Was 2010 A "Forgettable" Golf Year? (NO!)

I don't get it.  2010 was a year where thirty-nine different players won on the PGA Tour, and another twenty-five won on the European Tour.  It was one where young players like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, the Molinari brothers, and many others began to earn victories and hint towards the rivalries of the future.  It was one that saw a Ryder Cup battle that was one for the ages.  It saw the resurgance of loop-swinging Jim Furyk, who resurrected his career to earn the PGA Tour's player of the year.  2010 also saw an LPGA bottom out from its financial woes and begin climbing back north with its own infusion of young fresh talent to supplement the rich diversity of great talent already there, and so forth and so on.

But if you listen to some golf pundits out there, 2010 was a "meh" year -- notable for nothing except one thing, and no, not the seemingly endless string of rules gaffes that were a constant sideshow all season.  Instead, 2010 to some will only be about "The Scandal" -- and that's a shame, because to me, that says they weren't really watching golf in the first place.  Instead, they were probably busy glory-hunting through Tiger Woods.

We all know the story. Tiger's momentum towards Jack Nicklaus's record was shattered in the middle of a cool November night a year ago, and the then World's #1's personal life lay in ruin, at least so far as the public could see.  He went into a hiatus from the public eye until springtime, and finally returned to golf in April in Augusta.  Problem is, while Eldrick was on the golf course, Tiger was not...Woods' golf prowess was somewhere else, and it was rare that Tiger could put together several good competitive rounds in a row.  He didn't win in 2010, and for some, that apparently means the end of golf as we know it.

Perhaps.  Woods slide backwards did mean that the door was open for others, and many came barging through to grab their share of the limelight.  In truth, that's golf's gain -- whether or not some folks buy into it.  In any tournament where top players gather, anyone can -- and just might -- win.  Best of all, that winner may hail from nearly any corner of the globe.  It makes for exciting tournaments, and compelling viewing.

Pro golf became a truly global game in 2010 -- not only on the women's side, where that's long been the case, but also on the men's side too.  Sure, there have been great international champions of the past, and too many too mention, but in 2010, some of those champions arrived from unexpected places -- Italy, Germany and others. That in and of itself bodes well for the future of golf, and in the long view of history, 2010 may well be eventually marked as a year that golf began a surge, as opposed to taking a dip.

All I know is with the way things are today, I cannot wait until 2011.  I am sure that it's gonna be a fabulously entertaining year.