The five best PGA Tour tournaments of 2013

5. Wyndham Championship — It was one of those tournaments that gave us such an exciting finish, and another on this list that included Jordan Spieth, who couldn’t hold off Patrick Reed on his way to a first ever PGA Tour win.

Spieth and Reed both ended regulation at 14-under, and while Reed played the opening playoff hole very solidly, it was Spieth who was forced to hole a downhill 25-footer to save par. Reed’s birdie putt on the opening playoff hole just missed, and an errant drive on the second playoff ended just a few feet from the out of bounds.

No worries, as Reed hit one of the shots of the year from the pine straw, ending up just seven feet from the hole and knocking that putt in for the birdie and the win.

4. U.S. Open — For three rounds this looked like the major that Phil Mickelson was going to win, finally bucking that second place trend he seems to have at the U.S. Open over the years. Mickelson went into the final round with a one shot lead over Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker and Charl Schwartzel, but Merion was a bit too much for Phil over the final day and that left the door open for Justin Rose.

Rose sat two shots back of Mickelson heading into Sunday, but posted a final round score of even-par 70 which was good enough for the win and included one of the more clutch long irons you’ll see on the 72nd hole. The up and down par Rose made there forced Mickelson, playing behind the Englishman, to hole a tricky chip shot, and when that didn’t fall it was a first major for Rose, who most thought had the game to snag one in ’13.

3. John Deere Classic — It was the type of finish you expect from movie scripts, not actual golf tournaments, but a 19-year-old came to the final hole of the John Deere Classic needing to hole out from the greenside bunker to hopefully land in a playoff to compete for his first ever PGA Tour victory.

Jordan Spieth knocked the bunker shot in for birdie on the 72nd hole to land in a playoff with Zach Johnson and David Hearn, outlasting both players over five holes to become the first teenager to win on the PGA Tour in 82 years.

2. British Open — Phil Mickelson might have come into the 2013 Open Championship a favorite to some after that great win at the Scottish Open, but a lot of experts thought this was the major championship Mickelson had no business winning.

After three rounds, Mickelson sat five shots back with names like Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson between himself and the Claret Jug. That all changed when Mickelson went on his back nine run, making birdies on four of his last six holes including Nos. 17 and 18 to wrap up his fifth major win and his first ever Open victory.

1. The Masters — It is crazy that this is almost always the best tournament of the season, but something about Augusta National brings out the best in the golf world. A year ago we had a double-eagle and one of the most ridiculous wedge shots ever hit to win a major championship and this season we got an insane answer by Angel Cabrera and two huge putts by Adam Scott to pull off the first ever Masters win for Australia.

The final round gave us some of the biggest names in the game going for the first major of ’13, with Scott, Cabrera, Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker and Jason Day all battling for the green jacket.

The putts by Scott will be in Masters highlight reels for years to come, but the whole last hour at Augusta National was great shot after great shot and left us anticipating when golf will return to the mecca of the sport (in case you wanted to know exactly how long, we’ve got you covered).

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