By Derek Evers

In the world of blogging, listicles are worth their weight in SEO-gold, which is why it can be easy to pass most of them off with nothing more than an eye roll. Then again, sometimes they get it oh-so-right.

BuzzFeed, the world's preeminent list maker -- and butt of more than a few Onion jokes -- can turn just about any event into an odd-numbered countdown, even the U.S. Open. In fact, when we first saw this list of The 11 Kinds Of People You'll Meet At Every Golf Tournament, our reaction wasn't disbelief, but a general interest in how many we witnessed this year at Merion.

From the guys who yell, sometimes obnoxiously, after every tee shot, to the perfectly dressed fans, we've seen them all. Unfortunately, sometimes we even become them. Like the guy who gets rocked by a stray shot.

Sorry, Max.

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By Derek Evers

I've actually witnessed something very similar to this when I was a kid. I was playing on a course where one of the cart paths led to a landscaping garage that was adjacent to a parking lot. Sure enough, one day an old lady who thought the path went through came rolling down the 17th fairway. That's what I assume happened to this poor woman at Emerald Hills in Hollywood, Fla. yesterday during a U.S. Open qualifier.

As Deadspin points out, this path isn't anywhere near a driveway or a street or a parking lot, so like my childhood experience, she must've driven quite a ways before realizing her blunder and pulling a u-turn in the 11th hole bunker.

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By Derek Evers

In anticipation of the Star Trek: Into Darkness release in theaters next week, Audi has come out with a new commercial that pits Leonard Nimoy (Spock from the original Star Trek series) and Zachary Quinto (Spock from the two most recent installments) in a race to the golf course. And while the outcome may be pretty predictable considering only one of them drives an Audi, what is not is Nimoy's comedic skills. Arguably his best work since the Simpson's "Monorail" episode, Nimoy overshadows his understudy stealing most of the scenes with laughs instead of technology. But don't worry Trekkies, there are still plenty of well-placed Star Trek references to keep purists happy.

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By Derek Evers

Jason Collins will forever have a permanent place in the annals of sports history thanks to his Sports Illustrated cover story where he came out as the first openly gay male athlete in one of America's "big four" sports. While the occasion has been marked with an outpouring of support, both in the physical and virtual worlds, it should be noted that his first remarks on this momentous day were not about his sexuality, but about his golf game -- on Twitter at least.

Yes, the SEO Gods were with us when his first tweet since the cover story hit newsstands was about how he broke 100 playing a round yesterday, even dropping a birdie. Jason should be commended for both his courage and his game, and if anyone should ask you what he was thinking on the day the news broke, you can now say at least one of his thoughts was about golf. 

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Brendan Marrocco (left) sits with Tiger Woods and Jon Bon Jovi at the 2010 AT&T National preview day. (Photos by: Getty Images)

If Tiger Woods' victory at Torrey Pines wasn't your feel good story of the week, this one should do the trick. In fact, if it doesn't, you better check your ticker.

As the Daily News (and multiple other outlets) reported yesterday, 26-year-old Iraq War veteran Brendan Marrocco is preparing to leave Johns Hopkins Hospital after receiving the hospital's first successful bilateral arm transplant.

Marrocco lost all four limbs on Easter Sunday, 2009 in an Iraq bombing that killed one soldier and wounded another, becoming the first veteran of the war to survive such a catastrophe. While he has been living with the help of a prosthetic (photo above), Marocco underwent the 13-hour procedure to replace both of his arms on December 18.

"I feel amazing," Marrocco said during a 90-minute news conference. "It's something that I was waiting for a long time."

In 2009 Marrocco became a celebrity in the golf world when Tiger Woods handed his golf ball to the young veteran (left) after sinking his final winning putt at the AT&T National. Despite his unenviable predicament, the 26-year-old has remained extremely positive, even referring to himself as "fortunate" when discussing the explosion that left him without any limbs.

That positivity was rewarded by a surgical team led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee. "Six weeks ago today, a team of physicians and nurses helped restore the physical and psychological well-being of Brendan Marrocco, who lost both arms and legs serving our country nearly four years ago," Lee said. "Only six other [U.S. double hand or arm transplant] patients have been successful and Brendan's was the most extensive and complicated."

"It's given me a lot of hope for the future. I feel like I'm getting a second chance," Marrocco happily added. "When people say you can't do it, be stubborn. Do it anyway. Work your ass off and do it."

That's sound advice.

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By Derek Evers

9:30 a.m.: Rory McIlroy is introduced as the latest athlete to don the swoosh.

9:45 a.m.: New Nike Golf ad featuring Rory and Tiger Woods is unveiled.

And so it begins...

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By Derek Evers

Some trends are fleeting, like parachute pants and fanny packs, while others go on to become cultural institutions -- like anchored putting (OK, bad example). And with each one, we ride the highs and lows that accompany the graduation of fads, from passing to fixtures. 2012 was no exception. With that in mind, here are the top trends from the world of golf I hope to see stick around for at least one more year.

#5. Crying at majors

While still too early to tell if this will become a regular occurrence, Bubba Watson set the bar high with his post-Masters breakdown. Of course, not every major winner has Tim Tebow's shoulder to cry on, but it's nice to see that someone had the guts to let the waterworks flow outside of a Steve Stricker presser.

Related: Trending: Michael Phelps professional golfer?

#4. Twitter fighting

We expect reality TV stars and celebrity break-ups to be the thing Twitter dreams are made of, but golfers creating controversy? You bet, and there was no shortage of it in 2012. While most of it skewed from the right side of the aisle, there was plenty of blame to go around. Luke Donald and Gil Hanse in a cock fight? Done. Does blasting the President make you a better Ryder Cup captain? Not sure, but threatening people to fights over the social-networking platform definitely won't win you many supporters. And it wasn't just the men. Brittany Lincicome and Christina Kim started a feud that drew in boyfriends and three other LPGA colleagues. Whether for entertainment or debate fodder at the water cooler, we're all a little bit better when the golf world opens up on Twitter.

#3. Tell-all books about Tiger Woods

With three victories, including his first in over two years, 2012 will be remembered as the year Tiger came back. Unfortunately for Hank Haney, it will not be remembered as the year of the Big Miss (there's an overused golf joke in there somewhere). For all the controversy it created at the start of the season -- eventually hitting No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list -- it didn't deliver much in the way of dirt slinging, which is why I want to see more unauthorized biographies on the bookshelves in 2013. Do we really need to wait for the movie version to get the juicy story we all crave? Oh wait, that already happened.

Related: Trending: Is the 'Is Tiger Woods Back?' debate back?

#2. Tour wives/significant others tweeting/Instagramming photos of their husbands/boyfriends

They seem untouchable on the course, so it's refreshing to see tour pros in some awkward moments off of it thanks to the prying camera lenses of their significant others. Whether it's as innocuous as Hunter Mahan strolling through Penn Station with his clubs as caught by wife Kandi, or as scandalous as a topless, sleeping Rory courtesy of Caroline Wozniacki, this is a trend we hope continues well into the two-thousand-and-teens.

#1. Unconventional putting strokes

The days of the long putter being a fad are well behind us, but with the new anchor ban going into effect in a mere half-decade, we can expect to see all sorts of new putting styles come into use in 2013. You thought KJ Choi's half-Sneed or AdamScott's anchor claw was unique, wait til you see the forearm grip. And the new year hasn't even started! Just another reason to hope the Mayans were wrong.

Happy new year!

By Derek Evers

Tiger Woods may have dropped to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he's still No. 1 in the hearts of search engine users.

Yesterday Yahoo! unveiled their Year in Review, which featured, among many things, the most searched sports teams, athletes and Olympians on the site in 2012. Topping the athlete list was Tiger Woods, who edged out Maria Sharapova and Peyton Manning for the yearly honor. Woods came in second on Bing's most searched athlete list, behind only Manning. Google has yet to release their year-end stats.

Related: How Tiger's swing has changed

While a measure of Tiger's star power, the annual list is not always a good thing. He last held the No. 1 spot in 2009, the year of his now infamous November car crash that opened up the world -- and the Internet -- to his infidelities. He dropped to No. 2 in both 2010 and 2011 behind Manny Pacquiao and Danica Patrick respectively, before once again retaining the crown as Yahoo!'s most searched athlete. And with three PGA Tour wins, including his first in over two years, presumably for much better reasons than in '09.

Tiger wasn't the only golf-related search topic making waves in 2012; The U.S. Open scored surprisingly high in Yahoo!'s Standout Sports Searches, coming in at No. 8 overall. The Olympics opening ceremony took home top honors in that category.

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By Derek Evers

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton spent an unseasonably warm December afternoon the way many of us would like to -- on the golf course.

According to the Associated Press, President Obama and Mr. Clinton played with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Virginia gubernatorial candidate -- and longtime Clinton backer -- Terry McAuliffe at the Joint Air Base in Maryland. It was likely Bam was using this as an opportunity to thank the 42nd President for his campaign help, though with a fiscal cliff looming, the president might have been seeking advice from the last man to oversee a balanced budget while in office.

For those keeping count, this is the third time Obama has played golf since defeating Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in November. Although it should be noted President Obama has regularly used the golf course for high-profile meetings, most notably last June when he teed it up with Speaker of the House John Boehner during the debt ceiling crisis.

So if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that golf might just be the solution to all of our fiscal issues.

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By Derek Evers

Bubba Watson was a guest on the Tonight Show last night, and in an apparent attempt to one-up his previous late night appearances, he went all Gallagher with host Jay Leno. (Incidentally, they got the idea from us. No really, watch Jay set it up with a clip from Golf Digest). From bell peppers to pumpkin pies, Watson took his famed pink driver on a buffet of food destruction. You can watch both the interview [part 1] and the messy exploits [part 2] below.

Related: Bubba Watson's watermelon drill

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