Ladies and gentleman of the golf world, the new year is upon us and that can mean only one thing... we just survived the shortest offseason in professional sports and the PGA Tour is back!

Each December I do a good job of complaining about how much I'm going to go through a golf depression once the season ends but since 2011 was a Presidents Cup year, we only truly had to endure 42 without golf on our weekend TV schedules. Not bad.

Needless to say 2011's golf nuclear winter did not require any medication for your favorite Hurricane Golf blogger and I'm ready to pop the champagne and crack another bottle across the bow of the ship to welcome in 2012.

Luke Donald dominated 2011 in terms of awards and making money. Keegan Bradley stole the show a few times - including at the PGA Championship - proving that age is a relative non-factor on the PGA Tour. Rory McIlroy was both tragic (The Masters) and magnificent (US Open). Charl became a household name. Tiger Woods flirted with Augusta, went on sabbatical, fired his caddie and had a war of words with him, continued to play poorly, and then was a huge factor in the USA victory at the Presidents Cup. Darren Clarke claimed a piece of every golf fans heart by winning The Open Championship. Oh, and Bill Haas won the FedEx Cup.

With or without Tiger Woods, the PGA Tour really shined in 2011. But what of 2012? The easy answer is time will tell, but I've got 12 bold predictions ready to be crushed into the middle of the fairway:

1. Tiger Woods will win a major and 3 other tournaments. Let's throw the FedEx Cup in for good measure as well.
2. Rory McIlroy will have a down year, struggling to play consistently on the PGA Tour, but will dominate the European Tour.
3. Phil Mickelson will win the US Open, but no other tournaments in 2012.
4. Steve Stricker will be in contention at all four majors (Top 5) and finish 2nd in the FedEx Cup.
5. Rory Sabbatini will have another meltdown.
6. Webb Simpson will have the most wins in 2012.
7. Rickie Fowler will be a media darling and marketing sensation, but not win a tournament.
8. A player you have never heard of will win THE PLAYERS.
9. John Daly will win a tournament... yes, that John Daly.
10. Steve Williams will be fired and rehired.
11. Adam Scott will win a tournament immediately after firing Williams.
12. I will win The Masters ticket lottery and take my dad to Augusta.