Morning Read's 2020 'Best Reads of the Year'

This year produced some unforgettable golf and superb storytelling. Throughout 2020, our team of writers did what they do best: report, entertain, inform and opine. Through it all we produced hundreds of stories – here are some of our favorites.
Morning Read's 2020 'Best Reads of the Year'
Morning Read's 2020 'Best Reads of the Year' /

Greetings, readers. The 2020 golf year likely will be remembered like the year at large: surreal and strange, heartbreaking and hopeful. But this year like no other also produced some unforgettable golf – and superb storytelling. Throughout 2020, our team of writers did what they do best: report, entertain, inform and opine. And at times, they tried simply to give you something else to think about, as we all needed a distraction here and there. We're proud of our talented and eclectic mix of contributors. In fact, this year alone we added nearly 50 new names to the Morning Read masthead, including more than three dozen video contributors and podcasters.

We also published several hundred stories: profiles, features, columns, tournament recaps and more. So, as this year comes to an end, we take a moment to honor great writing. Here are Morning Read's “Best Reads of 2020” in the order in which they were published.

Feb. 9:If you like vanilla, you’ll love the new golf broadcast on CBS, by John Hawkins.

May 10: Vijay Singh doesn’t belong on the Korn Ferry Tour, by Mike Van Sickle.

May 11:Arnie and me, by Dan O’Neill.

May 13:Golf around the world is emerging from the coronavirus. Now comes the hard part, by Brad Klein.

May 31:Twenty years ago, Tiger Woods kicks off “Summer of Slam,” en route to “Tiger Slam” in 2000-01, by John Hawkins.

June 4: Unrest in America has me thinking about golf, our country and an artist I once knew, by Farrell Evans.

June 17:Justin Rose and wife, Kate, sponsor eight-event women’s golf series in the U.K. during the height of the shutdown, by Adam Stanley.

July 6: The sad and unexpected demise of golf courses I’ve played, by Gary Van Sickle.

Aug. 3:TPC Harding Park relishes its glorious revival, by Joe Passov.

Aug. 6:Jones Sports digs into its roots to set its future, by Janice Ferguson.

Aug. 7:The day Joe Louis KO’d golf’s heavyweights, by George Willis.

Aug. 20:Golf raises eyebrows as it lowers decorum, by Alex Miceli.

Sept. 8: The competitive enigma that is Rory McIlroy, now six-plus years without a major championship, by Mike Purkey.

Sept 30:How the pandemic has changed (and possibly saved) the game of golf, by Gary Van Sickle.

Oct. 18:Meet crossover star Sam Byrd, who played in the World Series and competed in the Masters, by John Fischer.

Oct. 26: Remembering perhaps the greatest Masters ever: Jack’s win in 1975, by Mike Purkey.

Nov. 10:Lee Elder basks in a legacy of achievement, by Pete McDaniel.

Nov. 11:Celebrate Dustin Johnson for what he isn’t: full of himself, by Dan O’Neill.

Nov. 23:‘The Match Part 3’ smells like Thanksgiving leftovers gone bad, by Alex Miceli.

Nov. 24:Meet English women’s champion Joyce Wethered, who observers said was as good as Bobby Jones, by John Fischer.

Dec. 12:Angela Stanford wins in her hometown of Fort Worth, one week before U.S. Women’s Open in Houston, by Adam Stanley.

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Jeff Ritter
JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business's growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.