5–8 April: The Masters – American Bubba Watson defeated South African Louis Oosthuizen on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to earn his first major championship.
9–12 August: PGA Championship – Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy won his second major, at the age of 23. His eight-shot win over England's David Lynn was the largest victory margin in the championship's stroke-play era. McIlroy also returned to number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
28–30 September: Ryder Cup – Team Europe retained the Cup, 14½–13½, after having been down 10–6 to Team USA after Saturday play. This equaled the previous record for the largest final-day comeback in Ryder Cup history, when Team USA came back from the same deficit in 1999.
14–16 December: Royal Trophy – Asia won on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff after match with Europe ended in an 8–8 tie.
20 March – The PGA Tour announced changes to its season structure and qualifying to take effect in 2013. Among the changes, as announced at that time:[7]
The 2013 season will be the last to be conducted completely within a calendar year. The 2014 season will begin in October 2013, shortly after The Tour Championship, and all future seasons will begin in October of the previous calendar year.
The 2012 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as "Q-School", will be the last to award playing privileges on the PGA Tour. Beginning in 2013, Q-School will only grant privileges on the Web.com Tour (known at the time as the Nationwide Tour).
Starting in 2013, PGA Tour cards for the following season will be awarded at the end of a three-tournament series featuring the top 75 money winners on the Web.com Tour and the golfers finishing between 126 and 200 on the PGA Tour money list.
15 April – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
29 April – Donald returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
6 May – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
27 May – Donald returns to the number one spot in the world rankings.
26 June – The PGA Tour announces further details regarding its recently announced major schedule changes. Starting in fall 2013, the tournaments in the Fall Series, which will become the season-opening events at that time, will become FedEx Cup events, with full Cup points, for the first time.[8]
28 June – The PGA Tour's developmental tour, the Nationwide Tour, was renamed mid-season as the Web.com Tour, after a new sponsorship deal was announced.[9]
10 July – The PGA Tour announces final details of its major schedule changes.
In a change from the original announcement in March, the money list will no longer determine which PGA Tour members retain their cards. Starting with the 2013 season, the top 125 golfers in FedEx Cup points will retain their cards.[10]
The three-tournament series that will award new PGA Tour cards will be called the Web.com Tour Finals. The top 75 players on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, plus the golfers between 126 and 200 in FedEx Cup points, will be eligible to play.[10]
The top 25 on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list will receive PGA Tour cards regardless of their performance in the Web.com Tour Finals. The total money earned in the Finals will determine the remaining 25 card earners.[10] For all 50 new card earners, their positions on the PGA Tour's priority order for purposes of tournament entry will be based on money earned in the Finals.[11]
12 August – McIlroy returns to the number one spot in the world rankings by winning the PGA Championship.
11 September – The PGA Tour announces that for the 2013 season only, due to the transition to a wraparound season, golfers who finish in the top 125 of either the FedEx Cup points list or the season money list will retain their tour cards for the 2014 season.[12]
18 October – The PGA Tour and the Canadian Professional Golf Tour jointly announce an agreement by which the PGA Tour would take over the Canadian circuit, effective 1 November. At that time, the Canadian Tour would be officially renamed as PGA Tour Canada.[13]
29 March – 1 April: Kraft Nabisco Championship – South Korea's Sun-Young Yoo defeated fellow Korean I.K. Kim on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to earn her first major championship. Kim had missed a tap-in on the 72nd hole that would have given her the title.
13–16 September: Women's British Open – South Korea's Jiyai Shin won her second Open, also her second major, by a tournament-record nine shots over fellow Korean Inbee Park.
29 January – Lydia Ko, a 14-year-old New Zealand amateur, won the Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open on the ALPG Tour, becoming the youngest player of either ***to win a professional tour event.[15]
13 June – Brooke Henderson, a 14-year-old Canadian amateur, won the second stop on the Canadian Women's Tour,[16] breaking Ko's previous record as the youngest person ever to win a professional tour event.[17]
26 August – Ko, now 15, won the CN Canadian Women's Open, becoming the youngest player ever to win an LPGA Tour event and the first amateur to win on that tour since JoAnne Carner in 1969.[17]
10 September – Jiyai Shin defeated Paula Creamer on the ninth hole of a sudden-death playoff, the longest between two players in LPGA history, to win the Kingsmill Championship. The playoff was suspended due to darkness after eight holes on Sunday evening, and resumed the following day.[18]
1–4 November: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship – 14-year-old Guan Tianlang of China won by one shot over Pan Cheng-tsung of Taiwan. Guan earned an invitation to the 2013 Masters, and went on to become the youngest golfer ever to compete in that tournament.[19]
