A golf year to remember

By Larry Bohannan

The 2006 golf season was mostly about loss and gain.

Phil Mickelson gained one major and lost another. The PGA Tour lost ABC but gained Golf Channel. The LPGA lost some tournaments and gained a few others.

But mostly the season was about Tiger Woods' loss of his father, and his gains at the end of the year in his ongoing chase of history and Jack Nicklaus' records.

Here's a look at the top stories in golf from 2006:

1.

Tiger's emotional fall and rise: From the opening week of the 2006 season, when Tiger Woods skipped the Mercedes Championships amid rumors of his father's failing health, Woods and his father were the overriding story of the season. There was Woods grinding at the Masters trying and just missing to get one last major title for his father. There was Woods coming back after a 10-week layoff, including his father's death in April, missing the cut at the U.S. Open. Then there was a remarkable second half of the season that included victories at the British Open and the PGA Championship. Woods won his last six official PGA Tour starts and erased any doubts over how he would respond to his father's passing.

2.

Phil's major and major meltdown: Everything was wonderful in April for Phil Mickelson, when he won a back-nine showdown with Fred Couples to capture his second Masters green jacket in three years and his second consecutive major dating back to the 2005 PGA. Things were great for 71 holes in June, when he appeared to have won the U.S. Open. A bad drive and a double bogey later, Mickelson had blown the Open and gave us the quote of the year, "I'm such an idiot." He then all but disappeared the rest of the year, leaving fans and critics to ponder if the Masters victory was more important than the lost Open.

3.

Lorena up, Annika down: Death, taxes and dominance by Annika Sorenstam were the only sure things heading into the 2006 LPGA season. Sorenstam had a great year by almost anyone else's standards, with three victories, including the Women's U.S. Open. But Lorena Ochoa stole Sorenstam's thunder, winning six times and taking the money title and the player of the year award, each of which Sorenstam had won for five consecutive years. Sorenstam also slipped behind Karrie Webb in wins and earnings.

4.

The Ryder Cup: Another blow-out victory for the Europeans produced more questions for the Americans. Do the Americans just not care enough about this event to put up a better fight, or was Europe's 18-9 a true reflection of the Europeans' dominance over American players right now? Either way, the inspirational play of Darren Clarke just weeks after the death of his wife, was the emotional high point of the event.

5.

Bivens' first year: Carolyn Bivens' first full year as commissioner of the LPGA was as rocky as the San Jacinto Mountains at times. She and the tour butted heads with media early in the year over who controls images and stories from LPGA events. She battled tournament directors over rights fees and tournament dates. Three tournaments announced they were leaving after 2006, and other big-name, big-purse events were added. Bad feelings and ruffled feathers seemed to come as much from Bivens' style as her goal, which is to change the basic business structure of the LPGA.

6. Changes to the PGA Tour: Much of 2006 on the PGA Tour was about getting ready for 2007. In January, the tour announced new television contracts, with ABC leaving starting in 2007 and the tour hooking up with Golf Channel for 15 years. The tour also slowly started educating fans and even its own players about the FedEx Cup, the new points-based playoff race designed to instill some life into the end of a shorter season for the tour's elite players. Both changes will finally come to the tour in January.

7.

Byron Nelson: When Lord Byron died in September, golf lost its last visible star from the 1930s and into the 1940s. Nelson, a winner of 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 overall in 1945 and a winner of all three American-based majors, retired early from the game while contemporaries like Ben Hogan and Sam Snead continued to be stars well into the 1950s and even the 1960s. But Nelson's game and his character as one of the game's true gentlemen should live on for years to come.

8.

Michelle's roller-coaster: The good news is Michelle Wie finished in the top five in three LPGA majors during the year as a 16-year-old, maybe should have won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and continues to tease fans with what she could do as a full-time LPGA member. The bad news is Wie seems to have regressed in her ventures in men's tournament, finishing last in a European PGA Tour event and then a PGA Tour event at the end of the summer, then beating only one amateur player in a Japanese men's event in November. The results against the men riled up critics, but Wie and her entourage continued to insist she'll play many more men's events in coming years.

9.

The Australian factor: Geoff Ogilvy won the Accenture Match Play Championship in February, then walked into the U.S. Open victory in June. Stuart Appleby won twice, while Rod Pampling, Adam Scott, John Senden and Aaron Baddeley also won on the PGA Tour. That's eight victories, and a big reason to see Australia, not Europe, as the other force on the PGA Tour.

10.

Patty Berg: Just as Byron Nelson's death was the end of a era on the PGA Tour, Patty Berg's death gave the LPGA one less link to its star-studded past. Berg and the other LPGA founders may never have received the same popularity as the men's players of their time, but Berg's personality, showmanship and talent made her a marketable product for the early LPGA. She remained a big part of the LPGA until just a few years ago, when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.