2011 Majors review

The trend of majors being shared around continued in 2011 with four new winners being crowned. Dave Tindall reviews.

Going into the 2011 season, as if to demonstrate the demise of Tiger Woods, the last nine majors had been won by nine different golfers. So could Tiger resume his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18 major wins after stalling on 14? Would another dominant force emerge? Or would golf's ultimate prizes be shared around again? Skysports.com looks back at the 2011 majors... The Masters: Sky viewers got to watch the action in 3D for the first time and it was eye-popping stuff from start to finish. Rory McIlroy was the story for the first three days as he played flawless golf around the famed Augusta National but Sunday saw him implode. As Rory tumbled down the leaderboard, there was a mad scramble for the Green Jacket but it was Charl Schwartzel who found inspiration at the right time as he finished with four straight birdies to win by two. It was the South African's first major. The US Open: Rory's coronation. Once more the brilliant young Ulsterman made a flying start but this time he got so far in front that victory was never really in doubt. McIlroy proved he had learnt from his Masters meltdown and kept a cool head on the final day to romp home eight shots clear of Jason Day, who had also finished second at Augusta. Some veteran golf writers put McIlroy's stunning display in their top five performances in the history of the majors. A massive landmark in golf's history but could he dominate again at Royal St George's? The Open: The answer was no. McIlroy struggled in the weather and left the stage for Darren Clarke to finally land his first major. Clarke had always been considered a likely claret jug winner although many thought his chance had gone. However, perhaps inspired by the recent major wins of fellow Northern Irishman McIlroy and Graeme McDowell (2010 US Open), the 42-year-old held it all together when it mattered most and held off the challenges of American duo Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. USPGA: Americans were suffering their worst drought in the majors since 1934 but that somewhat overplayed stat (after all Mickelson had won the previous year's Masters) was put to bed - albeit by a shock 150/1 outsider. Few had heard of Keegan Bradley but, playing in his first very major, the 25-year-old produced a brilliant finish to win a three-hole play-off and deny fellow American Jason Dufner, who had stood on the 15th tee with a five-shot lead. Bradley had won the Byron Nelson earlier in 2011 so became the 12th USPGA winner in the last 13 years to have posted a PGA/Euro Tour win that same season. And that was the story of 2011. Four majors, four new major champions, meaning the last 13 have now gone to different players with first-time winners accounting for 10 of those. So what did you make of the 2011 majors? Which was your favourite? Which had the best storyline? And did you manage to back any of the winners - not an easy task with Schwartzel 80s, McIlroy 22s, Clarke 175s and Bradley 150s? Let us know!