McDonnell ‑ A look back on 2017

Sadly the Walker Cup and President's Cup both ended up in American hands, but I'm extremely proud of the fact that I was part of the Great Britain and Ireland team who kept the PGA Cup on this side of the pond.

My Moment of the Year

Sergio Garcia's victory at The Masters back in April was a momentous occasion, beating Englishman Justin Rose in a playoff on the famous 18th at Augusta National. After making his major championship debut in the 1996 Open Championship and never claiming a title, 21 years later he finally got the monkey off his back. Why has it taken him so long to secure a major championship? There was lots of debate and we all knew Sergio had the skills and experience to win a major, but when it came to the crunch he had simply put far too much pressure on himself to win. But he resided to the fact that he would never win one, which lowered his expectations considerably. When he entered contention at The Masters, I think all golf fans were rooting for the Spaniard to win his first green jacket, and boy did he do it in style.

My Player of the Year

My player of the year is European Tour ‘Race to Dubai’ winner Tommy Fleetwood. From Southport in the North West of England, Fleetwood broke through on the European Tour in 2013, after gaining his tour card through qualifying school. Since then he has progressed into a familiar face on the Tour, and this year has won twice, finished runner-up twice and finished in the top 10 on 10 other occasions out of 21 events played. The key area of his game that has lead him to the number one spot is his driving accuracy. He has gone from hitting 60% of fairways to 70% this season, which has enabled him to attack more flags to make birdies and also reduce the number of mistakes in his rounds. The challenge now for him is to feature in the major championships and secure his place in the European Ryder Cup team for 2018.

My 2018 Predictions

• The Masters winner – Rory McIlroy
• The US Open winner – Rickie Fowler
• The Open winner - Justin Rose
• The US PGA winner – John Rahm
• The 2018 Ryder Cup – Europe
• 2018 Player to watch – Tiger Woods!!!