Dustin Johnson won his long-sought second major at the Masters, Sophia Popov pulled off a Cinderella story for the ages at the Women’s British Open and Viktor Hovland broke the Puerto Rico Open curse. This you know. However, there are plenty of news, notes and numbers from 2020 that may have escaped your grasp.
Let’s test your memory to see what you can recall from the year that was in golf. And don’t be afraid that you missed some of these items. There are no losers here … unless you check your phone or a search engine for the answers.
1. Harold Varner III broke an impressive, and slightly odd, PGA Tour record at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. What did Varner do?
A. Made the most consecutive pars to start a tournament
B. Became the first player to shoot in the 60s with three triples on card
C. Made the most sand saves in one round
D. Led the field in birdies and bogeys
2. Phil Mickelson became just the third player in PGA Tour Champions history to do what?
A. Win in his PGA Tour Champions debut
B. Win his first two career appearances on the senior circuit
C. Win a PGA and PGA Tour Champions event in the same year
D. Win Player of the Year in less than five starts
3. Who won the LPGA’s Player of the Year award?
A. Jin Young Ko
B. A Lim Kim
C. Sei Young Kim
D. Danielle Kang
4. How did Segundo Oliva Pinto lose to Tyler Strafaci in the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur?
A. Strafaci holed out from the fairway for eagle on the 17th hole to win 2 up
B. Strafaci’s father called a penalty on Pinto’s caddie on the 18th hole for testing the condition of the sand, with Brewer losing the hole and match to Strafaci
C. Pinto missed a 2-footer to tie the match on the 18th hole
D. Pinto disqualified himself after discovering he played with 15 clubs
5. Tiger Woods recorded the worst single-hole score of his career, a 10, at Augusta National’s 12th hole on Sunday at the Masters. What is the highest score at the 12th in Masters history?
6. Danny Lee withdrew from the U.S. Open after …
A. Losing three balls in the rough on one hole
B. Finishing a round with three consecutive double bogeys
C. Breaking his driver over his knee
D. Six-putting the 18th hole
7. Hideki Matsuyama shot 63 in the opening round of the Players Championship, tying the Stadium course record at TPC Sawgrass. Though the tournament was ultimately postponed, how many players had previously shot 63 at Sawgrass?
8. Which course lost a previously awarded future Presidents Cup?
A. Quail Hollow
B. Medinah
C. TPC Harding Park
D. Muirfield Village
9.) Mel Reid was fined by the LPGA in October for what?
A. Failing to show up to a tee time
B. Breaking COVID-19 protocols
C. Cursing on TV
D. Damaging a green
10. How many players did Jim Mackay caddie for in 2020?
11. This player led the tour in driving distance during the 2019-’20 PGA Tour season:
A. Bryson DeChambeau
B. Cameron Champ
C. Brandon Hagy
D. Tony Finau
12. The Open Championship was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the lone men’s major not held in 2020. It was the first time the R&A was forced to cancel the championship since …
A. 1945
B. 1919
C. 1871
D. Never
13. The LPGA announced in November that the Solheim Cup …
A. Is moving from its USA-vs.-Europe format to a USA-vs.-the World competition
B. Is changing to an even-year cadence
C. Will be annually played at St. Andrews
D. Signed a 10-year TV extension
14. The USGA named this course as its first U.S. Open anchor site:
A. Oakmont
B. Pebble Beach
C. Pinehurst No. 2
D. Shinnecock Hills
15. Miguel Angel Jimenez broke the European Tour record for most career starts. Who was the previous record holder?
A. Seve Ballesteros
B. Sam Torrance
C. Bernhard Langer
D. Barry Lane
1: A. Varner opened the WMPO with a par … and over the next two days, followed with 31 straight similar scores. For those of you scoring at home, that would be an amazing 32 straight pars, which set a PGA Tour record for most consecutive to start a tournament in the ShotLink era. K.J. Choi was the previous title holder with 27 pars at the 2006 Colonial.
2: B. Mickelson joined Bruce Fleischer and Jim Furyk (who also made his PGA Tour Champions debut in 2020) as the only players to win in their first two starts on the 50-and-older tour.
3: C. Ko was the tour’s money leader and won the Race to the CME Globe, while Kang took home the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average. But it was Sei Young Kim (above), who earned his first major in October at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, who grabbed POY honors.
4: B. Frank Strafaci, Tyler’s father and caddie, had called to a rules official when he saw Pinto’s caddie, Brant Brewer, a local Bandon Dunes looper, step into the sand and swipe at it with his hand. A long discussion ensued, with Brewer denying he did anything wrong, though a high-angle television replay clearly showed that he touched the sand. The official ruled that the caddie violated Rule 12.2b by testing the condition of the sand. The loss of the hole for Pinto ended the match, with Strafaci winning 1 up.
5: C. That honor belongs to Tom Weiskopf, who made a 13 at Golden Bell in the first round of the 1980 Masters.
6: D. Finishing up his third round, Lee faced a four-footer for par at Winged Foot’s 18th hole, a putt he could not convert. Lee missed the comebacker as well and proceeded to play “whack-a-mole,” nonchalantly swiping at the ball until it found the cup. Lee ended up with six putts on the green, equating to a quintuple-bogey 9. Lee would withdraw from the tournament after the round and later apologized for his actions.
7: D. Matsuyama joined Fred Couples (1992), Greg Norman (1994), Roberto Castro (2013), Martin Kaymer (2014), Jason Day (2016), Colt Knost (2016), Webb Simpson (2018) and Brooks Koepka (2018).
8: C. The site of the 2020 PGA Championship, Harding Park was named the 2025 Presidents Cup host back in 2014. However, the event (now held in 2026) will be played at Medinah after negotiations fell through on an annual tour stop at Harding Park.
9: B. After earning her first LPGA victory at the ShopRite Classic, Reid was fined for breaking COVID-19 protocols during her victory celebrations. “Got in a bit of trouble. It wouldn’t have been me if I didn’t get in trouble,” Reid said the following week at Aronimink Golf Club for the Women’s PGA Championship. “Yeah, I mean, I obviously took it a little bit easier than I probably would have done normally.”
10: D. Bones came out of retirement for fill-in loops for Justin Thomas, Jimmy Walker and Matt Fitzpatrick this year, highlighted by a victory with Thomas at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
11: A. DeChambeau posted a 322.1 yard average, just clipping Champ’s mark of 322.0.
12: A. The Open Championship wasn’t contested from 1940-1945 due to World War II.
13: B. Though it will be played in 2021 and 2023, the event will move to an even-year cadence beginning in 2024 to avoid being held in the same year as a Ryder Cup.
14: C. Pinehurst No. 2 is set to host five future U.S. Opens, signaling a shift by the USGA to narrow down its list of potential championship venues.
15: B. Jimenez’s 707th career start surpassed Torrance for the most outings on the Old World circuit.