Best of '09: Tiger leads 'Big Three,' cast of winners

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Two men stood out above all in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup -- Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.

Once again, Tiger Woods picked up the bulk of the hardware in 2009. Anyone who is surprised by that development probably has been living on Mars for the last decade.

He was one of eight multiple champions who combined for 22 victories. But there was still room for seven first-time winners and three players who picked up their first majors.

PGATOUR.COM takes a look at the best of the best below.

THE BIG THREE

TIGER WOODS: It should come as no surprise that the world No. 1 tops this list, as well. Woods came back from surgery to reconstruct the ACL in his left knee to win six times in 2009. Granted, it was a rare year without a major -- the last such drought being in 2004 -- but Woods' consistency was remarkable. He played in 16 stroke-play events, missed one cut (surprisingly at the Open Championship, which was just his second in a major since turning pro) and never finished lower than 11th. Not to mention, he went 5-0-0 at The Presidents Cup -- four of those wins came playing with Steve Stricker in Foursomes and Four-balls -- which made him only the third player ever to win all five matches. Woods won his eighth Vardon Trophy and ended the season ranked first in seven statistical categories, including, and not surprisingly, the All-Around. When the votes are counted in December, he'll likely have his 10th Jack Nicklaus Trophy as the PGA TOUR's Player of the Year.

BEST MOMENTS: From another record-breaking Tiger performance to Stenson's decision to bare almost all, golf fans are left with plenty of indelible images from the year. Click here BEST SURPRISES: Who were the surprise players in 2009, the ones who played beyond our expectations? We've got the list. Click here BEST PLAYERS: Who joined Tiger and Phil in the Big Three? Can you name all eight multiple winners? Which big name had 11 top-10s but no wins? Click here BEST FINISHES: The PGA TOUR had 13 playoffs in 2009, including two at major championships, and 13 more were decided by just a shot. Click here BEST ROUNDS: Count down the 10 most memorable rounds of the season, including Troy Matteson's back-to-back 61s and Tiger Woods' 62 at Cog Hill. Click here

Season in review

How it shook out in 2009

PGA TOUR: Tiger's return, surprise major winners and Phil's finish were just some of the headlines from an exciting year. Click here CHAMPIONS TOUR: A thrilling season-long battle for the Charles Schwab Cup begs the question: Just who had the best year on Tour? Click here NATIONWIDE TOUR: Michael Sim. Michael Sim. Michael Sim. The Australian phenom lit it up in 2009 with the most successful individual season in Tour history. Click here

PHIL MICKELSON: The affable left-hander had a roller-coaster year where real life collided head-on with the game he plays for a living. Mickelson announced in May that his wife, Amy, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Within weeks, his mother was also diagnosed. So Mickelson, who had won twice in his first six starts of the season, took two extended breaks to be with his family. He came out of the first to tie for second at the U.S. Open, one of five runner-up finishes he's had at the years second major. He skipped the British Open but returned to play six of the last seven events of the year and got his third win of the season at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, where a putting tip from Dave Stockton paid dividends. Mickelson continued his strong play at The Presidents Cup, going 3-0-1 while getting the best out of three different partners, and winning his Singles match to complete the unbeaten week. He also went head-to-head with Woods at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and capped off his season with a win.

STEVE STRICKER: For a couple of weeks in 2009, Stricker, who was less than two years removed from being voted the back-to-back PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year, was the No. 2 player in the world. He'll finish the year one spot lower, but that takes nothing away from what turned out to be the soft-spoken man from Wisconsin's best season on TOUR. Stricker admittedly squandered several chances early in the year, but he just kept racking up top-10 finishes -- 11 for the year -- and finally broke through with a playoff win at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He went on to win two more times, including the Deutsche Bank Championship, finished third in the FedExCup and earned a career-best $6.3 million. He ranked first in putting and second to Woods, his Presidents Cup partner and good friend, in scoring.

THE DOUBLE-DIPPERS

Y.E. YANG: Anyone dismissing his win at The Honda Classic as a fluke got an education later in the year. Yang went head-to-head with Tiger Woods -- who was 14 for 14 when leading a major after 54 holes -- in the final round at the PGA Championship, made up a two-stroke deficit and went on to win by three at Hazeltine. Yang further validated his breakthrough season when he went 2-2-1 in his first Presidents Cup, although Woods got a measure of revenge with a 6-and-5 Singles win.

ZACH JOHNSON: It was another steady season for Johnson, who won twice for the second time in his career. The 33-year-old set the tone for his season when he won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January and later successfully defended his Valero Texas Open in a playoff in May. He ended a season that saw him finish third or better four times ranked sixth in the FedExCup standings and earned a career-best $4.5 million.

KENNY PERRY: Like Mickelson, Perry was torn in two directions as his mother continued to battle cancer and died the week prior to The Presidents Cup. The strain clearly took its toll on one of the TOUR's top ball-strikers in the latter part of the season. Perry had won twice by June, though, with victories at the FBR Open and the Travelers Championship. He narrowly missed his first major, losing in a playoff to Angel Cabrera at the Masters.

GEOFF OGILVY: The way Ogilvy opened the 2009 campaign, it looked like a monster year was on the horizon. He won twice in his first six starts, including his second World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Ogilvy only had three more top-10s the rest of the season, but one of those came with the end in sight during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, and he went on to finish 13th overall.

BRIAN GAY: When Gay gets it going, watch out. The University of Florida product won twice by June -- shooting 20 under at the Verizon Heritage to win by 10 and 18 under at the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx for a five-stroke victory. Like Ogilvy, he didn't sustain that momentum, though, and only had two more top-10s. But he did finish 21st in the FedExCup and posted a career earnings year with $3.1 million.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

JIM FURYK: One of the game's steadiest players, Furyk hasn't won since the 2007 Canadian Open presented by Franklin Templeton Investments. But he did rack up 11 top-10s this year -- three of those coming in the Playoffs -- and finished second to Woods at both the Memorial Tournament and BMW Championship.

KEVIN NA: Only Furyk had more top-10s without a victory than Na did in 2009. He had nine total, which is just one less than the combined total for his career. One of his third-place finishes came at THE PLAYERS Championship which should be a confidence-builder for next season.