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Until dinner hour on Father's Day, this was Phil Mickelson's season. One hole from his third straight major, Mickelson turned an ordinary U.S. Open at Winged Foot GC into one of the most stunning finishes in tournament history with a meltdown of Van de Veldian proportions. Instead of a coronation, those final 450 yards sent the Masters champion into a tailspin he would never recover from.

With Tiger Woods playing the second half of the season as if 2006 was 2000, Mickelson's disappearing act seems like ancient history. But it remains one of the newsworthy stories of a season that included another Ryder Cup domination by Europe, a wave of Australians led by U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and the strongest group of rookies to come along in years.

The hug between Woods and Steve Williams on the 18th green at Royal Liverpool: Woods let his emotions show after winning the British Open, his first title since the death of his father, Earl, in May.

Woods: Eight victories -- nine, if you count Dubai -- two majors, six straight wins to conclude the season. It was one major short of matching 2000, yet, on July Fourth weekend, the race for player of the year was between Mickelson and Ogilvy. Woods was still feeling the loss of his father and had missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but found his slot during a practice session on the range Thursday at Cog Hill after round one of the Cialis Western Open and has been unbeatable on the PGA Tour since the British.

Mickelson's tee ball on the 18th hole at the U.S. Open: Mickelson tried to hit his bread-and-butter shot, a baby carve slice, but he had been driving poorly all day. (On the previous hole, he made par after hitting his drive into a garbage bag.) This time, he hit the Champions Pavilion tent far left of the fairway. From barren turf, his second shot hit a tree limb and his next found a greenside bunker. He made 6 on the hole when par would have won the Open and bogey would have forced a playoff with Ogilvy.

Chris Couch: As if chipping cross-handed weren't weird enough, Couch holed a shot from across the green on the 72nd hole of the Zurich Classic in New Orleans -- after airmailing the green, then barely advancing his third shot from a squirrelly lie in the back bunker. It marked the first tour win for the former junior Player of the Year, who almost quit the game three years earlier and was nearly mugged in the city's French Quarter before the tournament began.

British Open: This was more than Woods saying, "I'm back." This was Woods on a new level, and although the outcome wasn't close -- he won by two strokes over Chris DiMarco -- it certainly was memorable. Woods hit driver only once all week, torching the brown fairways at Royal Liverpool with the best iron performance of his career, and ended all doubts as to how long his father's death would keep him down.

Ogilvy's six-footer to win the U.S. Open: This was the Open Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie lost, so everybody forgets the up-and-down Ogilvy made at 18, sinking a downhill breaker to post a 5-over 285. "I hit the chip shot I had to hit and made the putt I had to make," Ogilvy said at the time. "I thought, 'Make this and come in second in the Open on your own.' That's a pretty good result." Instead, that stroke put his name on the trophy.

Camilo Villegas: Although Trevor Immelman won the Western Open in his first year as a tour member, the South African had played 42 PGA Tour events before this year and should not have been eligible for rookie honors. Nationwide Tour grad Troy Matteson had a big October when the stars weren't playing. The early-season bombers (J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson) were second-half busts. But Villegas, the 24-year-old Colombian, qualified for the Masters in 2007. He didn't win, but he was in the top three in three high-profile events (Phoenix, Doral, Players), was 38th in earnings, and captured the public's eye as the Mario Lopez type ("Dancing With the Stars") heartthrob of the PGA Tour.

The rest of the Big Five: Other than Woods and Mickelson, the game's big names failed to come up big: Ernie Els, coming off knee surgery, gets a pass, but Vijay Singh had just one win and Retief Goosen was shut out.

Ben Curtis: Two wins by the 2003 British Open champion turned the likable Ohioan from a fluke major champion to the only American in his 20s with three career victories.

Steve Stricker: Playing on past-champion status, Stricker made the most of his opportunities (17 starts) with seven top-10s, including a second at the Booz Allen, a third at Houston, and strong performances in the U.S. Open (T-6) and PGA Championship (T-7). With more than $1.8 million in earnings, the Wisconsin native earned consideration as a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup team and nearly qualified for the Tour Championship.

Tim Rosaforte is a senior writer for Golf World magazine