RADIO
December has lots of great traits. Christmas and all its trappings are, of course, wonderful. We also have both college and pro football getting down to the nitty gritty during this time of year, with basketball just beginning to get geared up. Unfortunately, what we don't have much of is (real) golf, which leaves golf degens like me in something of a shaky mood.
So in the absence of real golf tournaments to talk about (I'm staring directly at you President's Cup, you Ryder Cup knockoff you. Do you remember when you were a kid and wanted Fruit Loops, but your mom made you get "Fruit O's" or some other generic non-sense because they were "exactly the same thing", even though we all know they weren't the same thing? Yeah, the President's Cup is "Fruit O's".), I thought it would be fun to close out this year and this decade with a Top 10 list.
Why? Because Top-10 lists are fun and cool and something we can disagree about on Twitter. So, we'll be back with some fire PGA DFS content in January (I can't wait for you guys to see what we've got in store for you), but for now, chill out, relax, and enjoy the list...and don't forget to yell at me on Twitter!
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TOP 10 PLAYERS OF THE DECADE (2010-2019): THE RULES
There are no rules here, as I'm basically making this up as I go along! Obviously, the player had to be active during the discussed time period (2010 thru 2019), but there is no other strict criteria. This list is as subjective as it gets, meaning it is nothing more than my opinion, so don't get yourself all worked up about it...or do get worked up about it if you want to, as I guess that's kinda the point!
You can find out who the smart money is on every week of the PGA Tour season by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report right here at RotoBaller!
Honorable Mentions:
Louis Oosthuizen: 2010 Open Champion, Four Runner-Up Finishes in Majors this decade, Eight European Tour Wins
Henrik Stenson: 2016 Open Champion, 2013 FedEx Cup Champion, 11 European Tour Wins, Six PGA Tour Wins
Zach Johnson: Six PGA Tour wins including 2015 Open Champion
Matt Kuchar: Six PGA Tour wins including PLAYERS Championship & WGC Match Play Title
Martin Kaymer: Two Major Championship Wins, PLAYERS Championship, WGC Championship, Four European Tour Wins
Adam Scott: 2013 Masters Champion, Two WGC Titles
Sergio Garcia: 2017 Masters Champion, Seven European Tour Wins
Players To Watch In The Upcoming Decade:
Tier 1: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, Gary Woodland, Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Champ
Tier 2: Scottie Scheffler, Abraham Ancer, Cameron Smith, Byeong Hun An, Brandon Wu
Tier 3: Cole Hammer, Takumi Kanaya, Akshay Bhatia, Braden Thornberry, Kristoffer Ventura, Conor Gough
#10: Rickie Fowler
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: Five PGA Tour wins, Two European Tour wins, 11 Top-10 finishes in Major Championships
I know, I know...Rickie never wins. It's not an inaccurate take and one I struggled with when deciding whether or not to include Fowler on this list, as he was right on the borderline. The elephant in the room is the fact that he doesn't have a major championship, which in all honestly is probably keeping someone that does have a major off this list (Henrik Stenson was #10a and I was really torn about leaving him off!).
Is it fair? I don't know, but it's my list and Rickie stays. Fowler has five PGA Tour wins this decade, which averages out to one victory every two years...respectable, but nothing that blows you away. He did win a PLAYERS Championship, which some people will debate the relevance of, but no one can say that it's not an extremely tough field of competitors. Perhaps Rickie's most impressive accomplishment is his 2014 run in the majors. He didn't win one, but he went T5-T2-T2-T3 in that year's major championships, which is kinda ridiculous when you think about it. How did he not accidentally win one that year?!?
In addition to that crazy 2014 run, Fowler has seven more major top-10s this decade, which demonstrates an extreme model of consistency in the toughest events on the hardest courses. If we want to take into account factors outside of actual results, Rickie has been extremely popular with kids and young people since joining the Tour, which has to mean something, he's always been a tremendous role model for his fans, he made golf "cool", and he just recently married Allison Stokke (which has absolutely nothing to do with golf, but is a HUGE win for Rickie).
#9: Bubba Watson
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 12 PGA Tour wins including Two Major Championships & Two WGC Victories
I've spent the better part of the decade flip-flopping on Bubba. Sometimes I love him, sometimes I hate him. However, personal feelings aside, the mercurial lefty definitely deserves a place on this list. Watson has 12 PGA Tour victories over the course of this decade, the third-most wins during the time period. He's won two Masters titles (2012 & 2014), which kinda automatically puts you into legendary status, and lost the 2010 PGA Championship in a playoff.
In addition to showing the ability to win golf tournaments, Bubba's unique style of play is noteworthy. He's one of the last few players that doesn't have a swing coach and his ability to shape shots in all directions is truly a dying artform. In the era of Pro V1s, everything is meant to go straight, but Bubba continues to be a relentless shotmaker, which is something you should keep in mind if you ever go to watch a tournament that he's playing in.
The knock on Bubba is that his game doesn't travel well - a lot of his wins have come on the same golf courses and he's probably never going to win an Open Championship - but these guys can only play the tracks that are on the schedule and Watson has certainly figured out some of the PGA Tour's classic layouts like Augusta National, Riviera, TPC River Highlands, and Torrey Pines. He's also won two WGC events, including the Match Play, which I feel is a neat accomplishment to have on your resume.
#8: Phil Mickelson
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: Seven PGA Tour wins including Two Major Championships & a WGC Title
You could really make a case for Phil being a tad higher, as he has won more majors this decade than the (younger) players that are next on the list. However, his play has been wildly inconsistent during the last few years which does hurt his ranking a bit.
He kicked off the decade with a win at Augusta in 2010 for his third-career Masters victory and in 2013 he did something I thought was impossible for him when he won the Open Championship at Muirfield, which gave him 3/4-ths of the career grand slam. He almost nabbed another Open in 2016 when he gave us one of the most memorable moments of the decade in an unforgettable final-round duel with Henrik Stenson at Royal Troon. Mickelson's play dipped after that, but he did win a WGC event in 2018 and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year at the age of 48.
Phil has always been one of golf's most popular figures and seemed destined to ride off into an Arnold Palmer-type endorsement sunset that would keep him rich and visible even after his playing days, but his image has taken some hits recently with a stock scandal, his bizarre behavior at the 2018 U.S. Open, and a decision to skip the Phoenix event, with which he has a long and storied history, in favor of a huge payday in Saudi Arabia.
#7: Jason Day & Justin Rose (Tie)
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: Day - 12 PGA Tour wins including One Major Championship, Two WGC Titles, and a PLAYERS Championship; Rose - 10 PGA Tour wins including One Major Championship & Two WGC Titles, Four European Tour wins, 2018 FedEx Cup Champion
I'm cheating a bit here, but these guys have essentially been the same player this decade...Day & Rose both have underachieved in the major category, winning one each. Day has 12 total PGA Tour wins, while Rose has 10 with four Euro Tour victories and a FedEx Cup title. Both players reached the ranking of Number One in the World for a stretch during this decade. Rose has went through some swing changes that were ultimately successful, while Day has been plagued by virtually every injury and ailment known to modern man.
Rose has officially reached "veteran" status at the age of 39, while it's easy to forget that Day is only 32, though the injuries might impact his potential longevity. They are both great players who have played consistently elite golf throughout the decade with some stretches of "best in the world" output and both should probably have more than one major championship.
#6: Justin Thomas
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 11 PGA Tour wins including One Major Championship and One WGC Title, and 2017 FedEx Cup Champion
JT gets the nod over Rose and Day because he's basically accomplished just as much as both in half the time. The 26-year-old is a great counterpoint to the argument that the young generation doesn't win enough, as he's already racked up 11 PGA Tour victories and a PGA Championship since joining the Tour full time in 2015.
Thomas' future is as bright as any player in golf and it would be a huge disappointment if he doesn't have multiple majors if we were to revisit this list a decade from now. A wrist injury robbed him of what could have been a huge season in 2019 and forced him to miss the PGA Championship, though he still fought back to grab two wins late in the year. As far as actual his actual on-course game, JT's doesn't have any weaknesses and his strong tee-to-green skills should continue to translate well on any type of major championship layout.
#5: Tiger Woods
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 11 PGA Tour wins including Masters and PLAYERS
There's no doubt that this will always be considered Tiger's "lost decade", but despite making just one start on the PGA Tour over 2016 and 2017, Woods' accomplishments are still ridiculously impressive. It's easy to forget now, but he won eight times between 2012 and 2013, including his second PLAYERS Championship.
Woods also logged five top-five finishes in majors during the first four years of the decade before not even being able to compete for two years. We'll probably never really the know the dark depths of his physical and mental health during the worst years, but it's not hyperbole to say that most golf fans assumed that Tiger's career was legitimately over. We saw some rays of hope after a dramatic spinal fusion surgery in the spring of 2017, as Woods played well throughout 2018, making strong runs in both the Open and PGA Championships, before capping the season off with a memorable win at the TOUR Championship.
As if that wasn't enough, he then did the unthinkable earlier this year when he won his fifth Masters title. It was his 15th major championship victory and first since 2008. He seemed spent for the rest of 2019, but emerged from a postseason knee procedure to win the ZOZO Championship in the fall and tie Sam Snead's legendary record of 82 professional wins.
#4: Jordan Spieth
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 11 PGA Tour wins including Three Major Championships and 2015 FedEx Cup Champion
If we were basing this list off of the last 12 months, Jordan Spieth wouldn't be allowed anywhere near it, but this is a 'Best of The Decade' list and Spieth had himself quite a decade. The most impressive of his accomplishments was his unbelievable 2015 season, a year in which he won both the Masters and the U.S. Open, finished one stroke out of a playoff at the Open, and came in second to Jason Day at the PGA Championship.
Spieth also went on to win the FedEx Cup Championship that season, all at the ripe-old age of 23. His disastrous collapse at the 2016 Masters will always follow him around, but Spieth did bounceback to win the Open Championship in 2017 with an unbelievable barrage of birdies down the stretch. He almost stole the 2018 Masters the following spring with an electric final-round 64, but ultimately finished two strokes shy.
His game has been in decline since, with erratic play off the tee, inconsistent ball striking, and even a bizarre battle with putting yips. Though Spieth's arrow appears to be pointing down at the moment, it's easy to forget that he's still just 26-years-old. A player with his ability and determination will most likely rebound at some point in the future.
#3: Dustin Johnson
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 18 PGA Tour wins including One Major Championship and Six WGC Titles
Dustin Johnson certainly has the game to be at the top of this list, and he's tied for the most PGA Tour wins this decade, but when we start talking about "the best of the best" I believe major championships are very important and DJ only has one.
It's not as though Johnson has played badly in majors - he has eight top-five finishes in major championships this decade - but he just hasn't been able to close the deal...and has - if we're speaking frankly here - appeared to crack under pressure on several of those occasions. His shortcomings in majors aside, DJ might be the most purely talented golfer since Tiger Woods and it's not a crazy argument to say that his best is better than anyone else's best.
Despite his obvious physical skills, Johnson is 35-years-old as this decade comes to a close with an uber-talented crop of players coming into their prime, so it is fair to wonder if the window for him to reach his full potential and go on a multiple-major-championship-winning run is closing quickly, if not already closed.
#2: Brooks Koepka
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: Seven PGA Tour wins including Four Major Championships and a WGC Title
It's fun to debate the order of the top-three golfers on this list, but one thing is for sure...if we were talking about a "Last Half of the Decade" list, Brooks Koepka would be the inarguable number one. The 29-year-old has been downright dominant over the last two years, winning four majors since 2017 and going back-to-back in both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship...a feat that has never been done before. Impressively, Koepka fought his way on to the Tour the hard way, grinding out the Challenge and European Tours overseas, competing often in Europe and Japan in tournaments that not many people have heard of before returning to the United States.
The knock on Brooks (if there can really be a knock on him) is that "he only wins majors and doesn't care about regular Tour events". This discussion requires more space than I have available here, but I guess my response to that criticism is: Would Dustin Johnson trade his resume this decade for Brooks Koepka's? I believe he would in a heartbeat, as all these guys know that their greatness and legacy will be measured in major championship wins. In addition to his dominance, Koepka has brought a personality type to the game that we haven't seen in a long, long time.
As for his actual on-course game, it almost appears to be the next evolutionary step in golf, as he plays with extreme power off the tee, precision with his irons, and great touch on and around the green. This tee-to-green prowess allows his game to translate to any course, especially major championship layouts, which he exhibited this year by finishing in the top-four in the three majors he didn't win.
#1: Rory McIlroy
Notable 2010-19 Accomplishments: 18 PGA Tour wins including Four Major Championships, Three WGC Titles, and a PLAYERS Championship. 2016 & 2019 FedEx Cup Champion. 14 European Tour wins (including majors & WGCs)
While Brooks Koepka has closed out the decade with major-championship dominance, Rory McIlroy has been on a major drought, with his last major win coming at the 2014 PGA Championship. Despite his slump in the year's biggest tournaments, McIlroy still has four major-championship wins this decade and needs a Masters victory to complete the career grand slam. The young man from Northern Ireland was billed as "the next big thing" in golf and he hasn't disappointed since bursting on to the PGA Tour scene with a victory at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship that included a final-round 62...a preview of just how explosive he can be. He started the next season with a monumental setback in Augusta, when he shot a disastrous final-round 80 in the Masters after holding the 54-hole lead.
However, the youngster showed his toughness and grit when he rebounded just a few months later with a dominant eight-stroke win at the U.S. Open for the first major-championship win of his career. That dominance resurfaced with another ridiculous eight-shot rout at the 2012 PGA Championship. He followed with wins at both the Open Championship and PGA Championship in 2014. The 2014 PGA would be Rory's last major win of the decade. He suffered through a bit of a career lull during the latter portion of the decade, while seemingly trying to make his off-course life his true priority, before roaring back into golf this year.
Appearing rejuvenated and rededicated in 2019, McIlroy won four times including the PLAYERS and the Tour Championship, which resulted in his second FedEx Cup title of the decade. As he heads into the next decade at 30-years-old, there's a good chance that he can capture multiple major championships in upcoming years.
