HERE'S TO A GREAT 2013 - Golf

2013 marks 20 years of me watching and playing this great game. My interest was sparked by Sir Nick Faldo's hole in one at the Belfry in the 1993 Ryder Cup, it was sustained and grown by Tiger Woods in the late 1990's and 2000's and now we are on the verge of a new era of young, talented players from every corner of the globe, led by the undisputed World Number One, Rory McIlroy.

2013 is a year that I want to celebrate my 30^th birthday and achieve all of my goals, including returning to St Andrews to caddie. The Ricoh Women's British Open is played on the Old Course in August, with the Alfred Dunhill Links being played at the end of September. I have made tentative plans for a tour of Ireland for my 30^th birthday and I want to take the Virgin Flying Without Fear course at Edinburgh Airport, along with losing weight and maybe, just maybe, meeting a girl. But my blog isn't about me, its about the world of golf and 2013 is set to be the best ever.

In 2013 there is a World Athletics Championships and the Lions' Tour of Australia, but there isn't an Olympic Games, a Football World Cup, a Cricket World Cup or a Rugby World Cup so next year is the opportunity for golf to shine, particularly British golf. We are set for possibly the most competitive and exciting year ever with a plethora of young, experienced and successful golfers from every part of the globe all playing well going into 2013.

The Major Championships will of course be the highlight of the golfing year and as ever the Major year begins at the Augusta National Golf Club with what I predict will be one of the most compelling Masters Tournaments ever. With Rory McIlroy as the clear favourite as we start 2013, but who knows what will happen in the next three months? Tiger Woods hasn't won The Masters since 2005 but again will be backed, the four-time Masters champion won three times in 2012 and will surely be among the contenders again. Luke Donald came close in 2011 and his short game means he has a chance to win any of the Majors; Justin Rose has played well around Augusta on numerous occasions, twice leading in the early rounds during his career. Adam Scott was runner-up in 2011 and his win at the Australian Masters will help to heal the wounds of his Open Championship collapse; Louis Oosthuizen had a good and nearly great 2012 and knows he has what it takes to win The Masters after losing a play-off in 2012 to Bubba Watson. Lee Westwood led after 54 holes in 2010 and with 9 holes to play in 1999, after a frustrating 2012 he will be eager to improve on his 3^rd place finish in 2012. Defending champion Bubba Watson has gone quiet since his win, but a second placed finish in Thailand a couple of weeks before Christmas will boost him going into 2013.

Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson will all hope to build on their play in other Majors in the last couple of years and all have the tools to succeed around Augusta. 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel won his last two events of 2012 by 11 and 12 shots and finished 5^th, 4^th and 2^nd in the three events preceding his wins, making him the form golfer in the world heading into 2013, he will surely contend again at Augusta. Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter won at the WGC-HSBC Champions and finished second in the Australian Masters, and he was joined in the winners enclosure by 7 more of the European Ryder Cup team following their epic win at Medinah.

You cannot rule out 3-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, despite his overall disappointing year he showed he still has unrivaled talent at Pebble Beach earlier in the year.

In June the US Open will return to Merion, the scene of Ben Hogan's second US Open title and iconic win following his life-threatening injury in a car crash just 16 months earlier. 2013 is the 60^th anniversary of Hogan's historic Major treble of the Masters, US Open and Open Championship, he only failed to win the PGA Championship because he couldn't return from Scotland in time to take part. In June the US Open will return to Merion, the scene of Ben Hogan's second US Open title and iconic win following his life-threatening injury in a car crash just 16 months earlier. 2013 is the 60^th anniversary of Hogan's historic Major treble of the Masters, US Open and Open Championship, he only failed to win the PGA Championship because he couldn't return from Scotland in time to take part. A book was written about Hogan's inspiring win in 1950 and I am sure we will see this famous image numerous times throughout the television coverage of the US Open this year as the second major of the year returns to the Pennsylvania course for the first time since 1981.

Players can expect a traditional US Open challenge in June over a course that Jack Nicklaus said was, acre for acre, the best test of golf in the world.

One month later The Open returns to Muirfield, and if we get half of the drama we had 10 years ago then we will be in for a truly spectacular week. The roll of honour at the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is like a who's who of world golf, with Hilton, Vardon, Ray, Braid, Hagen, Perry, Cotton, Player, Nicklaus, Trevino, Watson, Faldo and Els all winning golf's oldest championship over what is renowned as the fairest test on the rota.

The Major year ends at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York. Jack Nicklaus won on the iconic tree-lined country club course in the 1980 PGA Championship, winning by a record 7 strokes, a record which was shattered by Rory McIlroy in 2012. Oak Hill was the scene for a major upset in 2003 when Shaun Micheel triumphed, with his 7-iron approach to the 72^nd hole being renowned as one of the great shots in major history.

The Women's Majors begin as is traditional with the Kraft Nabisco Championship at the magnificent Mission Hills country club in California the week prior to The Masters, with the LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Golf Club in New York in June, followed by the US Women's Open at the new links course on long island, Sebonack Golf Club at the end of June. The Ricoh Women's British Open returns to its traditional date at the start of August at the home of golf, St Andrews. Women's golf will beat its male colleagues to staging a fifth major in 2013, with the Evian Masters becoming the Evian Championship in the middle of September and ending the women's Major season.

The women's game has been dominated for the last decade by golfers from Asia and in 2013 I expect their male colleagues to have a breakout year on the European and PGA Tours, especially from the young prodigy Ryo Ishikawa. The 14-year-old Guan Tianlang from China won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and will compete in The Masters in April, making him the youngest ever competitor in a men's Major. Ishikawa had a quiet year in 2012 following a rapid rise in his teens, it was an inevitable pause for breath in a career which has been destined for greatness from such a young age, but I expect 2013 to be a huge year for Ishikawa as he fulfils his potential as the next best youngster in world golf after Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero. His swing is more standard than Rickie Fowler and he doesn't have a weakness in his game, he just needs to travel more and play more in America and Europe.

Having started 2012 inside the world's top 50 Ishikawa slipped to 75^th in the world and needs to start 2013 well to get into The Masters. His win at Taiheiyo Country Club in October will give him hope for 2013 and at the age of 21 Ishikawa is entering his sixth season as a professional, with 11 wins in Japan and a world record low final round of 58 under his belt he is set to reach the next level in 2013.

Ishikawa has already won the Japan Golf Tour money title and been named winner of the Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize as Japan's number one sports person on two occasions. The youngster from Saitama is one of several young golfers I expect huge things of on the tours in 2013. Italy's Matteo Manassero won his third European Tour title in Singapore in November and I expect him to contend in the World Golf Championships and Majors this year. Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen played in the third round of The Open Championship with Tiger Woods and won his first European Tour title in Sicily earlier in 2012, he has long been fated as a top talent and in 2013 I expect multiple tour titles for the heir apparent to Thomas Bjorn as the pre-eminent Danish golfer. Branden Grace won five times in 2012 and in 2013 I can see him adding to South Africa's haul of Major titles at either The Open or PGA Championships, joining Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel as the successors to Els and Goosen at the top of South African golf.

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald will once again flatter to deceive in the Majors, I am sure they will be both there on Sunday in at least two of the four, but I just cannot see them breaking through. Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson could be affected psychologically by the ruling on the long putters and although they have pedigree in the majors I cannot see them adding to their tallies in 2013. Following his heroics in the Ryder Cup and his win at the WGC-HSBC Champions I can see Ian Poulter winning a Major in 2013, and the US Open at Merion could  just be his stage to shine. Adam Scott is a different animal to Bradley and Simpson, and he sought a solution to his putting problems by using the long putter, I can see him contending at Augusta and Muirfield, but in 2013 I think the Majors and indeed much of the season will be about two men.

For a couple of years now there has been much talk about a rivalry, in 2012 we saw an emergence of one but in 2013 it will become a genuine Nicklaus-Palmer type rivalry that will elevate golf above every other sport in 2013.

I can see Augusta National being the perfect stage for the rivalry to breakout with both having games ideally suited for the course, I don't think either will contend on the short, tight and tricky East Course at Merion, I think both will contend at Muirfield on a course that both would love to win on and add their names to the legendary roll of honour. Again I feel Oak Hill will prove too tight for both to mount a genuine challenge.

Aside from the two Majors I feel we may see head-to-heads between the pair on the year begins for both at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and judging by 2012 they will both be the men to beat. If the draw works out correctly I can see a head-to-head at the WGC-Accenture Match Play just because both are playing well, the following week at The Honda is set fair for a head-to-head on Sunday and again at Doral, with Rory finishing 3^rd last year and Tiger having won three times on the Blue Monster.

Both players are well known for their dislike of the Stadium Course at TPC so I don't expect a showdown at Sawgrass although the PGA Tour would love it. The PGA Tour Playoffs are ideally suited to provide head-to-heads between Tiger and Rory purely because you would expect both to head the FedEx Cup standings, and in the main both players have a liking for the type of courses which are used. Following the end of the PGA Tour season I think the WGC-HSBC Champions is a stand-out opportunity for a showdown because both players have shown good form over the course. Tiger and Rory are playing too well for 2013 to be about anyone else, Rory showed a new level of maturity throughout 2012 and Tiger returned to winning ways, I can only see these two as the top two players. But we will see if I am wrong in 12 months from now.

The Masters	Rory McIlroy
US Open	Ian Poulter
The Open	Tiger Woods
USPGA	Louis Oosthuizen
Presidents Cup	USA
Solheim Cup	Europe
Seve trophy	Great Britain and Ireland
FedEx Cup	Rory McIlroy
Race to Dubai	Charl Schwartzel
World Number One	Rory McIlroy
Wins for Rory McIlroy	Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, WGC-Cadillac Championship, The Honda Classic, The Masters, Wells Fargo Championship, Irish Open, Deutsche Bank Championship, THE TOUR Championship, BMW Masters, DP World Tour Championship (10)
Wins for Tiger Woods	Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament, AT&T National, The Open, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, BMW Championship, WGC-HSBC Champions (7)

2012 was a great golfing year, but with the Olympic Games and the European Football Championships taking the spotlight I think 2013 can and will be even greater, and bring the spotlight to a sport that deserves it.