It has been an incredible year for golf. We claim five awards that the sport could win at this year's Sports Personality of the Year...
5 Awards Golf Should Win At BBC Sports Personality Of The Year
BBC Sports Personality of the Year is fast approaching and once again golfers will claim those from our sport deserve to be the winners.
The event looks across all sports and golf hasn’t won much in recent years despite some incredible achievements from Brits.
For example, in 2014 Rory McIlroy won the BMW PGA Championship and then won the Open, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and USPGA Championship in three-straight starts. He also regained the world number one position and won the Ryder Cup… He finished 2nd.
Golfers have won the Sports Personality of the Year award just twice since its inception in 1954, they were Dai Rees in 1957 and Nick Faldo in 1989.
Below, we look at the five awards golf should win at this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year:
Sports Personality of the Year
Rose celebrates after winning his first FedEx Cup title. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
The Englishman reached the world number one position for the first time in his career in 2018 and lifted the FedEx Cup trophy on the PGA Tour.
Rose had 14 top 10s from 21 events this year – 2 wins, 3 runners-up, 2 third places and seven other top 10s.
He was also part of the winning European Ryder Cup team, securing three points from three matches.
Hall’s display at Lytham will inspire young British girls taking up the game
Hall won the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes, becoming just the fourth female English major winner in history.
The 22-year-old from Bournemouth beat Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum by two strokes after a stunning 67 (-5) on the final day.
She also cracked the world’s top 10 this year for the first time and has already been voted the Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the Year.
World Sport Star of the Year
Molinari won his first major in 2018. (GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)
The Italian, along with Brooks Koepka, has been one of the two standout players of 2018.
Molinari beat Rory McIlroy to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth towards the end of May and then won his maiden PGA Tour title by eight strokes at the Quicken Loans National in early July.
The 36-year-old was only getting started though, as he beat the likes of Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy to win the Open Championship at Carnoustie for his first major.
He won all five of his Ryder Cup matches (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
He then put in one of the greatest Ryder Cup appearances of all time, winning all five of his matches including his singles match vs Phil Mickelson which ultimately sealed the winning point for Europe. That was the first time a European had ever gone 5/5 at a single Ryder Cup.
Molinari is also on course to win the Race to Dubai for the first time to be crowned Europe’s number one.
Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year
Tiger Woods’ 80th PGA Tour victory
(Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
This award could also go to Europe’s Ryder Cup victory but Woods winning his 80th PGA Tour title was an historic moment and the scenes at East Lake on Sunday evening were unlike anything seen in golf for a very long time.
The 14-time major winner had finally fulfilled his season-long goal to win again after having a terrible time with injuries over the past five years which culminated in a fourth back surgery in April 2017.
Woods couldn’t even get out of bed last year and almost everyone had written him off. He didn’t even know if he’d be able to play golf again let alone win.
However, watching him play the way he did in the final round of the Tour Championship was like watching the Tiger of old, controlling his ball like it was on a piece of string and playing almost perfect golf around the tough East Lake.
Both of his closest challengers Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy fell by the wayside and Woods strolled home – it was a procession and a wonderful moment seeing one of golf’s greatest players of all time getting back to their best.
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Team of the Year
(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
Team Europe, captained by Thomas Bjorn, weren’t given much of a chance by the American media who believed their team, which had better players in terms of the world rankings, would beat Europe and win their second-straight Ryder Cup.
It got off to the perfect start for Jim Furyk’s side too by winning the opening three matches but Europe fought back valiantly and eventually won 17.5-10.5, their third-biggest victory in 20 Ryder Cup matches.
The team contained the incredible spirit that past European sides have all had, and stars like Francesco Molinari, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson all shone in Paris.
Coach of the Year
(Photo by Richard Martin-Roberts/Getty Images)
The Englishman has been coaching Francesco Molinari for a number of years and was right by his side during the Italian’s best ever golfing season.
Pugh and Molinari have built one of the world’s most reliable golf swings and Molinari has gain up to 20 yards in distance off the tee this season through swing work and biomechanics.
Molinari, not just at Carnoustie but throughout the season, has shown some truly incredible ball striking and has looked unbeatable at times.
Pugh has helped the Italian rise to 5th in the world and become a Ryder Cup legend forever.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year takes place on 16th December in Birmingham and begins at 7pm on BBC One.
Do you think any of these candidates will win an award this year? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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