Cypress remains the most thrillingly beautiful stroll I've ever taken in golf

Has there ever been a better year to watch golf on TV? If there has, then I don't remember it. Maybe, just maybe, 2001/2002 when Tiger Woods was in his prime and fellow competitors all but had to kneel before his brilliance. But even then...

- By Bill Elliott

No, I'm sticking to 2025, a season in which we witnessed the Rory McIlroy-Justin Rose duel and the most emotional climax to a Masters since Tiger strutted his stuff as a 21-year-old golfing genius in 1997. We've also enjoyed the slightly more studied and dialled-down brilliance of Scottie Scheffler although some may say that was more of an endurance test than an emotional rollercoaster. I may be one of those! Either way, it was an outstanding set of performances by him. I just wish the American visibly and vocally realised it all and relished it all a wee bit more.

There was JJ Spaun - not many months earlier the overwhelming majority of us would have asked JJ Who? - holing a ridiculously difficult putt on the last green at the US Open to deny Scotland's Robert MacIntyre his own chance of a Major. Terrific stuff by both men, utterly watchable and compelling.