241 Pizza

1) Seve Ballesteros
Had a brain tumour removed in a series of operations after collapsing at Madrid airport in October. The sad news about Ballesteros, 51, travelled at the speed of light as golfers who had been enthralled at his play tried to digest just what had happened to the man who had won five major championshps among his 87 titles around the world. Ballesteros was released from hospital on December 9 and allowed home while undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Visitors were kept to a minimum. One who saw him reported Ballesteros was alert but had a "lazy left side".

2) Steve Williams
Woods's caddie since 1999 called Phil Mickelson a p***k when he was talking about the relationship between Woods and the world No 3 at a charity function in New Zealand. Woods said he was "disappointed" with Williams's comments, deeming them "inappropriate". Williams is lucky not to be sacked. Had any other player's caddie referred to Woods as a p***k he would certainly have been fired. Mickelson a p***k? I don't think so. There is only p***k in this episode and you know who that is.

3) Nick Faldo
For his captaincy of Europe in the Ryder Cup, the first losing European captain since 1999 and only the second since 1993. He proved once and for all that a team of 12 can not be captained by one man and one assistant. And the man who admitted in the run-up to the biennial event that he was a control freak was outprepared and out-thought by Azinger. Faldo was not to know that Harrington, Garcia, the scourge of the Americans in his four previous Ryder Cups, and Lee Westwood, who had last lost a match in the Ryder Cup in the Saturday afternoon fourballs in 2002, would together only contribute 2 1/2 points. Talk about being let down by your strongest players.

4) The world of golf
For what it has gone through while Ballesteros has been in hospital. This is as nothing as compared to what Ballesteros has been through, of course, but there hasn't been such widespread concern in the game since Payne Stewart was killed in an aeroplane accident nine years ago.

5) Paul Casey
Though he only joined the PGA Tour in the US in 2008, Casey has long been thought of as a rising star in the US. The Brit, who lives in America, has married an American and has an American coach. Played all four rounds in the four major championships this year, which is good. Point is though, that Casey, 31, played all four rounds in the major championships in 2007 (and only six other golfers achieved that). Such steadiness merely underlines that it is time he delivered on the promise he has shown for some time and won either a regular event in the US or a major championship but preferably both.

6) Luke Donald
Injuring his wrist in the US Open, waiting for it to heal and then deciding he needed an operation contributed to a lot of downtime for Donald, 31, in 2008. No surprise to discover then that he started the year at 17th in the world rankings and ended it at 31st. There was a 66 at Tiger Woods's Chevron World Challenge, Donald's last event of the year. It was the tournament's lowest round. Perhaps it was a portent for 2009 for the Englishman?

7) Ernie Els
After his victory in the Honda Classic in Florida in February, his first victory in the US for four years, Els's form flickered like a guttering candle. During the year, Els revealed that his son, Ben, suffers from autism and he moved the family from Wentworth to Florida, where research into autism is further advanced. Rather as Luke Donald's year was to end on a high, so was Els's. A 64, eight under par, in his last competitive round of 2008 gave him the clubhouse lead in the South African Open at Paarl. Too little, too late summed up that round as he was overtaken and much the same could be said of his year.

8) Carolyn Bivens
Commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association in the US, who oversaw the introduction of a new rule for members of that tour that players must learn English otherwise they would be suspended. The rule caused an uproar and was later rescinded but it will be a long time before Bivens's decision is forgotten.

9) Butch Harmon
Once the coach of the world No 1, now coaching Mickelson, the world No 3, who seems to be so disappointing so often. Used to being in the public eye, Harmon gets there these days by offering over-egged quotes about the rudeness of Steve Williams, Woods's caddie. Will a Harmon client win a major championship in 2009?

10) Secretaries of golf clubs throughout Britain
Faced with at best static and probably declining memberships early in the year, they will be concerned as to how many members will default on their membership payments for 2009 as a result of the financial crisis. Remember the days when most clubs had waiting lists of those who wanted to join? All of a sudden that seems as long ago as wooden shafted golf clubs.