This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2008.
Major championships
10–13 April: The Masters - South African Trevor Immelman won his first major by a three-stroke margin.
12–15, 16 June: U.S. Open - American Tiger Woods won his 14th major by making birdie on the 72nd hole in regulation, and forcing an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate on Monday, 16 June. They each finished the playoff at even par 71, and then went to a sudden death playoff. Woods made a par to Mediate's bogey on the first hole for the win.
17–20 July: The Open Championship - Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive Open Championship in a four stroke victory over Ian Poulter. Fifty-three-year-old Greg Norman who led after three rounds, finished tied third.
7–10 August: PGA Championship - Pádraig Harrington won his second consecutive major by two shots over Ben Curtis and Sergio García.
FedEx Cup playoff events - see 2008 FedEx Cup Playoffs
21–24 August: The Barclays - Vijay Singh won in a playoff against Sergio García and Kevin Sutherland.
28 August – 1 September: Deutsche Bank Championship - Vijay Singh won his second consecutive playoff event with a tournament record 22 under par.
4–7 September: BMW Championship - Camilo Villegas won his first PGA Tour event. Vijay Singh's finish as tied 44th was enough to ensure ownsership of the 2008 FedEX Cup, providing he completed 72 holes at the final event.
25–28 September: The Tour Championship - Camilo Villegas defeated Sergio García in a playoff. Vijay Singh won the FedEx Cup.
Other leading PGA Tour events
20–24 February: WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship - Tiger Woods won the tournament for the third time, beating Stewart Cink in the final 8 and 7. He also becomes the first golfer to hold all three individual World Golf Championships titles simultaneously.
20–23 March WGC-CA Championship - Geoff Ogilvy wrapped up the win on Monday after bad weather pushed the tournament into a fifth day.
8–11 May: The Players Championship - Sergio García outlasted Paul Goydos in a one-hole playoff to claim his first PGA Tour title in three years.
31 July – 3 August: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational - Vijay Singh won his first World Golf Championship event and his 32nd PGA Tour event overall, putting him in the record books for most victories by an international player.
For a complete list of PGA Tour results see PGA Tour.
Other leading European Tour events
22–25 May: BMW PGA Championship - Miguel Ángel Jiménez of Spain defeated Englishman Oliver Wilson in a playoff.
30 October – 2 November: Volvo Masters - Søren Kjeldsen
For a complete list of European Tour results see 2008 European Tour.
Team events
18–21 September: Ryder Cup - Team USA regains the trophy with a 16½–11½ win over Team Europe.
Tour leaders
PGA Tour - Vijay Singh ($6,601,094)
European Tour - Robert Karlsson (€2,732,748)
Japan Golf Tour - Shingo Katayama (¥180,094,895)
Asian Tour - Jeev Milkha Singh ($1,452,707)
PGA Tour of Australasia - Mark Brown (A$440,027)
Sunshine Tour - Richard Sterne (R5,599,265)
Awards
PGA Tour
FedEx Cup – Vijay Singh
PGA Player of the Year - Pádraig Harrington
Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Trophy) - Pádraig Harrington
Leading money winner (Arnold Palmer Award) - Vijay Singh
Vardon Trophy - Sergio García
Byron Nelson Award - Sergio García
Rookie of the year - Andrés Romero
Comeback Player of the Year - Dudley Hart
Champions Tour
Player of the Year - Bernhard Langer
Rookie of the Year - Bernhard Langer
Comeback Player of the Year -
Nationwide Tour
Player of the Year - Brendon de Jonge
European Tour
Player of the Year - Pádraig Harrington
Rookie of the Year - Pablo Larrazábal
Other tour results
2008 Asian Tour
2008 PGA Tour of Australasia
2008 Canadian Tour
2008 Challenge Tour
2008 Japan Golf Tour
2008 Nationwide Tour
2008 Tour de las Americas
Other happenings
18 June – Tiger Woods announced he will miss the remainder of the 2008 season to recover from reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee.
21 November – Jason Hak, an amateur from Hong Kong, became the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event, at 14 years and 304 days at the UBS Hong Kong Open.
LPGA majors
3–6 April: Kraft Nabisco Championship - The number one ranked player in the world, Lorena Ochoa, eased to a five-shot win over Suzann Pettersen and Annika Sörenstam to claim her second consecutive major.
5–8 June: LPGA Championship - Taiwanese teenager Yani Tseng became the youngest ever LPGA Championship winner and the first Taiwanese golfer to win a major.
26–29 June: U.S. Women's Open - Inbee Park notched a 4-stroke victory, becoming the youngest-ever winner in the 63-year history of the tournament.
31 July – 3 August: Ricoh Women's British Open - Jiyai Shin, a member of the KLPGA, won her first major tournament in a three-stroke victory over Yani Tseng.
Ladies European Tour major (in addition to the Women's British Open)
24–27 July: Evian Masters - Helen Alfredsson won in the third sudden-death playoff hole over Na Yeon Choi. Alfredsson previously won this event in 1994 and 1998.
For a complete list of Ladies European Tour results see Ladies European Tour.
Additional LPGA Tour events
2–5 October: Samsung World Championship - Paula Creamer won the limited field event by one stroke to claim her fourth LPGA Tour win of the season.
20–23 November: LPGA Playoffs at The ADT - Jiyai Shin won the season-ending championship with its $1 million prize. She also became the first non-LPGA member to ever win three LPGA tournaments.
For a complete list of LPGA Tour results, see 2008 LPGA Tour.
Team events
18–20 January: Women's World Cup of Golf - Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin representing the Philippines won the tournament with a winning score of 18 under par 198. The team from Korea was second in the 40-team field.
28–30 November: Lexus Cup - The Internalional team defeated the Asian team, 12½ to 11½.
Money list leaders
LPGA Tour – Mexican Lorena Ochoa ($2,763,193) wins her third straight money title.
Ladies European Tour – Gwladys Nocera of France tops the Order of Merit with €391,840.
Duramed Futures Tour - American teenager Vicky Hurst topped the money list with earnings of $93,107.
LPGA of Korea Tour - Jiyai Shin topped the list for the third straight year with earnings of 765 million won.
LPGA of Japan Tour - Miho Koga won the money list title with earnings of ￥120.85 million.
Ladies Asian Golf Tour - Korean Hee Kyung Seo earned $45,000 to win the money list title.
ALPG Tour - Karrie Webb of Australia topped the 2007/08 money list with A$99,600 in earnings.
Awards
LPGA Tour Player of the Year – Lorena Ochoa
LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year – Yani Tseng
LPGA Tour Vare Trophy – Lorena Ochoa
LET Player of the Year – Gwladys Nocera
LET Rookie of the Year – Melissa Reid
Other happenings
13 April: With a win at the Corona Championship, Lorena Ochoa earned enough points to qualify for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Her qualification would have become final when she completed ten years as an LPGA Tour member in 2012, but she chose to retire at the end of the 2010 season in order to start a family.
27 April: 17-year-old rookie Vicky Hurst broke the Duramed Futures Tour 54-hole scoring record with an 18-under par 198 performance at the Jalapeno Golf Classic. The previous record had been set by Grace Park in 1999 at the Betty Puskar Golf Classic.
Senior majors
22–25 May: Senior PGA Championship - Jay Haas won his second Senior PGA title.
24–27 July: Senior British Open - Bruce Vaughan won his first Champions Tour event.
31 July – 3 August: U.S. Senior Open - Eduardo Romero finished four strokes ahead of Fred Funk, becoming the second Argentinian to win the Senior Open.
14–17 August: JELD-WEN Tradition - American Fred Funk won his fourth Champions Tour event and his first major tournament on any tour.
9–12 October: Senior Players Championship - American D. A. Weibring won his fifth Champions Tour event and his first major tournament on any tour.
Full results
2008 Champions Tour
2008 European Seniors Tour
Money list leaders
Champions Tour - German Bernhard Langer topped the money list with earnings of $2,035,073.
European Seniors Tour - Welshman Ian Woosnam topped the Order of Merit with earnings of €320,120.
20–23 May: NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships - USC won its second team championship. Azahara Muñoz of Arizona State won the individual title on the first hole of a playoff with UCLA's Tiffany Joh.
28–31 May: NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships - UCLA swept the team and individual titles, with Kevin Chappell earning the individual title.
30 May – 1 June: Curtis Cup - Team USA won the Cup for the sixth consecutive time, defeating Team Great Britain & Ireland 13–7.
16–21 June: The Amateur Championship - Reinier Saxton of the Netherlands defeated Tommy Fleetwood of England, 3 & 2.
4–10 August: U.S. Women's Amateur - Amanda Blumenherst of the United States defeated Azahara Muñoz of Spain, 2 & 1.
18–24 August: U.S. Amateur - Danny Lee of New Zealand became the youngest winner in the history of the tournament, breaking the previous record set by Tiger Woods in 1994.
Other happenings
5 May: Amanda Blumenherst, a junior at Duke University, won the Nancy Lopez Award for the second consecutive year. The award is given to the world's most outstanding female amateur golfer.
Sir Bob Charles (Veterans)
Pete Dye (Lifetime Achievement)
Denny Shute (Veterans)
Carol Semple Thompson (Lifetime Achievement)
Herbert Warren Wind (Lifetime Achievement)
Craig Wood (PGA Tour)
Broadcaster Kelly Tilghman was suspended from The Golf Channel for two weeks in January after discussing Tiger Woods's dominance on the PGA Tour and saying that young players should "lynch him in a back alley." The comment came during the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
This table summarises all the results referred to above in date order.
The following biennial events will next be played in 2009: Presidents Cup, Seve Trophy, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup.
