Youth, comebacks, Tiger and Rory highlight 2012 season

• A budding rivalry between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods was a highlight of 2012
• 2012 also was a year of comebacks, including Europe's rally in the Ryder Cup
• One big issue for the offseason will be a ruling on anchoring putters

Any year-end review of the 2012 PGA Tour season must start with one of Yogi Berra's famous quips.

It ain't over till it's over.

From Tiger Woods winning (three times) for the first time since a car crash turned his life upside down in 2009 to the European Ryder Cup team turning a 10-6 deficit on the final day into a 14½-13½ victory, it was the year of the comeback -- and epic collapses. Third-round leaders had a hard time holding on, as only 16 in 44 events ended up winning in the final round. Authoring some of the more remarkable comebacks were Brandt Snedeker, who came from seven back in the final round to beat Kyle Stanley in a playoff to win the Farmers Insurance Open; Stanley coming right back the next week by erasing an eight-shot deficit to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open; Phil Mickelson wiping out a six-shot deficit the following week to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; and Ernie Els, who was once seven back in the final round of the British Open before winning as Adam Scott made bogey on his final four holes.

AddJ.B. Holmes to the remarkable list. He played in the Farmers Insurance Open less than five months after having brain surgery and went on to win more than $1.175 million.

And don't forget Charlie Beljan, who was rushed to the hospital after the second round of the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic with high blood pressure, an increased heart rate and numbness in his arms but got the OK from doctors, returned to the course Saturday and won the tournament on Sunday.

It also was a year when world No. 1 Rory McIlroy supplanted Woods as the player to beat in any tournament he plays. That's not to say Woods has become a pushover -- he's No. 2, after all. But the two were the only players to win at least three times in 2012 and the hope is that a consistent high-octane rivalry will be the result.

The two, however, were far from the only standouts in 2012 as the Tour's deep and talented depth pool remained an expanding factor. Rickie Fowler won his first Tour event, winning a three-man playoff that involved McIlroy. Brandt Snedeker won twice, including the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola that earned him the FedExCup Playoffs title and $10 million. And Hunter Mahan didn't make the Ryder Cup team despite winning twice, including a World Golf Championships event.

Then there was Bubba Watson, who hit the Shot Heard Round the Golf World at Augusta National to win the Masters and Webb Simpson turning in a sterling weekend at Olympic Club to capture the U.S. Open.

It was a remarkable campaign, indeed. And by all indications, the same will be said at the end of 2013. Here are a few subjects to keep an eye on next year.

Anchoring: The USGA and the R&A, the governing bodies for golf, are expected by the end of 2012 to rule on whether or not long putters -- and more specifically, anchoring of putters against the player's body -- will remain legal. A growing consensus among players on professional tours throughout the world thinks anchoring will be outlawed.
Any rule changes won't take effect until 2016, so if anchoring/long putters are banned, it will be interesting to see if some players will make changes immediately, gradually or not until four years from now. And if anchoring/long putters are banned, expect lawsuits. Many players, including Keegan Bradley, Tim Clark and Webb Simpson, have said the expected ruling banning anchoring will not be met without a fight. And Ernie Els, who won the 2012 British Open with a long putter anchored to his stomach, said legal matters will come if there is a ban.

Wrap-around season: Commissioner Tim Finchem said it was time to get better when the PGA Tour announced earlier this year sweeping changes to the schedule and new parameters for qualifying for the Tour starting next year. The 2013 season will be more of a sprint than a marathon as the Fall Series will no longer be an end to the season but a beginning. That means the 2013-14 wrap-around season will start in October with the Frys.Com Open.

The condensed 2013 campaign means fewer playing spots and a shortened time for players to earn cards for the 2013-14 season, down to about eight months. Those in the top 125 heading into 2013 are expected to play more events next season, leaving those outside of the top 125 scrambling. The Tour has already asked several tournaments to add playing spots in their fields, like going from 144 to 156.

The developmental Web.com Tour will be the primary path to get a Tour card, ending 50 years of Q-school. Cards would be awarded at a three-tournament series blending Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour players. Following the FedExCup Playoffs, the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour and those players finishing No. 126 to 200 on the PGA Tour money list will play in the three-tournament series to determine the top 50 who earn Tour cards for the 2013-14 season.

Rory vs. Tiger: The top two players in the world won seven Tour tournaments between them -- four for McIlroy, including his tour de force in the PGA Championship as he won his second career major. McIlroy also became the second player to win both money titles on the PGA Tour and European Tour in as many years, matching Luke Donald's feat in 2011. It is expected that McIlroy will soon announce he's moving from Titleist (he won't renew his contract with Titleist at the end of the year) to Nike in a mega-million-dollar deal. Changing equipment will be a hot topic for months, as some players in the past have lost their games after making switches.

As for Woods, he seems poised to make a serious run at regaining his stature as the best player in the world barring any health setbacks. He was last No. 1 at the end of the third week of October 2010. This year, despite winning at Bay Hill, Congressional and Muirfield Village, he struggled on the weekend at three of the four majors and with his distance control with short irons. A solid offseason of practice could clean those issues up.

Parity: The talent pool is deep. Two years ago 29 players won tournaments on the PGA Tour. Last year 39 did so. This year 36 were victorious as only six players won more than once -- McIlroy (4), Woods (3) and Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson, Snedeker and Mahan twice each.

And the talent pool is getting younger. This year, 14 players in their 20s won 18 Tour titles; 18 in their 30s won 23; and only three players in their 40s won – Els (British Open), Mickelson (AT&T Pebble Beach) and Steve Stricker (Hyundai Tournament of Champions). Add in Matteo Manassero, who at 19 became the first teen-ager to win three titles on the European Tour. And Ryo Ishikawa, who won his 10th title on the Japan Tour this year, is still just 21.

The Masters: A 14-year-old in the field, two women in green jackets and McIlroy and Woods as headliners will be quite a trifecta of tantalizing features on tap for the 2013 Masters. Already a highlight on the campaign every year, attention and buzz for the first major championship of the season should register on the Richter scale.

History will be made on two fronts. Guan Tianlang, an eighth-grader from China who barely weighs 125 pounds, will be the youngest player to play in the Masters after he won wire-to-wire in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, making a 5-foot par putt on the final hole to earn an invitation. And former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore will become the first women to don green jackets as members after the Augusta National Golf Club ended 80 years of male-only membership.

McIlroy, who will be looking to win his third major victory in the last eight played, and Woods, a 14-time major winner looking for his first since 2008, will be the favorites once they roll down Magnolia Lane.

Now add defending champion and wildly popular Bubba Watson and three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson to the mix. And add scores of others who will have legitimate chances to earn a green jacket.

Injury bug: Anthony Kim, who won three Tour events before turning 25 and was destined, according to his peers, for stardom, struggled through the 2012 season with injuries to his elbow, wrist and left Achilles, for which he had surgery in July. Kim, in a text to USA TODAY Sports, said his rehab of the Achilles is coming along fine and he hopes to get back on Tour next summer.