with its $1 million prize. She also became the first non-LPGA member to ever win three LPGA tournaments.

For a complete list of LPGA Tour results, see 2008 LPGA Tour.

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.
  • 28–30 November: Lexus Cup - The Internalional team defeated the Asian team, 12½ to 11½.

Money list leaders

  • LPGA Tour – Mexican Lorena Ochoa ($2,763,193) wins her third straight money title.
  • Ladies European Tour – Gwladys Nocera of France tops the Order of Merit with €391,840.
  • Duramed Futures Tour - American teenager Vicky Hurst topped the money list with earnings of $93,107.
  • LPGA of Korea Tour - Jiyai Shin topped the list for the third straight year with earnings of 765 million won.
  • LPGA of Japan Tour - won the money list title with earnings of ￥120.85 million.
  • Ladies Asian Golf Tour - Korean Hee Kyung Seo earned $45,000 to win the money list title.
  • ALPG Tour - Karrie Webb of Australia topped the 2007/08 money list with A$99,600 in earnings.

Awards

  • LPGA Tour Player of the Year – Mexico Lorena Ochoa
  • LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year – Taiwan Yani Tseng
  • LPGA Tour Vare Trophy – Mexico Lorena Ochoa
  • LET Player of the Year – France Gwladys Nocera
  • LET Rookie of the Year – England Melissa Reid

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 qualification would have become final when she completed ten years as an LPGA Tour member in 2012, but she chose to retire at the end of the 2010 season in order to start a family.
  • 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.

Senior men's professional golf[]

Senior majors

Full results

Money list leaders

  • Champions Tour - German Bernhard Langer topped the money list with earnings of $2,035,073.
  • European Seniors Tour - Welshman Ian Woosnam topped the Order of Merit with earnings of €320,120.

Amateur golf[]

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.

World Golf Hall of Fame inductees[]

  • New Zealand Sir Bob Charles (Veterans)
  • United States Pete Dye (Lifetime Achievement)
  • United States Denny Shute (Veterans)
  • United States Carol Semple Thompson (Lifetime Achievement)
  • United States Herbert Warren Wind (Lifetime Achievement)
  • United States Craig Wood (PGA Tour)

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.[1]

Table of results[]

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

Dates Tournament Status or tour Winner
18–20 Jan Women's World Cup of Golf Professional world team championship  Philippines
20–24 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship World Golf Championships United States Tiger Woods
20–23 Mar WGC-CA Championship World Golf Championships Australia Geoff Ogilvy
3–6 Apr Kraft Nabisco Championship LPGA major Mexico Lorena Ochoa
10–13 Apr The Masters Men's major South Africa Trevor Immelman
8–11 May The Players Championship PGA Tour Spain Sergio García
20–23 May NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships U.S. college championship Southern Cal. / Azahara Muñoz
22–25 May BMW PGA Championship European Tour Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez
22–25 May Senior PGA Championship Senior major United States Jay Haas
28–31 May NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships U.S. college championship UCLA / Kevin Chappell
30 May – 1 Jun Curtis Cup Great Britain v. United States
Women's amateur team event		  United States
5–8 Jun LPGA Championship LPGA major

Taiwan Yani Tseng

12–15 Jun U.S. Open Men's major United States Tiger Woods
16–21 Jun The Amateur Championship Amateur men's individual tournament Netherlands Reinier Saxton
26–29 Jun U.S. Women's Open LPGA major South Korea Inbee Park
17–20 Jul The Open Championship Men's major Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
24–27 Jul Evian Masters Ladies European Tour major and
LPGA Tour regular event		 Sweden Helen Alfredsson
24–27 Jul Senior British Open Senior major United States Bruce Vaughan
31 Jul – 3 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational World Golf Championships Fiji Vijay Singh
31 Jul – 3 Aug Women's British Open LPGA and Ladies European Tour major South Korea Jiyai Shin
31 Jul – 3 Aug U.S. Senior Open Senior major Argentina Eduardo Romero
4–10 Aug U.S. Women's Amateur Amateur women's individual tournament United States Amanda Blumenherst
7–10 Aug PGA Championship Men's major Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
14–17 Aug JELD-WEN Tradition Senior major United States Fred Funk
18–24 Aug U.S. Amateur Amateur men's individual tournament New Zealand Danny Lee
21–24 Aug The Barclays PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff Fiji Vijay Singh
28 Aug – 1 Sep Deutsche Bank Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff Fiji Vijay Singh
4–7 Sep BMW Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff Colombia Camilo Villegas
18–21 Sep Ryder Cup Europe v United States
men's professional team event		  Team USA
25–28 Sep The Tour Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff Colombia Camilo Villegas
2–5 Oct Samsung World Championship LPGA Tour United States Paula Creamer
9–12 Oct Senior Players Championship Senior major United States D. A. Weibring
30 Oct – 2 Nov Volvo Masters European Tour Denmark Søren Kjeldsen
20–23 Nov LPGA Playoffs at The ADT LPGA Tour South Korea Jiyai Shin
28–30 Nov Lexus Cup Asia v International
Women's professional team event		 Team International

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

References[]

  1. ^ Sirak, Ron (2008-01-14). "Can Golf Channel announcer suspended 2 weeks for 'lynch' Tiger comment". ESPN. Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-20.


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