AUGUSTA, Ga – Augusta National added 14 players to the field for the Masters when the final world ranking of the year was published Monday.

That brings the field to 90 players who are expected to compete April 10-13, and again raises the possibility of the Masters exceeding 100 players for the first time in nearly 50 years. Augusta National has the smallest field of the four majors and prefers to keep it under 100 to enhance the overall experience at its tournament.

This is the third time in the last four years the field was at least 90 players going into a new calendar year. There were 99 players for the 2011 Masters, the most since 103 players competed in 1966.

Those who qualified by being in the top 50 of the final ranking were Hideki Matsuyama, Thomas Bjorn, Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Francesco Molinari, Rickie Fowler, Matteo Manassero, David Lynn, Thongchai Jaidee, Peter Hanson, Joost Luiten and Branden Grace.

Players can still qualify by winning a PGA Tour event (except for the Puerto Rico Open) or being in the top 50 on March 30, a full week before the Masters.

Matsuyama qualified at No. 23. It will be his third appearance at the Masters, and his first as a pro. Matsuyama was a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, which awards an exemption to the Masters. He made the cut both times as an amateur.

“I’m ecstatic I qualified for the Masters through my play for this year,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter in October, when it was clear he would be in the top 50.

He won four times this year on the Japan Golf Tour and had a pair of top 10s in the majors.

Fowler was the only American of the 14 from the world ranking, though two other players (Peter Hanson, David Lynn) were PGA Tour members, who have more options available to them during the year.

The Masters changed the criteria for the 2014 tournament, though that appears to have little bearing on the number of qualified players. Because the PGA Tour went to a wraparound season (October through September), the Masters awarded spots to the winners of tournaments held in the fall. Jimmy Walker, Ryan Moore and Chris Kirk qualified by winning those events. The other winners of fall events – Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson and Harris English – previously were eligible for the Masters.

Augusta National eliminated the category for top 30 on the money list, though that didn’t keep out any player who qualified.

The club now takes the top 12 and ties from the previous Masters (instead of the top 16) and the top four and ties from the U.S. Open (instead of the top eight). That eliminated only one player – David Toms – who would have been eligible under the previous category. The others would have made it through other criteria.

When the FedEx Cup was created in 2007, Augusta National returned to its practice of inviting PGA Tour winners (at events that offered full FedEx Cup points). Since then, the largest increase in the field from January until the Masters was the addition of 11 players for this year’s tournament.

Players who have qualified for The Masters are below, listed in only the first category for which they are eligible.

MASTERS CHAMPIONS:
Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Tiger Woods, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O’Meara, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson.

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years):
Justin Rose, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover.

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years):
Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Louis Oosthuizen, Stewart Cink.

PGA CHAMPIONS (five years):
Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer, Y.E. Yang.

PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPS CHAMPIONS (three years):
Matt Kuchar, K.J. Choi.

U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPION AND RUNNER-UP:
a-Matt Fitzpatrick, a-Oliver Goss.

BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPION:
a-Garrick Porteous.

U.S. AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS CHAMPION:
a-Jordan Niebrugge.

U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPION:
a-Michael McCoy.

ASIAN AMATEUR CHAMPION:
a-Lee Chang-woo.

TOP 12 AND TIES-2013 MASTERS:
Jason Day, Marc Leishman, Thorbjorn Olesen, Brandt Snedeker, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Tim Clark, John Huh.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2013 U.S. OPEN:
Billy Horschel, Hunter Mahan.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2013 BRITISH OPEN:
Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2013 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:
Jim Furyk, Jonas Blixt.

PGA TOUR EVENT WINNERS SINCE 2013 MASTERS (FULL FEDEX CUP POINTS AWARDED):
Derek Ernst, Sang-Moon Bae, Boo Weekley, Harris English, Ken Duke, Bill Haas, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Jimmy Walker, Ryan Moore, Chris Kirk.

FIELD FROM THE 2013 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP:
Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Roberto Castro, Nick Watney, Brendon de Jonge, Luke Donald, Gary Woodland, Kevin Streelman, D.A. Points, Graham DeLaet.

TOP 50 FROM FINAL WORLD RANKING IN 2013:
Hideki Matsuyama, Thomas Bjorn, Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Francesco Molinari, Rickie Fowler, Matteo Manassero, David Lynn, Thongchai Jaidee, Peter Hanson, Joost Luiten, Branden Grace.

TOP 50 FROM WORLD RANKING ON MARCH 30:
TBD.

SPECIAL FOREIGN INVITATIONS:
TBD.

NAPLES, Fla. – Matt Kuchar and Harris English set a tournament course record by finishing at 34 under at the Franklin Templeton Shootout on Sunday.

Kuchar and English beat the duo of Retief Goosen and Freddie Jacobson at the Tiburon Golf Resort’s Gold course. The winners shot 25 under in their last 28 holes.

Playing Sunday under a scramble format, they shot a 14-under 58. Goosen and Jacobson cut their deficit to three shots after three holes before Kuchar and English warmed up. They were 11-under 61 for the day and 27-under for the tournament.

Finishing third were Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, who had a 13-under 59 and went 26 under overall. Chris DiMarco and Billy Horschel were in fourth at 24 under.

Host Greg Norman and partner Jonas Blixt tied Steve Stricker/Jerry Kelly and Canada’s Graham DeLaet/Mike Weir at 19 under. They finished tied for 8th, earning (US) $80,000 each.

NAPLES, Fla. – Keyed by a blazing back nine, Matt Kuchar and Harris English took a four-shot lead after better ball play Saturday in the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

Thanks to a 27 on the back nine and 60 overall, Kuchar and English are at 20-under at Tiburon Golf Resort’s Gold course. Their better-ball effort is one shot off the tournament record, set by John Daly and Frank Lickliter in 2001.

Retief Goosen andFreddie Jacobson are four shots back at 16-under.

The format will change to a scramble Sunday.

English and Kuchar had six pars in their seven holes before taking off. From Nos. 8-17, they had nine birdies and an eagle.

Canadians Graham DeLaet and Mike Weir are tied for 10th with Jason Dufner & Dustin Johnson at 7-under heading into the final round on Sunday.

NAPLES, Fla. – Defending champions Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair shot an 8-under 64 in modified alternate-shot play Friday for a share of the first-round lead in the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

The teams of Matt Kuchar-Harris English and Charles Howell III-Justin Leonard also shot 64 on the Ritz Carlton Resort’s Tiburon course. The 24 teams will play better ball Saturday and finish with a scramble Sunday.

After playing the front nine in 3 under, Perry and O’Hair birdied Nos. 13-16.

“It was a fun day for me,” said Perry, the Champions Tour player of the year and Charles Schwab Cup points champion. “When (O’Hair) poured it in from about 15 feet on the first hole I knew it was going to be a good day for us. We were never in any trouble.

“We had a great chance to really go low today and better than 8 under, but that’s OK. I mean, alternate shot is a tough format. To me it’s my favourite format. I love it more than any format of all the three. So, you know, you can lose it. If we get off to a crummy start it’s hard to catch up with best ball and scramble coming up.”

Kuchar and English birdied Nos. 12-14 and eagled No. 17.

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun playing with Harris,” Kuchar said. “I knew he was on some pretty good form and knew I had a good horse for a partner.”

English replaced the injured Brandt Snedeker in the field

“This is a tournament that I’ve always watched on TV growing up and it seemed like such a great format and such a good competition,” English said.

English hit a 6-iron shot from 192 yards to 6 feet to set up the eagle.

“When you start hitting some good shots and start getting some momentum, you keep rolling and we did a good job of keeping that momentum going on the back nine and making a bunch of birdies and making eagle on 17,” English said.

Howell and Leonard birdied the final three holes on the front nine and added birdies at Nos. 10, 12, 13, 17 and 18.

“Today we chose Justin to hit first and that was great for me because he drove it in the fairway every time and I could swing away at it.” Howell said.

Retief Goosen and Fredik Jacobson shot 67, and Jason Dufner and Dustin Johnson matched Chris DiMarco and Billy Horschel at 68. Tournament host Norman and Jonas Blixt had a 72.

Canada’s Mike Weir and Graham Delaet are 12th at 1-over (73).

NAPLES, Fla. – In the late 1980s, Greg Norman wanted to put together a golf tournament with a relaxed atmosphere and unique team format to benefit children’s charities.

This is the 25th year Norman’s event has been on the PGA Tour calendar. It has gone by seven names, and is now called the Franklin Templeton Shootout. It has gone from California to Florida, with the last 13 years at the Norman-designed Tiburon Golf Course at Ritz Carlton Resort. New features include a 5K run.

“Quite honestly, I never expected to go 25 years, especially in the circle silly season we slotted ourselves into,” Norman said. “Back in ’89 starting off with four players and here we are 24 players, that’s a testament to the tournament itself. … I never anticipated making 25 years, never in my wildest dreams.”

The idea is the same. To have a fun, low-pressure event where players can bring their wives, bond with their teammates and can take part in pre-tourney festivities just before the holidays. Meanwhile, more than $12 million has been raised for children’s charities.

The Shootout will start Friday with the 12, two-man teams playing modified alternate shot. The format changes to better ball on Saturday and a scramble on Sunday.

Norman is teaming with Jonas Blixt.

“He’s young enough, he’s strong enough, he can carry me around,” Norman said. “I’m always a big believer in seeing what the young talent is doing in the world.”

Nine of the top 50 players in the world ranking will compete, including No. 7 Matt Kuchar, No. 8 Steve Stricker, No. 13 Jason Dufner, No. 14 Ian Poulter, No. 15 Dustin Johnson and No. 24 Lee Westwood.

Also in the field is Kenny Perry, the Champions Tour Player of the Year and Charles Schwab Cup winner. He’s the co-defending champ with Sean O’Hair – a former RBC Canadian Open champion.

With the purse at $3.1 million, every player is guaranteed at least $70,000 and the winners will each get $385,000.

Dufner is teaming with Johnson, and Poulter is paired with fellow English star Westwood.

Dufner won the PGA Championship this year for his first major title.

“I’ve been asked about (reflecting) a lot but I’m not sure what reflecting means,” he said. “When you live what you’re doing, especially as golfers, you’re trying to stay in the moment. I’m proud of what I did and how hard I worked to get there.”

Poulter, a four-time Ryder Cup player, has four, top-10 finishes this season.

Westwood has been in eight Ryder Cups. He’s considered one of the best players on the tour not to have won a major and that was magnified in the 2013 British Open when he had a two-shot lead heading into the final round, only to shoot a 75 and lose to Phil Mickelson.

The label irks him.

“Every time I heard, ‘I think, really?”’ Westwood said. “It’s always nice to be the best player to have done something or not done it. I’ll hit the next person that says it.

“Those are some amazing stats they keep putting up on the Golf Channel. Sixteen top 10s without winning a major, most majors ever played without winning a major, most top threes without winning a major. I’ve got all those categories completely.”

Westwood smiled.

But he made his point. No one asked him a follow-up question.

“He’s got more than enough game, he knows it, and I’m sure he gets frustrated with all you guys saying he hasn’t won one yet,” Poulter said.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Tiger Woods said long ago he would give up golf when he felt he could play his best and still not win.

That includes his lifetime invitation to the Masters.

“Let me put it to you this way,” Woods said last week at his World Challenge. “I’m not going to beat Arnold’s record. I’m not playing that long, that’s for sure.”

Palmer set a record in 2004 by playing in his 50th consecutive Masters. Woods won his first green jacket when he was 21, and with reasonable health (a big assumption considering his injuries), he would seem to be in the best position to break that record. Even with his injuries, the Masters is the one major Woods has never missed.

He just doesn’t appear the least bit interested in that kind of a record.

“For me, I always want to win,” he said. “So if I can’t win, why tee it up? That’s just my own personal belief. And I know what it takes to prepare to win and what it takes to go out there and get the job done, and there’s going to become a point in time where I just can’t do it anymore. We all as athletes face that moment. I’m a ways from that moment in my sport, but when that day happens, I’ll make a decision and that’s it.”

But for Woods or any golfer, it’s tough to know when that day happens.

Palmer never won another PGA Tour event after the Bob Hope Classic in 1973, though he remained competitive for many years. Several players eligible for the Champions Tour are hesitant about moving on.

When is it time?

“In golf, you can still win golf tournaments in your 50s, and guys have done it,” Woods said. “Probably the more difficult thing is that you can still finish top 10, top five, but you’re probably just not quite as efficient as you need to be to win golf tournaments. But you can still be there.”

Might he change his mind about the Masters as he gets older? It doesn’t sound like it.

“Mellowing on that? No. I’ll be on that first tee starting out the event, I’m sure,” he said with a smile and a dose of sarcasm. “So I mean, you hit a good drive and you can’t get to where you can see the flag? I don’t know why it’s even fun.”

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STENSON AWARD: Henrik Stenson has won the Golf Writers Trophy from the Association of Golf Writers, awarded to the top golfer who was born or lives in Europe, along with European teams. Stenson became the first player this year to win the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour and the Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

Nearly two-thirds of the AGW members made Stenson their first choice on a ballot that included U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and Europe’s Solheim Cup team that won on American soil for the first time.

Stenson was the first Swedish male to win the award. Annika Sorenstam won the award twice.

“I’m looking forward to getting a few of these trophies I’ve won into the summer house in Sweden,” said Stenson, who primarily lives at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla. “It has been such a great year that I can have a few in Europe and a few in my house in America. What a great thrill it is going to be over Christmas to sit by the fire with my family and take stock of the season, look at trophies such as this one and reflect on the year of my life.”

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IN THE BAG: Jack Nicklaus won’t have a bouquet of head covers in his bag when he plays the PNC Father-Son Challenge this weekend, though the 14 clubs in his bag have changed from his prime.

Nicklaus said when he played on the PGA Tour he carried a driver and a 3-wood, a 1-iron through a 9-iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge and putter.

“Now I’ve got a driver, a 3-wood, a 4-wood and a 5-wood,” he said last week in a conference call. “I’m not a big hybrid guy, although I’m playing with one right now and I took out the 2-iron. That’s pretty much where I am. I’m usually a 3-iron through 9-iron, pitching wedge and sand wedge. I don’t know if that’s 14 or 15 (clubs), but it’ll be 14 when I tee it up.”

No other player hit more memorable shots with a 1-iron than Nicklaus, a club that featured in three of his majors _ the 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the 1975 Masters and the 1967 U.S. Open at Baltusrol.

But there were times when he benched the 1-iron.

“I used to even go to Augusta when I carried a 1-iron a lot, and sometimes I’d put in maybe a 4- or 5-wood, simply because you needed some elevation to stop it on the greens and some of the lies you played,” Nicklaus said.

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THE HANEY SHOW: Hank Haney has gone from writing a book on his years with Tiger Woods to hosting his own radio show on SiriusXM.

The radio network continues to beef up its programming. It already has shows for Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter, along with two-time Masters champion, architect and golf savant Ben Crenshaw. Haney will host “Hank Haney Golf Radio,” an instructional-based show that will air Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. ET starting on Jan. 3.

The program will be geared around Haney’s teaching philosophy, and he will take calls from listeners who want help with their games. Haney also will offer his analysis on today’s players and take on current topics, which are sure to include Woods.

“This show will be truly interactive and I’m eager to speak with golfers across the country,” Haney said.

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TWEETING TIGER: Jason Dufner jokingly tweeted to Tiger Woods that the schedule of the World Challenge be changed so Dufner could watch Auburn in the SEC title game last week. Woods replied on Twitter, “Petition denied.”

@JasonDufner Petition denied.

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) December 3, 2013

It was a significant only because it was Woods’ first tweet in more than a month. It was his 35th tweet in the span of a year, most of them commercially related. And that Dufner tweet was the first of – get this – FIVE tweets in two days.

“I’m hot, aren’t I?” Woods said.

Woods said girlfriend Lindsey Vonn is trying to persuade him to tweet more. Progress remains slow.

“I grew up in a different era, and it’s a little bit different for me,” Woods said, who is 9 years older than the downhill ski champion. “I’m still a little bit old-school. I’m kind of getting it, but still not grasping the whole concept yet. But I’ll get there eventually.”

___

DIVOTS: K.J. Choi donated his $100,000 from the World Cup to help with relief efforts in the Philippines. “I wanted to represent Korea in sharing the sentiment of my fellow countrymen to our friends in the Philippines,” Choi said. “I send my deepest condolences to the people of the Philippines who have lost their families and homes. The donation from the KJ Choi Foundation was sent to the American Red Cross. … Redstone Golf Club is now called ”Golf Club of Houston“ under a contractual requirement when it changed ownership. It still is host of the Shell Houston Open, the final PGA Tour event before the Masters. … Cal coach Steve Desimone has been selected U.S. captain of the Palmer Cup next year. The Palmer Cup, matches between college players from the United States and Europe, will be June 26-28 at Walton Heath.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: The 19 tournaments Tiger Woods played this year offered an average of 72.7 world ranking points to the winner.

___

FINAL WORD: “Driving accuracy far outweighs distance. And I sleep better at night knowing that.” – Zach Johnson. He was No. 8 in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour last year and No. 153 in driving distance.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Wanting to return among the elite in golf, Graeme McDowell mapped out a plan last fall. He figured out how many ranking points he would need to get back into the top five in the world.

And he went about it the right way. It started with his win at the World Challenge a year ago. He won at Hilton Head on the PGA Tour. He won the World Match Play Championship and the French Open on the European Tour. He was third at World Golf Championships in Doral and Shanghai.

“I’ve got to say, I got pretty close to that target that I set myself,” McDowell said.

Little did he know how much the target would be moving in an extraordinary year for golf.

McDowell ended last year at No. 15 in the world. Now he is all the way up to No. 12.

“I wasn’t really factoring on how many great players around me were going to have incredible seasons,” McDowell said. “So making an impact in that top 10 in the world has been very difficult to do this year because you just get so many guys playing incredibly well.”

Call it bad timing for McDowell, and happy days for golf.

Rarely has the golf season – men and women – felt so rewarding for so many players. Perhaps that explains why Tiger Woods could win five times – more than any other player in the world – capture the PGA Tour money title and the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and then listen to people discuss the definition of player of the year and whether he is worthy without having won a major.

Woods won the vote as the best player on the PGA Tour.

He is used to playing under a different set of standards, a victim of his own success. Anyone else with five trophies from the courses where he won – Torrey Pines, Doral, Bay Hill, TPC Sawgrass and Firestone – and there would be a debate.

But this wasn’t just any other year.

Adam Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters, and along the way earned redemption from blowing the British Open nearly nine months earlier. He had the outright lead on the back nine at the British Open this year before faltering. A month later, he won The Barclays during the FedEx Cup playoffs, arguably one of the strongest fields of the year with the tour’s top 125 players who are all on form.

When he finally went home to show off his green jacket, Scott won the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Masters, and then teamed with Jason Day to give Australia its first World Cup title in 24 years. He was poised to capture Australia’s Triple Crown until Rory McIlroy beat him on the last hole in the Australian Open.

A better year than Woods? Probably not, though it depends how much weight is given a major.

Perhaps a better question: Did he have a better year than Phil Mickelson?

Lefty came within a cruel lip-out of shooting a 59 in the Phoenix Open, which he wound up winning. Showing off a short game like no other, his chip on the 18th hole at Castle Stuart gave him a victory in the Scottish Open. And his Sunday at Muirfield gets little debate over the best round of the year. Mickelson made four birdies on the last six holes for a 66 to capture the one major that not even he thought he could win.

Who won the most meaningful major this year? Mickelson or Scott? Best to save that argument for the bar.

Not to be forgotten is Henrik Stenson, who in April wasn’t even eligible for the Masters. He finished one shot behind in the Shell Houston Open, which got him to Augusta National. But it was the summer when the Swede began to shine.

A tie for third in the Scottish Open. Runner-up at the British Open. Runner-up at Firestone (by seven shots to Woods), third at the PGA Championship. He won two FedEx Cup playoff events to win the $10 million FedEx Cup. And for good measure, he won the final event in Europe to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai in the same season.

Missing from the equation this year was the guy who started the year at No. 1 – McIlroy. He still had a good view.

“You’ve got Tiger with five wins this year. Adam breaks through for his first major. Phil wins the major he thinks he’s never going to win. Henrik comes back,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, it’s deep. You’ve got to play really well to win. … But I think golf is in great shape.”

On the LPGA Tour, the points-based player of the year came down to the next to last week, even though Inbee Park had won three straight majors among her six titles. Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis won the other majors. Lewis won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. Pettersen had a chance to win the money title until she faltered in the Titleholders.

That’s what inspired LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan to say, “Sports are at their absolute best … when the best athletes in that sport are having the best years of their lives.”

It’s hard to say with certainty that Woods was at his absolute best, and not just because he didn’t win a major. It used to be that when Woods was at his best, there was not enough wealth to go around. Now there is.

What a year.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.  -Rory’s McIlroy’s year began with a coronation. He was the star attraction at what felt like a rock concert, with music blaring and lasers flashing in a room at Abu Dhabi to celebrate the No. 1 player in golf joining Nike’s stable.

It ended Sunday with a bogey on the ninth hole at Sherwood with hardly anyone watching.

An off-season never looked more appealing to him.

“It’s been a long season, a long stretch,” McIlroy said after signing for a 70 to finish 11th in an 18-man field at the World Challenge. “I’m excited to put the clubs down for a little bit, have a few weeks’ rest and get after it at the start of the new year.”

He won’t have to worry about getting used to new equipment. He spent the better part of nine months doing that.

Expectations are sure to be lower.

A year ago, McIlroy was the clear No. 1 in golf. He was coming off another record win in a major – an eight-shot victory in the PGA Championship – and threw his game into overdrive with two FedEx Cup playoff wins and money titles on both sides of the Atlantic by closing his season with a win in Dubai.

It looked as if he would stay there for many years.

That lasted three months.

There were equipment issues, a product of changing everything at once instead of slowly working the swoosh into his bag, as Tiger Woods did a decade earlier. He changed management companies, which ordinarily is a seamless transition unless the split is ugly.

McIlroy is scheduled to be in a courtroom in Ireland not long after the Ryder Cup next year. So yes, this is ugly. According to reports in Irish newspapers, he split with girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki at least twice, maybe three times. Except it wasn’t true. The tennis star was at Sherwood all week, an ever-present smile as she followed him along, even going across the parking lot to hit balls (tennis, not golf) at Sherwood’s stadium court.

All that became as tough an obstacle as anything on the golf course.

McIlroy, for all his brilliance inside the ropes, is refreshingly honest when it comes to his golf and often self-deprecating. He was talking earlier in the week about playing casual rounds with friends, noting that he had more of those days than in previous years.

“Had more weekends (off),” he said.

It wasn’t that bad, though his golf certainly was by his standards. He failed to make the cut five times, which is high for a player of his calibre. One was at the British Open. Another was at the Honda Classic, where he walked off the course after 26 holes out of frustration, blaming it on his wisdom tooth.

He didn’t win a tournament until his 24th start, two weeks ago at the Australian Open. He ends the year at No. 6 in the world, miles away from Woods at the top.

“It’s been the first year I’ve had to put up with scrutiny and criticism,” McIlroy said. “You just have to believe in what you’re doing and not let it get to you too much. I let it get to me a few times.”

The toothache was one example of that. McIlroy conceded a week later at Doral that all the hype translated into more pressure he put on himself to perform, and he snapped. An honest answer. He said he would never do it again. So far, so good.

More than the golf was the inspection outside the ropes.

“All the other stuff,” he said. “I don’t care what people say about my golf. It’s when people start digging into my personal life, that’s where it starts to annoy you. Whether it’s Caroline, the management, all that should that should be no consequence to how I play my golf.”

That’s a part of celebrity he still hasn’t mastered.

When you’re 24 and already have two majors (setting records in each), when you’re dating a former No. 1 tennis player, when you’re looked upon as the next great player in golf, there will be prying. He has to learn how to protect what he wants to keep private and ignore the rest.

As for the golf, McIlroy can only hope this year was an aberration.

Woods went through his first “slump” _ everything is relative when it comes to Woods _ at age 22 in his second full year as a pro. He won only two tournaments. He lost to Nick Price in a playoff at Sun City. He lost to Mark O’Meara in a 36-hole final at the World Match Play Championship. About the only off-course issue he faced was the GQ article that quoted him telling racial jokes.

“As far as battling a slump, that’s just part of playing golf,” Woods said. “You play golf long enough, you’re going to go through it.”

The great ones emerge. And the great ones don’t stay in slumps for long.

McIlroy headed to his Florida home to start his vacation. He’ll eventually wind up in Melbourne to watch Wozniacki in the Australian Open, and then go to Dubai to start preparing for a new season that will begin in Abu Dhabi.

Even at age 24, this is shaping up as important season.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The RBC Canadian Open was honoured by the PGA TOUR at the TOUR’s Tournament Meetings on Thursday, December 5, at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., earning the “Most Fan-Friendly Event” award for its 2013 staging at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I am pleased to congratulate the RBC Canadian Open for being named the best among its peers on TOUR,” said PGA TOUR EVP and Chief of Operations Andy Pazder. “The tournament committee should be proud of the special recognition the event has earned for its efforts.”

The 2013 RBC Canadian Open was made more enticing and affordable to fans by special ticket offers, as well as complimentary parking. The fan experience was enhanced by on-site attractions open to the public, such as golf simulators and displays, putting contests, drink tastings, water stations, mural paintings and a relaxation lounge. Fans were also encouraged to take photos on media partners’ sets and stages and share via social media.

Not only did RBC have interactive displays that educated fans about the company’s business and golf program, but tournament information was easily accessible to fans via a new mobile website, daily e-blasts and social media posts.

“On behalf of RBC, Golf Canada and everyone involved with Canada’s National Open Golf Championship, it’s an honour for the RBC Canadian Open to be recognized among the ‘Best Of’ awards,” said RBC Canadian Open Tournament Director Bill Paul. “Delivering a world-class fan experience is a priority for the championship and this award is a testament to the full team effort among our tournament sponsors and stakeholders as well as our dedicated team of more than 2,400 volunteers.”

The RBC Canadian Open, which was won this year by Brandt Snedeker, will be held July 21-27, 2014, at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Ile Bizard, Quebec. Information on tickets, corporate hospitality and volunteer opportunities can be found here.