2013-2014 PGA Tour: Top 5 Disappointing Americans

By Danny Norris | Sep 16, 2014

With the 2013-2014 PGA Tour season wrapped up, we are now in the off-season (albeit a very brief off-season) in golf. So, it’s a great time to unwind and reflect on what happened this past season.

The 2013-2014 PGA Tour season was great for a lot of golfers. Rory McIlroy won two majors this season, Billy Horschel won the FedEx Cup, Jimmy Walker lead the PGA Tour in wins with three. For other other golfers, though, it wasn’t all skittles and beer. Here are the top 5 disappointing Americans of the 2013-2014 PGA Tour season.

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Tiger Woods: We’ll start out with the obvious choice with Mr. Tiger Woods. Woods’ season was basically a waste due to injuries. Woods had major back surgery and missed a good portion of the season. Woods, surprisingly, came back, but was, unsurprisingly, ineffective.

Woods played in a total of seven tournaments on the PGA Tour and his best finish was a T-25 at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

It was a year in which Freddy Couples, Mark Calcavecchia, and Tom Watson among others all earned more FedEx Cup points than Tiger Woods. That says it all right there.

Phil Mickelson: It was a struggle all year long for Phil Mickelson as it took him until the PGA Championship to record his one and only top 10 of the season. Mickelson never was in contention to win a tournament or a major this season.

Not only that, but Mickelson’s missed playing in the Tour Championship for the first time in his career. It was a pretty rough year for Mickelson, but on the bright side, Mickelson did do enough to earn himself a spot on the Ryder Cup team.

Jul 19, 2014; Wirral, Merseyside, GBR; Jason Dufner walks from the 7th tee during his third round at The 143rd Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Ian Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

Jason Dufner: It was just a year ago where Jason Dufner broke out into the mainstream with his win at the 2013 PGA Championship. Dufner with his own, unique way of going about things looked to be a late blooming star on the PGA Tour, but things didn’t go quite as smoothly this year.

Dufner only made the cut in one of the four majors this year, which was at The Open Championship and that finish was a T-52. Dufner’s season came to an end as he withdrew from the PGA Championship due to some bulging disks in his neck and back. And with that, Dufner couldn’t play in the FedEx Cup playoffs and missed out on a chance at making the Ryder Cup team.

Brandt Snedeker: After being so consistently good year in and year out for Snedeker, it was a huge surprise to seem him struggle so much this year. Especially, with his putter, but I guess that goes hand in hand. A poor putter usually translates into a poor year.

Snedeker got off to a really bad start and when he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, you had to know something was wrong. Along with Tiger Woods, Snedeker just loves Torrey Pines. It’s a course Snedeker year in and year out is always in contention and has won twice in his career.

Snedeker only recorded two top tens, but there was a stretch in which Snedeker made the cut in nine straight tournaments. Just as it seemed like Snedeker was going to turn his season around late in the year – a bit like what the next golfer we’ll talk about – Snedeker missed the cut at both The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship. That knocked Snedeker out of the playoffs and out of a chance at being a part of this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup.

Hunter Mahan: As I touched upon when talking about Snedeker; Hunter Mahan ended up turning around his season late in the year. Mahan won The Barclays to propel him up the FedEx Cup standings and ended up getting a captain pick. But, when you are someone like Mahan, expectations are higher.

Just making the Ryder Cup team and winning a tournament isn’t good enough. Mahan is at that point in his career where he should be competing week in and week out and competing in majors. And that’s why Mahan is on the list. He didn’t have a terrible year, but in some ways it was disappointing.

Mahan was M.I.A. at the end of spring and in most of the summer. Mahan went on a 13 tournament stretch where he didn’t record a top ten and missed six cuts. Plus, Mahan missed the cut at the U.S. Open and was never in contention at The Masters. However, Mahan finished in the top 10 at the PGA Championship, a T-7, which was part of his late season surge.