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We'll remember the ice that ran through Zach Johnson's veins on the back nine at frigid Augusta National and the cigarettes incessantly smoked by Angel Cabrera at steamy Oakmont.

We'll remember Padraig Harrington's victory despite two balls in the Barry Burn, and Sergio Garcia's fine whine afterward.

We'll remember Rory's rants and Phil's switch to Butch and Woody's splash.

We'll remember the FedEx Cup hype, because, well, we could not get away from it.

But one thing that is easy to forget about the 2007 men's golf season: There was a time when Tiger Woods faced questions late in the season about whether he could consider this a good year.

And there was good reason to wonder.

Woods failed to win a major championship for the first time when playing in the final group at the Masters, then did so again at the U.S. Open. He had a very ordinary British Open in which he was never really in contention. (During the second round, he knocked his opening tee shot out of bounds with an iron).

And there was talk of how long he had gone between victories when some three months passed before he won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

So coming off that victory and heading into the PGA Championship, it only seemed fair that Woods was asked how he viewed things.

"Golf-wise, it's been pretty good, but not great," he said. "I just think the major championships are valued that highly. And I've come close, just haven't gotten it done yet."

Woods got it done that week, shooting a major championship-tying 63 during the second round at Southern Hills en route to winning the PGA Championship. It was his 13th major title, leaving him just five short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus. It also gave him major victories in each of the past three years and five of the last 12.

Yes, how easily we forget.

Woods, of course, didn't stop there. He skipped the first FedEx Cup playoff event, the Barclays, then went on to win the inaugural competition and its $10-million bonus anyway, finishing second to Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank Championship before winning the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.

That was a 1-1-2-1-1 end to his season, in case you forgot.

Woods also won seven times overall in a year in which nobody else won more than three times. That included a major, two World Golf events and two playoff events. He ran his career PGA Tour victory total to 61, leaving him just one behind Arnold Palmer.

"I didn't see winning this many times in my 20s and now in my 30s," said Woods, who turns 32 on Dec. 30. "I never would have foreseen that."

Few could have foreseen Johnson or Cabrera with major championship trophies, either.

But Johnson, who had just a single PGA Tour victory before winning the Masters -- the lowest number of any winner since Larry Mize in 1987 -- made three key birdies on the back nine at Augusta National, stunning a frozen gallery and leaving Woods to walk up the 18th fairway playing for second.

Cabrera had won all of three tournaments on the European Tour in his career, but he hardly looked out of place down the stretch at Oakmont, save for his penchant for puffing on cigarettes while trying to hold off the finely-tuned Woods, who was looking to bum a putt. Jim Fury was also in the mix, but a bogey at the 71st hole doomed him to a second-place tie with Woods, who raced home to the birth of his first child, daughter Sam Alexis.

A few weeks later, Woods was hosting his own new tournament in Washington, D.C., the AT&T National and then jetting off to the British Open, where he never seemed in sync.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington broke the mystifying eight-year European drought in major championships, but first he dunked not one but two balls in the water at Carnoustie's home hole, where he had to get up and down from 80 yards for a double-bogey 6 that ended up forcing a playoff with Garcia.

The Spaniard played flawlessly for the first three days, and took a three-stroke advantage into the final round, six over Harrington. A couple of sloppy bogeys on the front nine allowed a slew of players back into contention, and when Garcia bogeyed the 18th, he found himself in a four-hole playoff.

Afterward, Garcia blamed all but himself, saying he never gets any breaks.

There was no time to pout, however, as the much-hyped Fed Ex Cup playoffs were drawing near. Most of the top players were in the midst of playing seven tournaments in nine weeks, including the Bridgestone, where Rory Sabbatini -- as he had done earlier in the year at both the Wachovia Championship and Players Championship -- seemed to call out Woods.

It might have just been Rory being Rory, trying to pump himself up. It didn't work, as Woods cruised to an 8-shot victory, then went on his season-ending run.

For all the consternation over the FedEx Cup, the tournaments themselves delivered. Feel-good story Steve Stricker won the Barclays as Woods sat out. The following week at the Deutsche Bank, Phil Mickelson outdueled Woods to claim his third PGA Tour victory of the year, again making us wonder just how good their rivalry might have been over the summer had Mickelson not been injured.

It was in the spring that Mickelson began working with Woods' former coach, Butch Harmon, and there was an immediate payoff when he captured the Players. Harmon proclaimed better things to come, and the golf world steeled itself for some more Woods-Mickelson drama at the majors. Alas, all was lost in the Oakmont rough, as Mickelson suffered a wrist injury in practice that effectively ruined his summer.

He showed how good he could be at the Deutsche Bank, then showed that the FedEx Cup needs some tweaking when he decided to sit out the next event, the BMW Championship. That made three FedEx Cup playoffs, four big names taking a pass. (Ernie Els skipped the Deutsche Bank and Harrington eschewed the BMW.)

Woods won the BMW, and followed with his victory at East Lake to lock up the first-ever FedEx Cup, a concept that could use some refinement but was generally well received. It brought the top players together in a four-tournament series and gave meaning to golf after the PGA Championship.

The last we saw of Woods, he was losing his Sunday singles match to Mike Weir at the Presidents Cup, where Woody Austin made video clips and highlight reels by attempting to play a shot from the edge of a pond and tumbling into the water. The Americans laughed their way to an easy victory over the International squad, and again had us wondering where all that success is when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

Weir used the confidence gained from defeating Woods to win the Fry's Championship in Scottsdale, his first victory in more than three years. Too bad nobody saw it, as most of the Fall Series events were played in virtual silence, with most of the big guns counting their money and staying home.

Of course, that was the reason for the FedEx Cup in the first place. And it sure doesn't hurt that Tiger Woods -- in the midst of another great year -- won the first one.

Bob Harig is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.