The biggest disappointments of the PGA Tour season

At the beginning of 2019, Champ was the sexy pick for the PGA Tour's breakout star after he won the Sanderson Farms Championship in October. Fast forward to the week of the BMW Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs' final push, and Champ currently ranks 58th in those standings. He has just three top-10 finishes in 25 events. Maybe that breakout will have to wait another year?

Perhaps the biggest news Day has made of late came with this week's announcement that he's parted ways with Steve Williams as his caddie. Day is 50th in the FedEx Cup standings, and while some thought he was set to turn things around after a strong start, he has one top-10 finish after recording five through the Masters — where he finished tied for fifth.

DeChambeau is barely top 20 in the FedEx Cup standings, and he has a win on Tour this season. However, his best finish at a major in 2019 was a tie for 29th at the Masters, and he continues to alienate himself from other Tour members with his penchant for slow play. Maybe we just expected more this year from one of the game's brightest young stars.

Another two top-10 finishes at majors this year (Masters and Open Championship), but Finau has not posted a victory since the Puerto Rico Open in 2016. Finau has shown he can contend, especially in the big events, but we thought this might be the year he would finally prove he can be a closer. That was not the case, though he does have two more chances to prove us wrong.

Another season, another year without a major for Fowler. He's 30, so his biological golf clock is not ticking, but the question now seems to be not when, but if, Fowler will win a major championship. He placed inside the top 10 at the Masters and the Open Championship, but he was not a real factor down the stretch at either. The pressure will continue to mount.

It's not that we were expecting much from Garcia in 2019, but maybe we thought he could make a little noise. He's obviously not nearly the same golfer he was even a few years back when finally winning that first major. He's out of the FedEx Cup playoffs, but at least he ended his string of seven straight missed cuts at majors when he played the weekend at the U.S. Open.

Hoffman has not been on too many radars this season; maybe that's why he's on this list. He hasn't won a PGA Tour event since 2016, and he had just two top 10s in 24 Tour starts this season. It's the second straight season that Hoffman has failed to make at least $1.5 million after clearing $4 million in 2017.

Hossler is another young talent who was expected to be a factor in 2019. Instead, he did not have a single top-10 finish and failed to make $700,000 while playing in 27 tournaments. Hossler is only 24 years old, so there is obviously no reason to panic. But with some of the top college golfers in the country turning pro, he might get lost in the mix.

It's hard to figure that one of the world's top three golfers could be considered a disappointment. It did not seem that way with a WGC win in February, followed by a tie for second at the Masters and a solo runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. Since then, Johnson failed to crack the top 30 at the last two majors, and after a missed opportunity at the Northern Trust, sits 10th in the FedEx Cup standings. Again, he's somebody we expected more from.

Kim won the John Deere Classic in 2018, and it looked as if he was someone to keep an eye on. This season Kim missed an astonishing 22 of 26 cuts and none after early January. The future now seems rather uncertain for a guy who seemed to have so much promise but must find a way to get back on track.

McIlroy can win the FedEx Cup, but his play at the Open Championship might still be the biggest thing golf fans remember most about his 2019 season. Rory's inability to even make the cut in his home country of Northern Ireland, and on the same Royal Portrush track where he shot a 61 back in the day, might just be the most disappointing moment of his brilliant career.

Lefty won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am back in February, which was a sign that maybe he was ready to seriously contend during the major slate. That was not the case. His best finish was a tie for 18th at the Masters, and he failed to make the cut at the Open Championship. Heading into the BMW, Mickelson had one other top-10 finish in 19 starts.

On Saturday at the Northern Trust, it looked as if Spieth was in that frame of mind to finally end his victory drought. Instead he shot 74 and ended up finishing tied for sixth. Spieth, who has plenty of work to do to reach the TOUR Championship, has had his moments in 2019. However, it proved to be another frustrating journey for the three-time major winner who last won in 2017. 

Streelman is another guy who seems like the perennial dark horse. Whether we're talking big-time events of the regular Tour stops, Streelman has not won since 2014, but for whatever reason, golf experts like to think he will string together a special season. At age 40, how much longer do we have to wait?

In April, we were talking about Woods as a potential Golfer of the Year front-runner. However, it was all downhill from there. In Tiger's defense, his health, obviously, has played a big part in the fact he failed to make the cut at both the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. A year ago there was promise and excitement surrounding Woods' game. Now, once again, there is uncertainty.