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Arnold Palmer is known to prefer a thorough test of golf.

As host of the invitational that bears his name, Palmer, like Jack Nicklaus at the Memorial, is the guiding influence over the course set up at Bay Hill and he wasn’t disappointed in giving players a fair dose of what the average hack sees on as regular basis.

No one in the last three groups broke par this weekend and the six players combined to finish 19-over.

Further evidence was provided by Martin Laird’s final round 75.

Martin Laird survived Bay Hill to collect second career victory. Photo Getty Images

It was the highest last-round score by a winner on the PGA Tour since Trevor Immelman also shot 75 to win the 2008 Masters. Laird went from three strokes up to three down Sunday before sinking a par for a one-stroke victory over Steve Marino.

… Phil Mickelson played his way out of contention at Bay Hill with a second-round 75 while Tiger Woods starting beating the ball around on the weekend, shooting 74, 72 to stall whatever momentum he’d built with his 68 on Friday.

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The side match that was Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at face value would seem to indicate a trend.

Woods bested Mickelson by a whopping 12 strokes this past weekend at Doral with Tiger’s final-round 66 accounting for most of the spread.

While Tiger was making at least a good impression of his former self and Nick Watney was capturing his third career victory, Phil was mostly looking forward to his earliest opportunity to split though that didn’t come until he was forced to sign for his 76.

So, the quick money would seem to move to Woods and away from Mickelson as the player most likely to win his next major title.

Up first on the tee is the Masters in April and Mickelson is the defending champion.

Mickelson’s T-55 at the just concluded WGC event is his worst this season and he has yet to win on the year. But in 2010, he was showing the same lack of consistency with just two top-10s before winning at Augusta.

This year, Mickelson’s best finish is a second in San Diego and a T-9 at Pebble Beach.

Phil Mickelson is looking to put it together. Photo Getty Images

Doral was his third event of the PGA Tour season and fourth overall; Woods also played in Dubai, where he posted a T-20.

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LA JOLLA, Calif. — Phil Mickelson is boring.

Just ask him.

Straight-ahead, fairways and greens, get your par and head to the next tee kind of player.

Sound about right?

No, just bunching those words together in the context of Mickelson makes as much sense as dress shoes at the beach.

Lefty is a player, a risk-taker, the guy who is hitting driver when three-iron will do. Cutting a nine to the back left pin, when a wedge to the center is the safe play.

Phil Mickelson is tied for the lead at the Farmers Insurance Open. Photo Getty Images.

He’s birdies riding on the same flight as double bogeys, but his superior talent at the sport allows him to regularly live in red figures.

So there he is, hitting shots during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday with the management skills of Jack Nicklaus. There is Mickelson graciously accepting what the South Course of Torrey Pines gives him instead of taking what he rightfully believes is his.

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LA JOLLA, Calif. — The first thing you notice are the pants.

And they are hard to miss.

A pair of striped beauties that appear to be skinned from tiger offspring at the wrong end of an LSD bender.

One also might see the thundering drives which still find the outer reaches of the fairway that is reserved for the bomb-and-gougers.

But what should be noted about John Daly is that he’s here.

On a golf course and playing well, chasing the only profession he’s ever wanted and keeping up while sitting just three strokes off the pace after Thursday’s first round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

John Daly shot 67 in the first round of the 2011 Farmers Insurance Open. Photo Getty Images

It’s the tournament that used to have Andy Williams’ name attached, and Buick’s, and is still played at Torrey Pines.

Recall that it was just a year ago, on this golf course, in this tournament that Daly walked off following the second round and remarked to a reporter as he was followed to the parking lot.

“I’m done.”

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Golf’s offseason, the shortest in all of professional sports, is over.

Lasted about a month, give or take a week, and that’s relative to which events are deemed pertinent.

But since no one is playing for free, it’s fair to say golf breaks just long enough to trim a tree or light a candle or do whatever it is one does during the holidays.

With the Tournament of Champions on the horizon in Hawaii and 2011 tee times set for Thursday, whaddya say to a few look-ins to some dead-solid-perfect predictions for golf in the new year?

Well, they could happen …

Tiger will win.

Go ahead and groan, but did you really think anyone else can top this list? Here’s another question: Do you really think he won’t?

And this isn’t merely to say that Woods will win a tournament … at some point … eventually.

No, Tiger will win on the  PGA Tour in 2011 and more than once.

It’s hard to say if he’ll approach the six victories he posted in 2009, and likely he will not. But once he collects a check to end a drought that extends to the Australian Masters in November of  ‘09, that familiar feel will become addictive.

Tiger Woods will prevail in U.S. Open at Congressional. Photo Getty Images.

Woods’ schedule for the upcoming season remains unclear, but look for some usual suspects to get his season rolling.

The first will be San Diego at Torrey Pines, Jan. 27-30, where Tiger has won throughout his career and six times has kickstarted his season with a victory. Early favorites for a first-place finish also include the WGC Match Play, a month later, and Bay Hill, March 24-27.

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The golf season began and ended under the considerable canopy that is Tiger Woods.

But the question at the outset of the year was — will he play? — and concluded with — will he win again?

Woods answered the first query, when he teed it up at the Masters, but he will need at least one more golf season to tackle the second question.

The year of 2010 provided plenty of golf headlines. Here are the 10 that rose to the top, according to GolfLink’s esteemed panel.

1. Tiger Woods, On And Off The Course: It’s tough to knock Tiger from the top spot of any golf news category, but toss in some tabloid sizzle and it was virtually guaranteed that Woods’ name bubbled to the top.

His 2009 Thanksgiving weekend car accident unearthed sordid tales that Woods clearly wished would have remained firmly within the confines of his golf bag, but as the alleged mistresses began to queue up for their 15 minutes it was game over on many fronts.

Sponsors fled, Woods retreated to rehab and the golf world wondered and waited for his return. Ultimately that came at the Masters in April and despite an opening round 68 and eventual T-4 finish, he looked more like a talented rookie who couldn’t quite harness his game than a seasoned world champion.

Tiger Woods hits shot at 2010 U.S. Open, where he finished T-4. Photo copyright USGA/Mike Ehrmann

As the year progressed, Woods’ marriage to Elin Nordegren ended in divorce and his season ended without a victory. That was the first time as a professional that Woods did not cash the winner’s check at least once during the year.

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The word is the top ranking in golf will go to someone other than Tiger Woods.

Of course, that has been speculated for weeks but somehow the 0-for-2010 and one-time player-without-peer has held on to his No. 1 slot.

It’s enough to make even the casual golf fan weekender question the validity of such a list and it’s about to take another hit.

The baton will pass without little happening beyond the calendar flipping from one day to the next.

By Halloween, projections have Lee Westwood ascending to No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking without teeing it up in another tournament.

The Englishman is nursing a sore right calf and ankle and has said he will not play again until the HSBC event in Shanghai in early November and possibly wait until Dubai later in the month.

Lee Westwood could be new No. 1. Photo by Steve Newton

Woods, who finally displayed his talents at the recently concluded Ryder Cup where he was 3-1 in a United States loss, also has no immediate plans to play before the HSBC event.

Makes the BCS look like pure genius.

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Europe is better.

They’re better at golf and they’re better at playing collectively at a solo game. They hit better shots; they’re more clutch.

And because of all that, Europe again has laid claim to the Ryder Cup.

Mike Scarr

The Americans, who once ruled the competition as if they were simply toying with their little brother, have been lapped.

And aside from generating the occasional emotional victory in the biennial competition, they really have no idea how to win it.

A one-point victory has the appearance of being close, but this cup was decided as soon as the United States squad began kicking matches away after gaining what seemed to be some early momentum.

Wet weather was a factor to start and it ultimately pushed the singles matches all the way to a first-ever Monday finish, but the Europeans calmly played to their strength which was a combination of home-course advantage and a quiet and collectively-assured confidence which allowed them to outlast their opponent en route to another Ryder Cup title.

Down three full points entering Monday’s singles matches, the Americans made their patented charge and claimed six of 12 matches while halving two. It was a typical comeback by a group that often reserves its best play for the final day.

Had Hunter Mahan fought through to a draw with Graeme McDowell in the cup’s final match, the U.S. would have claimed a half-point and retained the title by tying the Europeans.

But they wasted too many opportunities in their previous matches. Coming from behind is great theater, but it’s lousy strategy.

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There is no purse and no cut.

The field is smaller than the most exclusive of invitational tournaments.

Representatives from only a handful of nations will compete, but it packs more competitive emotion than most golfers will experience in a lifetime.

It is the Ryder Cup, a biennial event that takes turns on each side of the Atlantic Ocean and pits a squad from Europe against one from the United States.

The U. S. has a sizable lead in number of cups won over the years, but the Europeans have been the more powerful team for the last 25 years.

Staged this year at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales, Europe’s captain Colin Montgomerie will have Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Ross Fisher, Peter Hansen and brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari at his disposal.

American captain Corey Pavin will counter with Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Jim, Furyk, Stewart Cink, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Jeff Overton, Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods.

U.S. 2010 Ryder Cup team. Photo courtesy Welsh Assembly Government.

Play begins in the three-day event Friday and here are a few Ryder Cup factoids that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle:

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Bubba Watson can win this year’s FedEx Cup, but Tiger Woods cannot.

Six majors champions are in the ultra-exclusive top-30 field at this week’s Tour Championship, but only one of those players currently holds his title.

And a total of 12 golfers will tee it up at East Lake on Thursday with a shot at the $1.35 million first-place check and the $10 mil cup bonus despite the fact they did not win on the PGA Tour this year while winners Bill Haas, Cameron Beckman, Jason Bohn and Anthony Kim will not.

At least Phil Mickelson will get to defend his title.

Such is the climate of the PGA Tour’s version of a playoff, a four-tournament swing that caps its run with the Tour Championship in Atlanta this week.  The process began with 125 players and has been whittled to 30.

Matt Kuchar is the top seed at the Tour Championship. Photo by Keith Allison

The road to the playoffs is entirely based on points, awarded to players relative to how they finish in each tournament with big events like the Masters worth a little more and secondary events like the Reno-Tahoe Open worth about half.

So, it’s equitable — the same values are available to all — but once the playoffs start points spike considerably and there are cuts at each of the three run-up events to Atlanta.

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