2014 PGA Top 10: Rory roars, toothless Tiger & new stars emerge

The 2014 PGA Tour season was highlighted with breakout performances, cash grabs and a top player who fired on all cylinders. The lowlights were plentiful, too. Here are 10 of the most notable moments.

1. THE RETURN OF 'RORS': Reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated, because Rory McIlroy emphatically reclaimed his swagger. Forget the theory that his winless campaign in 2013 was owed to new equipment; perhaps he just couldn't mix love with golf. How else to explain that after calling off his engagement to Caroline Wozniacki, McIlory won the BMW PGA, steamrolled to his third and fourth majors (the Open Championship and PGA Championship), added a WGC title and the Race to Dubai, and put a bear hug on No. 1.

2. UNCONVENTIONAL AND UNCANNY: Safe to say no one has ever taken on Augusta National as has Bubba Watson. Shaping moonshots and bending drives up and over massive trees, the author of "Bubba Golf" became just the 16th player in history to win a second Masters. If the story ended there it would have been a productive season, but Watson also had wins at the Northern Trust early and WGC-HSBC Champions late. In fact, had he not squandered 54-hole leads at TPC Scottsdale and the Memorial, Watson might have had a monster year that surpassed even McIlroy's.

3. THIS CUP OVERFLOWS WITH MISERY: Foursomes was a disaster, the "outside-the-box" decision to go with 65-year-old captain Tom Watson was an utter failure and team morale was lower than the grass on Augusta greens. Another biennial beating, this time to the tune of 16 1/2 - 11 1/2, as the Ryder Cup continued to morph into a Globetrotters-Generals show --€“ with the Americans as the hapless Generals. A 7-1 deficit in foursomes was too much to overcome, especially with a quartet of players --€“ Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler --€“ going winless. Europe has now won three in a row, six of eight and eight of 10.

4. AND THE FALLOUT REVERBERATES: Ugly as the latest Ryder Cup loss was, the Americans' reaction made it worse. Phil Mickelson squarely put the blame on captain Tom Watson and all but challenged the PGA of America to include players in talks that will name future captains. Thus, the birth of a "task force," which loosely translated means the stars will get together and nominate a buddy to be captain. Trying to steer the PGA of America through this mess, president Ted Bishop instead struck an iceberg. He called Ian Poulter a "Lil Girl" on Twitter, then on Facebook. Reaction was swift and severe; Bishop was immediately ousted as president and the Ryder Cup misery continued.

5. TRUTH IS ELUSIVE --€“ AND SO IS THIS STAR: Summer breaks are not unusual if you're in the mainstream workforce. But they're unheard of if you're a PGA Tour star with immense talent, major-championship aspirations and Ryder Cup appointments. Yet when it was announced in mid-July that Dustin Johnson would be taking a break for personal reasons, the rumor mill kicked into high gear. Though PGA Tour officials denied reports that it had suspended Johnson for a reported six months for failing a drug test, the reality was that arguably America's most talented player was unavailable come Ryder Cup time. When will DJ return? It's a guessing game, though smart money is on a West Coast swing tournament in early 2015.

6. A TOOTHLESS TIGER? So often he had done things we had never seen before, and Tiger Woods was at it again in 2014 --€“ only for the wrong reasons. He missed his first Masters since 1994, had his worst finish (69th) in a major of those in which he's played 72 holes after outscoring exactly three players at the Open Championship, had more WDs (two) than top-25 finishes (one), and was 26 over for his 21 rounds across seven tournaments. His announcement on April 1 was no joke --€“ having undergone a microdiscectomy the day before, he would go to the sidelines. It probably should have been longer than the three months he gave it, because four ill-fated tournament starts in July and August forced him to take another extended hiatus.

7. AND NOT MUCH BITE FROM PHIL, EITHER: Call it a PGA Tour season without its dynamic duo, because while Phil Mickelson, unlike Tiger Woods, was able to play a full schedule, his results were so pedestrian he may have been considered AWOL. It was just his third winless season since 1993, his first full campaign, and even more stunning, Mickelson had just one top 10 on the PGA Tour, his lowest total in his Hall of Fame career. A missed cut at the Masters was stunning, but in late September the shock value rose exponentially as Mickelson sat out an entire day of Ryder Cup competition for the first time, then later delivered a stinging criticism of captain Tom Watson.

8. BILLY HO'S MIGHTY HAUL: Perhaps only Billy Horschel's wife and parents were aware of his participation in the FedEx Cup playoffs when August rolled around. After all, he had scored just two quiet top 10s during a lackluster season, so when he missed the cut in the postseason opener, The Barclays, he seemed resigned to an early offseason. Then, golf happened. Horschel tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship, steamrolled the field to win the BMW, and put an exclamation point on things with a Tour Championship triumph. Three scintillating weeks, $3,477,333 in prize money, and a FedEx Cup title that brought with it a $10 million bonus.

9. OTHER BREAKTHROUGHS: With marquee names (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson) out of the spotlight for one reason or another, the door was opened for others to walk into view. Jimmy Walker, for instance. At 35 and in his eighth season on Tour, he broke through with three victories and finished seventh in the final FedEx Cup standings. Chris Kirk, 29, won twice, including a playoff event (the Deutsche Bank Championship) and might have earned the FedEx Cup title if not for Horschel's heroics. Brendon Todd, Kirk's former teammate at the University of Georgia, broke through for his first win and earned serious consideration for a Ryder Cup spot.

10. PINEHURST SHINES: Our national open's third visit to Donald Ross' pride and joy, Pinehurst No. 2, would have an intriguing twist: The U.S. Women's Open would be played on the same stage the very next week. Two U.S. Opens, no waiting. To some, it was a gimmick. To others, it was fraught with trap doors. But for all the fears and all the misgivings, the experiment was pulled off. If Martin Kaymer's near-flawless performance to win by eight wasn't enough of a show, Michelle Wie's first major triumph a week later put a tidy bow around the double-header hit production.