5 stars looking to rebound in 2018
While Justin Thomas had a fantastic 2016-17 PGA Tour campaign - winning five times en route to Player of the Year honors - not everyone reflected on last season with fondness.
Here are five big names looking for a bounce-back season in 2018:
Rory McIlroy
The 28-year-old came into the 2017 season as the defending FedEx Cup champion while looking to reassert himself as the best player in the world. McIlroy, however, suffered a rib injury in his first start of 2017 at the South African Open, causing him to miss a considerable amount of time. The Northern Irishman took seven weeks off after the injury occurred and returned in time for the Masters, but was never a factor the rest of the season, going winless worldwide for the first time since 2008.
Jason Day
Day entered 2017 as the world No. 1 player, but losing the top ranking throughout the season was the least of his worries. The Aussie took an indefinite break from the game in March to spend time with his mother Dening, who was battling cancer. Day registered a winless season after finding the winner's circle three times in 2016, eventually parting ways with his longtime caddie in September.
Adam Scott
After claiming a pair of victories in 2016 at The Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Championship, Scott had just an average season on tour the following year. The 2013 Masters champion's best results was a T-6 at THE PLAYERS in May, and a T-9 showing at Augusta National, plummeting his world golf ranking from seventh to 31st. The Aussie's schedule was sporadic in 2017, taking time off in the second half of the year for the birth of his second child with wife Marie. Scott battled the flatstick following a ban on anchoring, but returned to the long putter at the Australian PGA Championship.
Bubba Watson
Watson made an interesting equipment change just prior to the SBS Tournament of Champions in January, signing a contract with the Volvik golf ball company. The decision by the 38-year-old proved to be a bad one, gathering just four top-10 results, missing the cut in three of the four majors, and failing to make it past the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Watson fell from fourth to 20th in driving distance, went from 27th in scoring average to 127th, and was 91st in official money.
Tiger Woods
The former world No. 1 played in one event last season and made just 148 strokes en route to missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods eventually underwent his fourth back surgery in April, falling to 1,199th in the world prior to his return at the Hero World Challenge.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)