Golf World: Newsmakers 2007: Golf Digest Magazine

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FEDEX CUP: By Bob Verdi and Geoff Shackelford; Bob Verdi recaps '07's bold venture. Whether you loved it or loathed it, the FedEx Cup innovation definitely created conversation during the 2007 season.

Geoff Shackelford suggests how to make it better. Masters Sunday may be the golf equivalent, but could the final day of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs ever exude a Game Seven vibe?

TIGER WOODS: By Tim Rosaforte; How did Tiger Woods' PGA Championship victory at Southern Hills differ from his dozen other major titles? It was his first as a father. Since his daughter, Sam Alexis, was born hours after he left Oakmont with a T-2 finish at the U.S. Open, Woods has been a changed man.; Read the article >>

LORENA OCHOA: By Jaime Diaz; Dominance in the LPGA can be fleeting, but the greatest women players -- Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth and Annika Sorenstam -- had long runs at the very top. There is about Lorena Ochoa, who won eight times in 2007, a similar sense of inevitability.; Read the article >>

PHIL MICKELSON: By John Antonini; Whether it's discussing his subcutaneous fat or the inferior equipment used by a rival, Phil Mickleson doesn't mince words. Nor does he disappoint on the golf course. He'll emerge victorious in the game's biggest tournaments or find diabolical ways to lose them. This year was no different. In fact, Lefty's seesaw year had more than its usual share of ups and downs.; Read the article >>

USGA: By Ron Sirak; On the course the USGA again demonstrated what it learned from the debacle at Shinnecock Hills in 2004. As for the organization, the world little notes nor long remembers the internal squabbles at the USGA, but this year the in-fighting spilled over into headlines when president Walter Driver (left) followed a Golf World cover story entitled "Can the USGA survive Walter Driver?" with a couple of high-level staff changes.; Read the article >>

CRACKDOWNS: By E. Michael Johnson; Golf equipment got smacked around in 2007 -- and not only during the collision between club and ball. Nonconforming drivers and grooves both came under fire. In February the USGA proposed a grooves rollback; the next month the equipment police blew the whistle on nonconforming drivers in the marketplace.; Read the article >>

OAKMONT: By Geoff Russell; As is the case most years, the real winner at the 2007 U.S. Open was the course: venerable Oakmont CC, which extracted a stroke average of 75.72, a winning score of five-over 285 and a palpable sense of weariness and dread in all 156 competitors. Perhaps J.J. Henry summed it up best when he said it was the only course he ever played where he stood on all 18 tees thinking double bogey was a realistic possibility.; Read the article >>