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LOS ANGELES. – A golf year featuring four first-time men’s major champions, the return of Tiger Woods and Olympic competition set the stage for more thrills in 2017.Tears were shed over the death of icon Arnold Palmer in September. But there was much to celebrate too, including golf’s returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, with England’s Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, and South Korean Park In-Bee, a seven-time major winner, capturing gold medals in Rio.

But the Olympics was haunted by the withdrawal of several top men’s players, many over Zika virus concerns, and months later by the course’s failure to boost the sport’s impact in Brazil. Australia’s Jason Day finished atop the world rankings with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy second, American Dustin Johnson third, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson fourth and US star Jordan Spieth fifth.

But only two of them won major titles in the first year since 2011 that produced four first-time men’s major winners. England’s Danny Willett won the Masters after Spieth had a Sunday back-nine meltdown while in position to claim back-to-back green jackets.

Johnson won the US Open on his way to US PGA Player of the Year honours, ending a series of major near misses.

Stenson won the British Open, outlasting Phil Mickelson in a two-man duel down the stretch at Royal Troon, only to fall short in an Olympic last-day showdown for gold with Rose. – AFP.