2021 awards: Bryson DeChambeau v Brooks Koepka, Tiger Woods returns & Solheim Cup

It has been a record-breaking year in golf with Europe suffering their biggest Ryder Cup defeat, the Masters won by Japan's Hideki Matsuyama - the first Asian-born winner at Augusta - and Phil Mickelson becoming the oldest man to win a major.

There was drama on and off the course in a year when the sport became more popular than ever. More than 66 million people are playing the game worldwide and in Britain there are now nearly six million golfers.

So, as we head down the closing stretch of 2021, here's a quick nine of some of the year's biggest talking points.

Victory of the year

This could easily have gone to Richard Bland for his British Masters success, a first European Tour triumph at the 478th attempt. But the accolade must go to was Europe's steely 15-13 Solheim Cup win.

Without any away support and few friends or family in attendance, the visiting women pulled off a sensational conquest over the US in Ohio in September.

It was only Europe's second away win in the 31 years the event has been contested but they controlled proceedings throughout.

Captain Catriona Matthew led with calm authority and pairing Leona Maguire with Mel Reid proved an inspired move. Ireland's Maguire emerged from an astonishing debut with four and a half points out of five.

It was a second win for Matthew as skipper. Suzann Pettersen was among the Scot's backroom team and the new captain has a huge act to follow.

Shocker of the year

This has to be the performance of Europe's men, who slumped to a record 19-9 Ryder Cup defeat at Whistling Straits.

The United States were blessed with a surfeit of hungry, young talent but also outwitted the previous holders long before a ball was struck in anger.

American skipper Steve Stricker astutely gave himself six wildcard picks after Covid delayed the match by a year. Contrastingly, Europe captain Padraig Harrington stuck with three selections and relied on what proved a faulty qualifying process.

Absurdly, Shane Lowry needed a pick after he was knocked out of the automatic spots at Europe's final qualifying event by Bernd Wiesberger, who was beaten by the Irishman at that Wentworth decider.

As a result there was no room for Justin Rose. Not that the result would have been altered, but it is hard to argue Europe fielded their strongest team.

Shot of the year

Clearly, there are many candidates.

Jon Rahm's putt to win the US Open was a brilliant way to land a first major, but I'm going for a blow struck at a less significant tournament.

Bryson DeChambeau's tee shot at the sixth at Bay Hill in the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational audaciously summed up the times.

With a distance debate raging, here was the reigning US Open champion aiming to drive the green on a 555-yard par-five hole.

He was trying to do it as the crow flies across a large stretch of water that borders the left side of the hole's conventional routing. He propelled the shot 370 yards.

Urged on by galleries that had only just been allowed back into professional sport, DeChambeau raised both arms in triumph as his ball cleared the lake and landed just 50 yards from the green. It was such a joy to hear the accompanying roars.

Bore of the year

This also involves DeChambeau, and his ongoing feud with fellow American Brooks Koepka.

By the time they started hugging each other for the benefit of TV cameras at the Ryder Cup I'd had enough.

They staged a TV grudge match later in the year but I could not have cared less.

Players of the year

Nelly Korda and Collin Morikawa and it was easy to pick both.

Korda tops the women's world rankings after winning five times, including a maiden major at the Women's PGA as well as Olympic gold in Tokyo.

No man accrued more world ranking points than Morikawa, who brilliantly won on his Open debut at Royal St George's.

He topped the US Ryder Cup qualifying table before securing three and half points out of four in the match itself. The precocious 24 year old won the European Tour's Race to Dubai and climbed five places to number two in the world rankings.

Major performance of the year

Phil Mickelson with the Wanamaker trophy after his historic triumph at Kiawah Island

I'm giving this to Mickelson who, for this accolade, beat strong competition from the exceptional Morikawa and Rahm.

Mickelson's US PGA triumph at Kiawah Island in May was an astonishing feat. The 50-year-old became the oldest major winner in men's golf.

He played the first two rounds with Harrington, who suggested after their 36 holes that Lefty could contend for the title. I remember thinking that the Irishman was probably just spinning us a line. In fact he was bang on the money.

UK player of the year

Impossible to look past Rory McIlroy but it is a sign that this was a less than stellar year for golfers from these shores.

The Northern Irishman slipped from fifth to ninth in the world rankings and did not mount much of a challenge in any of the majors. But he did win twice on the PGA Tour - the second of which came after his Ryder Cup tears - and only five players bettered his overall haul of world ranking points.

No other UK players came close to McIlroy's level of achievement with Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood all falling backwards in the rankings.

Controversy of the year

Americans Justin Thomas and Thomas Berger triumphantly chugging beers on the first tee on the second day of the Ryder Cup raised eyebrows

This throws up plenty of candidates; Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger triumphantly but boorishly chugging beers on the first tee on only the second day of the Ryder Cup is a prime candidate.

So too is the game's growing relationship with Saudi Arabia which could lead to a Greg Norman-led breakaway league.

But I nominate the PGA Tour's Player Impact Programme and its $40m split between golfers deemed to have made the biggest splash on social media.

It is nothing more than a sop to greedy golfers who believe they should be further rewarded for bringing eyeballs to the game. The rich get richer with funds that could be better spent elsewhere.

The not going away award

The biggest social hit came from someone who did not play a Tour event this year. It was a three-second clip of Tiger Woods hitting a wedge nine months after nearly losing his right leg in a car crash. It's been watched nearly 8m times.

It is the latest extraordinary comeback of the 15-times major champion.

Woods' appearance in last week's PNC Championship with his 12-year-old son Charlie was sensational, but although a return to the PGA Tour is still probably a long way off, seeing him playing live on TV once again was a welcome way to end another dramatic golfing year.

Please let me know your golfing moments, heroes and villains of 2021 in the comments section below. I'll be back in the first week of 2022 with my pick of the things to look out for next year.

• 'The only thing he cares about is destroying me': Preview the scandalous story of divorce between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll

• Our Family and Autism: Paddy and Christine McGuinness open up in a raw and intimate documentary