With the conclusion of the Tour Championship, we’re at a natural break point for the PGA Tour. So why not take a moment to reflect back on the best moments of this year? It was a time when unknowns seized the stage and unbelievable drama resulted in some of the best tournaments in years. Now, we’ll look at the five best shots of ’11:

Steve Stricker‘s second shot on 18 at John Deere Classic: It was really tough for us to pick between Stricker’s second shot here and the putt that won him the tournament, but come on, just look at the shot again. Ball below his feet, in a bunker, and having to hit it over water with par for a playoff and birdie to win, Stricker hits the perfect shot at the perfect time to beat Kyle Stanley by one.

Rory McIlroy‘s near-ace in final round of the U.S. Open: By the time McIlroy had reached the 10th tee on Sunday at Congressional, the only thing that wasn’t settled was who would finish second, but it didn’t stop Rory from pulling off some dramatics. I was standing behind the 10th green when it happened, and as his ball landed on the hill and started rolling back, it looked inevitable that he was going to walk away with a “1″ on his card. Still, it was the best shot from the best performance of the year.

Tom Watson‘s ace at the British Open: It didn’t really change the golf tournament’s outcome, but come on, when Watson knocks a tee ball in the hole at the championship he’s owned over the years, it has to make the list. During the second round, as Watson was paired with an amateur playing out his mind, he dropped his tee ball in the hole for the one, taking a bow for his efforts. It was really a special moment for everyone watching, and especially for Watson, who can still play links golf with the best of them.

Keegan Bradley‘s birdie on 71st hole at PGA Championship: A slippery green, a must-make putt and about 35 feet or so to go, the rookie that didn’t seem to have a chance with four holes to play but needed to make this putt disappear to put the pressure on Jason Dufner. The ball found the middle of the cup, his reaction was priceless, and the rest is history. The putt was definitely the most clutch of the year, and gave him a chance to put his arms around a major trophy for the first time.

Bill Haas‘ water-ball in the Tour Championship playoff: It isn’t hard to think back to last week when Bill Haas yanked his iron shot into a water hazard during a playoff with Hunter Mahan, but it will be a long time before we forget it. Standing in water, Haas flipped the ball up on the green, made it check instantly, and his par save from the drink was what propelled him to a win on the next hole, snagging both the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup with one incredible par save.

We’ve got our preference, but we’ll let you decide. Which among these gems was your pick? Got another nominee? Go!

So in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we’re both inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Jay Busbee and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he’s done for the year. This week, we’re gonna rock your body at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Bacon: I had this whole thing planned out in my head that was going to start with, “Whoever is named after Vegas, wins in Vegas,” but dammit, I’d already picked Johnny earlier this season. No matter, I’ll go with another young stud, Kyle Stanley, as my Timberlake pick. He had three top-25s in all three FedEx Cup playoffs events (but somehow didn’t make the Tour Championship, I demand a recount!), and the Fall Series is made for guys like him.

Busbee: What the … ? I’ve still got Rickie Fowler on the board? Hell yes, I’ll take him! And I won’t even make him turn his hat around! Fowler’s got a bit to prove after missing out on the Tour Championship, so I expect he’s going to Kyle Stanley look like … Kyle Chandler? Kyle Rayner? Kyle Busch? Kyle Gass? Kyle Farnsworth? Whatever, he’s going to beat him. [UPDATE: Unless he's not actually in the field, which I failed to double-check. Point to Bacon. End-of-season stupidity.]

Last week: I felt pretty good that Justin Rose was still available for the Tour Championship. I didn’t feel quite so good when Rose nose-dove onto the first tee. Fortunately, Bacon’s pick of John Senden didn’t even make it out of the locker room, finishing +4 to Rose’s +1.

Current standings: Busbee 24, Bacon 22

Already Used: Busbee: Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Chad Campbell, Bill Haas, Nick Watney, Tim Clark, Brian Gay, Matt Kuchar, KJ Choi, Webb Simpson, Jhonattan Vegas, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, Anthony Kim, Ben Crane, Zach Johnson, Sean O’Hair, Kenny Perry, David Toms, Lee Westwood, Spencer Levin, Gary Woodland, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Lucas Glover, Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel, Charles Howell III, Bubba Watson, Brandt Snedeker, Aaron Baddeley.

Bacon: Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Marino, Ben Crane, Jhonattan Vegas, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Nick Watney, Padraig Harrington, Tiger Woods, Spencer Levin, Anthony Kim, Angel Cabrera, Aaron Baddeley, Pat Perez, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, David Toms, Rory Sabbatini, Chez Reavie, Jonathan Byrd, Phil Mickelson, Webb Simpson, K.J. Choi, Steve Stricker, Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel, Jeff Overton, Rory McIlroy, Lucas Glover, Gary Woodland, Camilo Villegas, Brandt Snedeker.

Related: Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, David Toms, John Senden, Rory Sabbatini, Luke Donald, Zach Johnson, Ian Poulter, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Ben Crane, Aaron Baddeley, Adam Scott, Jim Furyk, Pat Perez, Bill Haas, Jonathan Byrd, Padraig Harrington, Steve Stricker, Graeme McDowell, Bubba Watson, Lucas Glover, Charl Schwartzel, Chez Reavie, Charles Howell III, Jhonattan Vegas, Nick Watney, Spencer Levin, K.J. Choi, Brandt Snedeker, Camilo Villegas, Matt Kuchar, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland

The beautiful thing about being a captain of a golf team playing in an international affair is that at the end of your day, it’s your decision. You could pick your brother to represent your country if you really wanted, and being friends with certain guys in charge of teams is a good thing (just ask Tiger).

But on Tuesday, when Fred Couples made his Presidents Cup captain’s picks, a little part of the competition lost. Why? Because there was a man, a kid, left off the team that played his way from unknown rookie to major champion in eight short months, and added another PGA Tour title to boot, but wasn’t selected because Freddy has a good buddy that used to be the best player in the world.

Yes, Keegan Bradley should have got an invite to Australia. Not because he won a major, or because he has had one of the best years of anyone on the tour, but because he simply earned it himself. No help from anyone else. No prior resume. Just one of those great golf stories that made 2011 so interesting, and made the final major of the year so worthwhile.

Keegan was left off because of a few things, one being that he was a rookie, and wasn’t able to earn Presidents Cup points a season ago because he wasn’t playing on the PGA Tour then. The other was because in his last few starts since his major win, Keegan hasn’t played the kind of golf you might expect from the PGA Championship winner. That criticism might be true, but it’s far from fair. Just look at Haas if you need a refresher on how golf goes up and down for everyone. A month ago, he was missing the cut at the Wyndham before he went on a great run during the FedEx Cup playoffs, and a post-major hangover isn’t exactly something we just made up (see Clarke, Darren).

The idea behind the Haas pick was fine. He earned his way onto the team by playing well at the end of the season, but I don’t buy the momentum thing. If the Presidents Cup started tomorrow, I’d agree with it, but the thing isn’t until the middle of November, or to put it in these terms, more time than that’s passed since Keegan won his major. Also, let us not forget that both of Bradley’s wins came in playoffs. Yes, the kid can handle the pressure.

The obvious elephant in the Presidential Cup room is Tiger and Fred. Both friends, Couples added Tiger weeks back by saying he’d go with Woods as one of his picks, logic be damned. Maybe Tiger will light it up in November, but what is telling us that’s the case? He honestly hasn’t had a good showing at any tournament since the last Presidents Cup, and you know how long ago that was.

Haas and Bradley both seem like stand-up guys. They both seem humbled by all the success, and are the type of Americans we should be rooting for as we search for LAT (life after Tiger). The problem is, Couples made it perfectly clear that he was sitting in the past while the golf world moved to the future.

It’s just going to be a shame that the 2011 Rookie of the Year and potential (and likely) Player of the Year won’t be making the trip with his American brethren. Maybe Couples really was just tossing darts at a random board.

If you’re a golfer, I want you to go out and try something the next time you play a round of golf with your buddies. From the first tee, I want you to see how many holes you can go without a three-putt.

The average golfer can probably go five or six holes without three-jacking during a round. Heck, a good player may get a hot putter and go 30-plus holes without one.

But sooner or later even the best players suffer a three-putt in the middle of a round. It happens to the best of us. The goal, of course, is to keep the number to a minimum.

Luke Donald has certainly managed to keep them off the scorecard this year. Dating back to the RBC Canadian Open, Donald managed to go 3 1/2 months without a three-putt. Want to make that stat sound even more incredible? The streak comes out to 449 holes.

449 holes. If your jaw isn’t on the floor right now, then you clearly don’t understand how crazy that streak really is. In a sport where pressure and different golf courses make three-putts inevitable, Donald somehow found a way to keep the extra putts off his card.

While the streak ended earlier this week at the Dunhill Links Championship, on the 7th hole at Kingsbarn, you certainly have to tip your cap to Mr. Donald — especially when you see the next closest guy is all the way back at 131 consecutive holes without a three-putt.

Who exactly is the guy at 131? That would be Sergio Garcia. I’d be willing to bet Donald’s record of 449 is safe.

For golf updates and info, following us on Twitter at @shanebacon.

We might have blamed Fred Couples for his Presidents Cup pick of Tiger Woods over some of the younger players that had a great year, but if Friday was any indication of what we could see from Tiger, Couples might come off like a genius.

According to Tim Rosaforte, Tiger broke the course record at The Medalist, a Greg Norman design in Florida, on Friday, shooting a 62 to best the previous record by two shots. How did he do it? By posting a back-nine 29 that included seven birdies, not bad for a man that has broke 70 only once on tour since returning from injury in August.

Yes, it was just a practice round of sorts and didn’t count for anything on the PGA Tour, but it’s still an impressive number by the former world number one.

What does this tell us about Tiger’s game? Well, not a lot really, because it wasn’t really a competition of sorts, but at least he’s producing scores on tough golf courses. I’ve heard from a couple LPGA friends of mine that Tiger has been asking just about anyone with a staff bag to tee it up in hopes of sharpening his game, and if that’s the case, bravo Tiger, because it seems to be working.

Also, don’t forget that in 1997, the week before the Masters, Tiger fired a 59 at Isleworth, so maybe there is a bit of a correlation between good play at home and good play on tour.

We will see this coming week when Tiger takes to the stage at the Frys.com Open.

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There are certain no-brainers in golf. Jack Nicklaus with a meaningful putt at Augusta National. Phil Mickelson always taking the riskier of the two shots. And then there was this, the LPGA’s decision on what to do with 16-year-old Lexi Thompson.

Two weeks ago, Thompson became the youngest winner in the history of the LPGA, taking home the Navistar Classic by five shots. It might have been a shock to some, but if you follow the sport closely, you knew she had this in her. Sometimes, age is simply a number, and certain athletes have that ability to mature quicker, learn the game faster, and succeed sooner. Tiger Woods did it. Matteo Manassero has been killing it at a ridiculously young age on the European Tour, and Michelle Wie played some of her best golf when she was just a teen.

The problem was, Thompson was too young to be a full-time member of the LPGA. As they say, those were the rules, but on Friday, commissioner Mike Whan made the right decision to allow Thompson an exemption, making her a full fledged LPGAer next season.

It was a tap-in, if you don’t mind my golf lingo for a minute. The murmuring that we’ve heard from some of the LPGA players that weren’t exactly pumped about the idea of letting every teenager into their exclusive club made sense, but Lexi is different. First, she’s already a winner, but this is also a girl that finished in top-10 at the Women’s U.S. Open at 15, and has continued to play great golf this season. Sure, allowing everyone this opportunity might get a little out of hand, but Lexi is special and has proved that she belongs out there with the rest of them, no matter how young she is.

The LPGA needs every boost they can get. The Solheim Cup was a big one, and it sure doesn’t hurt that for the second straight week that tour can bring the sports world good news.

Sure, Thompson would have breezed through Q-School if the petition didn’t go through, but didn’t she earn this? She’s special, and the tour needs her. This was as no-brainer as they come.