Sport’s most memorable moments of 2022 – No 3: Golf

Matt Fitzpatrick wins the US Open

Matt Fitzpatrick, holding a one-stroke lead, tugs his tee shot into a bunker on the final hole at Brookline’s Country Club. Heads are in hands. Will Zalatoris lurks with intent. What followed, under intense pressure, was one of the finest recoveries in major championship history. From sand and 160 yards, Fitzpatrick’s iron shot finished within 20ft of the cup. “It was a hit-and-hope,” a beaming Fitzpatrick said later of that epic moment of sporting theatre.

The Sheffield golfer, then 27, had broken his major duck. So, too, had the veteran Yorkshire caddie Billy Foster, who counts Seve Ballesteros among his previous employers. Fitzpatrick prevailed in the toughest of environments and having survived that 72nd-hole scare. He joined Justin Rose as the only English golfers to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

Tiger Woods waves goodbye at St Andrews

Even the charming, cuddly Tiger Woods of recent times is not at all prone to moments such as this. Tears streamed down his face as he crossed the Swilcan Bridge on day two of the 150th Open. Galleries rose to applaud, Woods waved his cap in acknowledgement. Players on the adjacent fairway, the 1st, stopped to watch Woods take a bow.

This was a moment in our golfing time. Woods may well play in the Open again but, by his own admission, is almost certain not to be in the field when the tournament makes an expected return to St Andrews in 2030. He missed the cut in 2022 but that barely mattered; a golfer who has claimed 15 major titles, including two at the home of golf, while mounting recovery after recovery from serious injury, was acclaimed by the masses. Woods had no interest in masking his emotion. “The warmth and ovation on 18 … it just got to me,” he said.

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Lydia Ko claims the LPGA Tour Championship

Lydia Ko, now 25, had a long-stated desire to retire from golf at the age of 30. Before the Tour Championship, and in a relief to supporters of the women’s game, she appeared to backtrack on those plans. Perhaps this attitude owes much to professional contentment; Ko is the former teenage superstar – she won majors in 2015 and 2016 – who suffered a slump before clambering back to the peak of her sport.

She is now world No 1 once more. Ko had won only twice on the LPGA Tour since 2016 before this year. She had already claimed the Gainbridge and BMW Ladies Championship before reaching Naples, Florida in November. Ko opened with rounds of 65 and 66 before withstanding Leona Maguire’s charge to take the season-ending event and $2m by two shots. Whether she wants to play until 30 or beyond, Ko has never had more scope to dominate the women’s game.

Rory McIlroy holes out from a bunker at 18 on Masters Sunday

Much of what happened to Rory McIlroy in the remainder of 2022 can be attributed to this act of brilliance. It kickstarted a year in which he won a trio of titles and returned to No 1 in the world. At the time, it was not about a sign of things to come. Instead, it offered a glimpse of vintage McIlroy and a reminder of why he is essential on-course viewing.

His Sunday charge at Augusta National – McIlroy had become the only legitimate threat to Scottie Scheffler – stalled with four pars from the 14th onwards. Yet on the last, McIlroy gave himself a whiff of overdue major glory. McIlroy leapt in wild celebration as his ball took the break perfectly from sand and rolled into the hole for a birdie. “That’s as happy as I’ve ever been on a golf course right there,” said the Northern Irishman.

This completed a 64; McIlroy’s lowest Augusta round. Yes, the Northern Irishman created headline after headline in 2022 by articulating firm thoughts about LIV Golf. He also produced magical moments inside the ropes.

Keith Pelley takes aim at LIV Golf

The level of candour and vitriol regularly associated with LIV’s rebel tour throughout the year actually makes it very difficult to pinpoint one verbal utterance. Keith Pelley, however, stole the show when taking to the podium at Wentworth in September.

The European Tour Group’s chief executive had been criticised in some quarters for staying largely silent as LIV picked off Ryder Cup stars from his tour. By the PGA Championship, Pelley decided he had kept counsel for long enough. During an extraordinary press conference, Pelley lambasted “irrational and ludicrous comments on social media”. He castigated “the LIV propaganda machine”. Sergio García was in the firing line after his claims that the DP World, formerly European, Tour was en route to becoming the fifth best in the world. “One of our members who is playing here this week actually said that,” scoffed Pelley. “It’s unbelievable.”

García lasted just one Wentworth round before shuffling back across the Atlantic. Pelley hit his targets with the kind of staunch defence his tour’s loyal members could surely only admire.