This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2012.

Men's professional golf

edit

Major championships

World Golf Championships

FedEx Cup playoff events - see 2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs

Other leading PGA Tour events

For a complete list of PGA Tour results see 2012 PGA Tour.

Leading European Tour events

For a complete list of European Tour results see 2012 European Tour.

Team events

  • 28–30 September: Ryder Cup – Team Europe retained the Cup, 14½–13½, after having been down 10–6 to Team USA after Saturday play. This equaled the previous record for the largest final-day comeback in Ryder Cup history, when Team USA came back from the same deficit in 1999.
  • 14–16 December: Royal Trophy – Asia won on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff after match with Europe ended in an 8–8 tie.

Tour leaders

Awards

Other tour results

Other happenings

  • 4 March – Rory McIlroy became number one in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning The Honda Classic.[5]
  • 18 March – Luke Donald re-took the number one spot after winning the Transitions Championship.[6]
  • 20 March – The PGA Tour announced changes to its season structure and qualifying to take effect in 2013. Among the changes, as announced at that time:[7]
    • The 2013 season will be the last to be conducted completely within a calendar year. The 2014 season will begin in October 2013, shortly after The Tour Championship, and all future seasons will begin in October of the previous calendar year.
    • The 2012 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as "Q-School", will be the last to award playing privileges on the PGA Tour. Beginning in 2013, Q-School will only grant privileges on the Web.com Tour (known at the time as the Nationwide Tour).
    • Starting in 2013, PGA Tour cards for the following season will be awarded at the end of a three-tournament series featuring the top 75 money winners on the Web.com Tour and the golfers finishing between 126 and 200 on the PGA Tour money list.
  • 15 April – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
  • 29 April – Donald returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
  • 6 May – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
  • 27 May – Donald returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
  • 26 June – The PGA Tour announces further details regarding its recently announced major schedule changes. Starting in fall 2013, the tournaments in the Fall Series, which will become the season-opening events at that time, will become FedEx Cup events, with full Cup points, for the first time.[8]
  • 28 June – The PGA Tour's developmental tour, the Nationwide Tour, was renamed mid-season as the Web.com Tour, after a new sponsorship deal was announced.[9]
  • 10 July – The PGA Tour announces final details of its major schedule changes.
    • In a change from the original announcement in March, the money list will no longer determine which PGA Tour members retain their cards. Starting with the 2013 season, the top 125 golfers in FedEx Cup points will retain their cards.[10]
    • The three-tournament series that will award new PGA Tour cards will be called the Web.com Tour Finals. The top 75 players on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, plus the golfers between 126 and 200 in FedEx Cup points, will be eligible to play.[10]
    • The top 25 on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list will receive PGA Tour cards regardless of their performance in the Web.com Tour Finals. The total money earned in the Finals will determine the remaining 25 card earners.[10] For all 50 new card earners, their positions on the PGA Tour's priority order for purposes of tournament entry will be based on money earned in the Finals.[11]
  • 12 August – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings by winning the PGA Championship.
  • 5 September – The first tournament of PGA Tour Latinoamérica is played, replacing the Tour de las Américas as the primary tour in Latin America.
  • 11 September – The PGA Tour announces that for the 2013 season only, due to the transition to a wraparound season, golfers who finish in the top 125 of either the FedEx Cup points list or the season money list will retain their tour cards for the 2014 season.[12]
  • 18 October – The PGA Tour and the Canadian Professional Golf Tour jointly announce an agreement by which the PGA Tour would take over the Canadian circuit, effective 1 November. At that time, the Canadian Tour would be officially renamed as PGA Tour Canada.[13]
  • 18 November – Miguel Ángel Jiménez becomes the oldest golfer ever to win a European Tour event, winning the UBS Hong Kong Open at age 48 years, 318 days.[14]

Women's professional golf

edit

LPGA majors

Ladies European Tour major (in addition to the Women's British Open)

For a complete list of Ladies European Tour results see 2012 Ladies European Tour.

Additional LPGA Tour events

For a complete list of LPGA Tour results, see 2012 LPGA Tour.

Team events

Money list leaders

Awards

Other tour results

Other happenings

  • 29 January – Lydia Ko, a 14-year-old New Zealand amateur, won the Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open on the ALPG Tour, becoming the youngest player of either ***to win a professional tour event.[15]
  • 13 June – Brooke Henderson, a 14-year-old Canadian amateur, won the second stop on the Canadian Women's Tour,[16] breaking Ko's previous record as the youngest person ever to win a professional tour event.[17]
  • 26 August – Ko, now 15, won the CN Canadian Women's Open, becoming the youngest player ever to win an LPGA Tour event and the first amateur to win on that tour since JoAnne Carner in 1969.[17]
  • 10 September – Jiyai Shin defeated Paula Creamer on the ninth hole of a sudden-death playoff, the longest between two players in LPGA history, to win the Kingsmill Championship. The playoff was suspended due to darkness after eight holes on Sunday evening, and resumed the following day.[18]

Senior men's professional golf

edit

Senior majors

Full results

Money list leaders

Awards

Amateur golf

edit

Other happenings

The 2012 class was inducted on 7 May:

The 2013 class was announced starting in September 2012 with induction set for May 2013:

Deaths

edit

Table of results

edit

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

Dates Tournament Status or tour Winner
22–26 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship World Golf Championships   Hunter Mahan
8–11 Mar WGC-Cadillac Championship World Golf Championships   Justin Rose
29 Mar–1 Apr Kraft Nabisco Championship LPGA major   Sun-Young Yoo
5–8 Apr The Masters Men's major   Bubba Watson
10–13 May The Players Championship PGA Tour   Matt Kuchar
22–25 May NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships U.S. college championship Alabama / Chirapat Jao-Javanil
24–27 May BMW PGA Championship European Tour   Luke Donald
24–27 May Senior PGA Championship Senior major   Roger Chapman
29 May–3 Jun NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships U.S. college championship Texas / Thomas Pieters
7–10 Jun Wegmans LPGA Championship LPGA major   Shanshan Feng
7–10 Jun Regions Tradition Senior major   Tom Lehman
8–10 Jun Curtis Cup Amateur women's team tournament   Great Britain &   Ireland
14–17 Jun U.S. Open Men's major   Webb Simpson
18–23 Jun The Amateur Championship Amateur men's individual tournament   Alan Dunbar
28 Jun–1 Jul Constellation Senior Players Championship Senior major   Joe Daley
5–8 Jul U.S. Women's Open LPGA major   Na Yeon Choi
12–15 Jul U.S. Senior Open Senior major   Roger Chapman
19–22 Jul The Open Championship Men's major   Ernie Els
26–29 Jul Evian Masters Ladies European Tour major and
LPGA Tour regular event
  Inbee Park
26–29 Jul The Senior Open Championship Senior major   Fred Couples
2–5 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational World Golf Championships   Keegan Bradley
6–12 Aug U.S. Women's Amateur Amateur women's individual tournament   Lydia Ko
9–12 Aug PGA Championship Men's major   Rory McIlroy
13–19 Aug U.S. Amateur Amateur men's individual tournament   Steven Fox
23–26 Aug The Barclays PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff   Nick Watney
31 Aug–3 Sep Deutsche Bank Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff   Rory McIlroy
6–9 Sep BMW Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff   Rory McIlroy
13–16 Sep Ricoh Women's British Open LPGA and Ladies European Tour major   Jiyai Shin
20–23 Sep The Tour Championship PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff   Brandt Snedeker
28–30 Sep Ryder Cup Europe v United States
men's professional team event
  Team Europe
27–30 Sep Espirito Santo Trophy Women's amateur team event   South Korea
4–7 Oct Eisenhower Trophy Men's amateur team event   United States
1–4 Nov WGC-HSBC Champions World Golf Championships   Ian Poulter
1–4 Nov Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Amateur men's individual tournament   Guan Tianlang
15–18 Nov CME Group Titleholders LPGA Tour   Na Yeon Choi
22–25 Nov DP World Tour Championship, Dubai European Tour   Rory McIlroy
14–16 Dec Royal Trophy Europe v Asia
men's professional team event
Asia

The following biennial events will next be played in 2013: Solheim Cup, Walker Cup, Presidents Cup, Seve Trophy, World Cup.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Hunter Mahan wins Match Play title". ESPN. Associated Press. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "McIlroy clinches awards in memorable year". PGA Tour. Associated Press. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "McIlroy wins the Race to Dubai". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  4. ^ Ferguson, Doug (13 November 2012). "Tour changing the way it looks at 'comeback player' award, no one on ballot this year". Star Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved 13 November 2012.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Harig, Bob (6 March 2012). "Rory McIlroy takes No. 1 spot". ESPN. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  6. ^ "Luke Donald wins, returns to No. 1". ESPN. Associated Press. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  7. ^ "PGA Tour announces changes". ESPN. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  8. ^ "Fall Series events to offer full FedExCup points" (Press release). PGA Tour. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Web.com signs deal to be new umbrella sponsor". PGA Tour. 28 June 2012. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Dell, John (10 July 2012). "Web.com impact expanded with qualifying changes". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  11. ^ Elling, Steve (10 July 2012). "PGA Tour finalizes controversial makeover as Qualifying School gone after six-decade run". Eye on Golf. CBS Sports. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Notes: Consistency becomes even more important in 2013". PGA Tour. Associated Press. 11 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  13. ^ "Canadian Tour to convert to PGA Tour Canada" (Press release). PGA Tour. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Miguel Angel Jimenez wins at 48". ESPN. Associated Press. 18 November 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  15. ^ "Lydia Creates History With Ko Blow" (Press release). ALPG Tour. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Brooke Henderson wins second stop on CN Canadian Women's Tour" (Press release). CN Canadian Women's Tour. 13 June 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  17. ^ a b "Lydia Ko, 15, wins in Canada". ESPN. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  18. ^ "Jiyai Shin's par wins playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  19. ^ Harig, Bob (4 November 2012). "Guan Tianlang, 14, headed to Masters". ESPN. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  20. ^ a b "Sandy Lyle, Peter Alliss picked for Hall". ESPN. Associated Press. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  21. ^ "World Golf Hall of Fame to induct Dan Jenkins in 2012". PGA Tour. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  22. ^ "World Golf Hall of Fame to induct Mickelson in 2012". PGA Tour. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  23. ^ "Hollis Stacy selected for Hall of Fame". ESPN. Associated Press. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  24. ^ "Couples to be inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame". PGA Tour. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  25. ^ "World Golf Hall of Fame adds Venturi to 2013 class". PGA Tour. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  26. ^ "Willie Park Jr. selected for World Golf Hall of Fame". PGA Tour. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  27. ^ a b "Montgomerie, Schofield complete Hall of Fame class". PGA Tour. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.