BY MIKE CORMACK
sportsnet.ca
It's hard for Canadians to associate January with the beginning of the golf season, but the 2011 PGA Tour kicks off this week in Hawaii with the winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
Not surprisingly, a few big names also don't associate the first week of the new year with golf as Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and two major champions from 2010, Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen, are taking a pass this week.
The field however does boast Ernie Els, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk, but no Canadians, who went winless as a nation on Tour in 2010.
Someone else who went 0-for in 2010 -- Tiger Woods -- is eligible to play next week's Sony Open, but he may not tee it up again stateside until the Match Play Championship in late February.
Whether Tiger can win a tournament -- let alone another major -- is the biggest storyline of the year, but there's plenty of other intrigue heading into the 2011 campaign.
Will Tiger win again?
It seems ridiculous to be even asking the question. Then again, few saw him going winless in 2010, especially after beginning his comeback with a fourth-place finish at The Masters. At the Ryder Cup in October, Woods showed flashes of his former brilliance and if not for a balky putter, he would have held off Graeme McDowell to win the Chevron in December. Woods is simply too talented, too dedicated and too determined to prove the doubters wrong to go winless for another year.
The only real question seems to be when it will happen and can he add major championship No. 15?
Who will be No. 1 a year from now?
As it stands, current world No. 1 Lee Westwood has a cozy, if not tenuous, lead atop the rankings over No. 2 Tiger Woods, with young German star Martin Kaymer a close third. But a big year from anyone else currently inside the Top 10 (Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Luke Donald or Rory McIlroy) could conceivably see them rise to No. 1.
But does anyone want to bet against Woods not finding his form? Not us. So it says here, Tiger will begin 2012 back at No. 1, despite a spirited season-long fight for the top spot from his long-time rival Westwood, and young challenger McIlroy.
Changing of the guard
While Tiger was busy looking for his tee shots in the woods last summer, a litter of super-talented young golfers let it be known that their time is not soon, but now.
Martin Kaymer (25): Won four times around the world including the PGA Championship
Louis Oosthuizen (28): Blitzed the field at the Open Championship at St. Andrews in difficult conditions and did it without breaking a sweat
Rory McIlroy (21): Fired a closing 62 to blow past Phil Mickelson at Quail Hollow, opened at St. Andrews with 63 and finished T3 and again T3 at the year’s final two majors.
Dustin Johnson (26): Won twice on Tour, led the U.S. Open by three shots after 54 holes and was a brain cramp away from the playoff at the PGA.
Matteo Manassero (18): The Italian phenom began the year by becoming the youngest person to make the cut at The Masters and ended it by becoming the youngest winner in European Tour history.
Will the Europeans continue to dominate?
It's been an incredible past 12 months for European golf. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open, German Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship, the continent regained the Ryder Cup in October and England's Lee Westwood ended Tiger’s five-year reign atop the world golf rankings.
Fifteen of the top 22 ranked golfers in the world today are European and their talent pool appears deeper than ever.
No one would be surprised to see McDowell or Kaymer knock off another major in 2011 and with so many Europeans seemingly capable of following in their footsteps the first-ever European sweep of the four majors is a distinct possibility.
Can Mike Weir bounce back?
There's no question 2010 was a low-point for Mike Weir's career. The 2003 Masters champion opened the year with a sixth-place finish at the Bob Hope and closed it out by missing seven of his last 10 cuts before shutting it down for good in August to rest an elbow injury that first became apparent at the Canadian Open in July.
The lone Top 10 finish in 19 starts represented Weir's worst year on Tour in a decade and saw him plummet to No. 177 in the world rankings.
At 40, there's still plenty of time for Weir to resurrect his game, but he'll have to do it in 2011 without the services of long-time caddy Brennan Little, who has left him to team up with Sean O'Hair.
