2011 was another 'nearly year' for Australia's male golfers at major championships.
During his heyday Greg Norman had golden chances three times to win a green jacket and every time Australians went to school or work bleary eyed and disappointed on Monday morning.
This year threatened for long periods to send everyone on their way happy that they'd set their alarm clocks early. But sadly once again although the characters were different, the result was the same.
Jason Day, Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy all nearly became that first Australian to win the US Masters at Augusta.
For so long, Australians have craved success at the year's first major championship, to the point where it's almost wanted too much.
Maybe the players even feel that way coming down the back nine that everyone knows so well. It was there for the winning, but it was a South African who wrote the winning script, although Scott and Day came just about as close as you can without being invited into the cabin.
Day was second best again to a resurgent Rory McIlroy at the US Open in June. Richard Green came closest for the Australian challenge at the Open Championship in July, but in truth was never in touch with an evergreen Darren Clarke.
A resurgent Scott fell just short again at the Atlanta Athletic Club in coming seventh behind eventual USPGA winner Keegan Bradley.
Ogilvy and Robert Allenby nearly came to blows at Coolum, and there was Greg Chalmers' feat of nearly emulating Allenby's triple crown of 2005.
And the Australians, along with the Internationals, nearly came close to beating the US in the Presidents Cup, although that is a bit of a stretch!
It all started at Augusta, when at one point on that thrilling Sunday afternoon it seemed a near certainty that one of the three contending Australians would jump from the pack and take that first green jacket.
It was supposed to be the 'coming of age' of young Northern Irishman McIlroy, but by the time he'd found a rarely visited cabin far from the beaten track on the tenth and taken a triple bogey, his chance was gone.
In the end, he'd sign for an 80 and an implosion many thought he may never recover from. How wrong they were.
After Tiger Woods had lit up the course and posted a competitive 10-under score, it was Ogilvy's turn to shine. A back nine of 31 vaulted him into a share of the lead with Woods, although there were always a few too many good players still on the course for either to be likely to steal the win.
At one stage during the afternoon, Day, Ogilvy and Scott all had a share of the lead at 10-under.
Then Scott seemed poised to take the title when he nailed a stunning tee shot at the 16th and rolled in a short putt to lead by one stroke with two holes to play.
Day was also refusing to go away as he picked up four birdies on the back nine. But none had reckoned on the finish of a young South African.
Charl Schwartzel was the man who found the winning form under the most intense pressure as he almost unbelievably birdied the closing four holes to finish two shots clear of Day and Scott, with Ogilvy and Woods sharing fourth place with Luke Donald.
The US Open became Rory's redemption. After his public meltdown on the final day at Augusta, his dominant eight-shot victory at Congressional was greeted with glee on both sides of the Atlantic and all over the world. Here was a ready-made Woods replacement, and with far less baggage.
McIlroy is part of a group of young players including Day and American Rickie Fowler who are set to dominate the sport over the next decade or two.
Day was second best to McIlroy in Maryland but there was no disgrace in that, as really everyone was. More importantly, it was Day's second consecutive second placing at a major. And that is no easy feat.
So Australia's hopes for a major victory rested on the Open Championship at Sandwich and the PGA Championship in Atlanta.
Sadly, the challenges were far less vigorous as Clarke grabbed his major win in wonderful scenes at Royal St Georges; it was instead shaping as Northern Ireland's year.
Scott performed well in the final major of the year but there was a sense that he'd given his best at Augusta four months earlier.
Still, it was a creditable performance by the Queenslander as he came in seventh behind the rookie winner Bradley.
Scott went on to finish the year as the world's fifth-ranked player, just ahead of Day who continued his improvement to finish eighth.
Both are shaping as major contenders in 2012 and possibly major winners, with Scott maybe just ahead on temperament.
But Day is a prodigious talent and the pair has a great chance to take Australian golf back to the world's summit.
Ogilvy had an up and down year with some good finishes, most notably in the Masters, punctuated by injury and illness. Still, he's ranked 36 and finished the year well in Australia.
John Senden and Aaron Baddeley are inside the top 50 players, while Allenby continues to fade and is down to 59.
Richard Green, Marcus Fraser, Brendan Jones and Chalmers are the other Australians inside the top 100 - which brings us to Chalmers and the Australian spring.
The 38-year-old is an unassuming type of chap and was long odds to win one of the big three, let alone two and challenge for the third. But that's what happened.
He stared down the strongest Open field seen for many years at the Lakes in early November, before holding his nerve in a play-off for the PGA at Coolum, while Allenby and Marcus Fraser lost theirs.
The list of names that finished just behind him at the Lakes illustrates the achievement. Senden was a shot behind, then came Woods, Ogilvy, Nick O'Hern, Scott, Day, Nick Watney and Baddeley. You may have heard of a few of them.
It proved to be a bridge too far at the Victoria Golf Club in mid December though, as Chalmers faded to finish in 12th place in the Masters, well behind the flamboyant and talented Briton Ian Poulter.
The Presidents Cup provided the main local golfing feast in Australia's golfing spring, although it's fair to say the tournament was never as close as organisers and fans would have wanted.
The International side wasn't able to live with its higher ranked and more talented opponent.
Much was made of the local knowledge of the Australian players as the tournament returned to Royal Melbourne for the first time in 13 years, but the Americans were equal to every challenge the course and the weather threw at them.
Their improved preparations in arriving in Australia early handed them sweet revenge for their only loss in the competition in 1998.
Almost in storybook fashion, it was the captain's pick Woods who delivered the winning point for the US on the Sunday, after a couple of years he'd rather forget. On every level.
As if to emphasise the point, he duly won his own tournament a few weeks later to end a barren run without a victory stretching back to his Australian Masters win at Kingston Heath in 2009.
Luke Donald celebrated a stunning achievement in winning the money list on both sides of the Atlantic, but still remains without a major win. It's that statistic that will define his career in years to come and the Briton knows it.
It wasn't a great year for Ogilvy and it was certainly a poor year for Allenby, and the pair became involved in a heated public argument after the PGA at Coolum.
Allenby chose to blame his appalling record at the Presidents Cup on his partners' performances in the foursomes and fourball, among them fellow Victorian Ogilvy.
The US Open champ of 2006 decided to fire back with a sarcastic tweet during the PGA stating that it "warmed the heart to see Robert playing so well".
It threatened to turn a little bit ugly, but a few weeks break between the PGA and the Masters settled both men to the point where they exchanged words and agreed to move on.
On a sad note, we lost the great Seve Ballesteros to cancer in May. Seve was part of a generation of golfers including Nick Faldo and Norman who dragged fans onto the course to watch the game.
Whatever your particular memory of him, the man who won three Open Championships and two US Masters titles in such swashbuckling style will be sorely missed.
And so the golfing world will move on into 2012.
Will Tiger return to anywhere near his best and claim a 15th major title?
Will McIlroy add to his US Open win?
And will an Australian finally win at Augusta?
It nearly happened in 2011 - can one of Day, Scott or Ogilvy find a way or will the ghost of Norman live on for another year?
Watch the golfing year unfold on www.abc.net.au/grandstand
Tags: sport, golf, australia First posted December 31, 2011 13:03:21