Here at Waggle Room, we're going to do the cliche thing around this time of year and do a countdown of the top such and suches of the year.  For us, we're going to do the top 9 golf stories of the year.

The PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs may very well had been rendered meaningless this year if Tiger Woods had played more than six events and had more than one good leg all year.  With four wins in six starts, it would have been easy to extrapolate a 10 win season for the world's best golfer.

Instead, though, Woods' knee injuries and subsequent surgeries forced El Tigre to the sidelines while the rest of the PGA Tour tried to take advantage.  At different points throughout the regular season, fans saw flashes of domination and brilliance. 

Anthony Kim won twice and managed to cement himself as a top tier name - grown more into legend by his play and demeanor at the Ryder Cup. 

Phil Mickelson strung together a pretty decent season with a couple of wins, including on highlighted by a spectator jumping into the pond at Colonial in jubilation.

For a few weeks there, everyone was wondering if Kenny Perry would ever lose again ...and if he would actually man up to play a major championship or two.

Sergio Garcia found a way to putt well enough to survive Paul Goydos and Sawgrass.  He was an up and down away from his first major championship at Oakland Hills.

The man who took that from him was Padraig Harrington.  In the course of a month, he won back-to-back majors and tripled up his career major count.  Up until around the Ryder Cup, he had people talking about the Paddyslam.  That chatter will resume in April.

Toward the end of the year, though, Vijay Singh found his game - primarily the mental and phsyical ability to putt - and cruised to two straight victories in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  With a mediocre performance at the third event, the BMW Championship in St. Louis, Singh cemented himself as FedEx Cup champion barring disqualification or injury at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

What seemed like a season champion decided turned into a firestorm of issues for the PGA Tour and its nacient points format.

Last season, fans and players complained that it was too difficult to for players to make moves during the Playoffs.  It offered too much emphasis on the 30+ events in the regular season.  The format was also railed because Tiger Woods rendered it meaningless by virtue of his season performance.

This season, fans and players complained that it was too easy to make moves in the standings.  Back-to-back major champion Padraig Harrington didn't even qualify for the Tour Championship because he was too worn out from those victories to muster much in the Playoffs.  Harrington took his fate like a professional, but others still complained.

It also didn't help that Camilo Villegas decided to pick up his first two PGA Tour victories in consecutive events - basically meaningless in regards to the question of who would win the FedEx Cup.  Even though Villegas won two of the four events, like Vijay Singh, it was a single stroke that led to a missed cut at the Barclays that caused him to have no mathematical chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

All told, the FedEx Cup did determine the season champion.  It also determined a host of new changes implemented by the PGA Tour for next season.  What remains to be seen is if these changes will improve the format.  And if Tiger Woods returns as brilliant as ever, will it even matter?