Officially, the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, and therefore the biggest part of the tour's calendar year, ended Sunday when Camilo Villegas won the Tour Championship in a playoff over Sergio Garcia.

Unofficially, the season ended for many fans when Tiger Woods had knee surgery in June, ending his season and sending a lot of casual fans looking for other things to watch.

Woods may win the player of the year award, but he didn't win the FedEx Cup and didn't win the tour's money title. Woods' surgery after a dramatic U.S. Open playoff victory over Rocco Mediate may well be the overriding story of the tour season. But it was just one of several stories that made the 2008 season one of the wildest and most memorable in recent history.

Here's a look at five other stories from the 2008 year.

Fewer watched after Tiger left

When Woods left the tour for knee surgery in June, some worried about the health of the tour without the game's most popular and most marketable star. While the competition didn't suffer much (great finishes at the British Open and the Tour Championship and a compelling Ryder Cup), fewer people were watching without Tiger to see. Ratings were down for regular tour events, down by as much as 30 percent for majors and down almost 50 percent overall for the Tour Championship despite a to-the-wire finish that included Garcia, Phil Mickelson, La Quinta's Anthony Kim and Villegas. The Fall Series events that come in the next six weeks never get big ratings, but the tour needs to hope that Woods returns to get people watching the game on television again.

The year of youth

If you think Kim, at 23, was the lone bright spot for young golfers this year, think again. In fact, Kim is just one of 12 players under 30 to win a PGA Tour event. Kim and Villegas each won two tournaments and finished fourth and second in the FedEx Cup playoffs, respectively. With Woods off the tour much of this year with surgery (and his return and health when he returns still up in the air) and Woods turning 33 this December, the tour can take heart that there are quality, winning players already on the tour to supplement Woods.

Odd perception

Let's say you are a golfer who won twice this year, was a member of the winning Ryder Cup team and finished tied for third in the Tour Championship. If you are Kim, you are celebrated for an outstanding year. If you are Mickelson, who also meets those criteria, people wonder why you had a down year. But that's what happens when you are the No. 2 player in the world and the No. 1 player isn't playing. Mickelson's year was hardly a failure, with victories in Los Angeles and at the Colonial and six other top-10 finishes. But as young players continue to rise and Woods continued to sit, Mickelson didn't win a tournament after May.

FedEx problems

In 2007, the players complained there was too little movement in the inaugural FedEx Cup playoffs. This year, the media and some players seem to think there was too much volatility. There may not be a perfect answer to how to set up the point system, but some things did seem strange this year. Like only 15 of the top 30 players in the world rankings making the Tour Championship field of 30 players. Or that Padraig Harrington, winner of two major championships this year, didn't make the Tour Championship field either.

Ryder redemption

The one memory many fans might take from the 2008 season, other than Woods limping around Torrey Pines in the Open, will be the U.S. team led by cagy captain Paul Azinger defying the odds to win the Ryder Cup rather easily. By the end of the week, with heroes like Kim and Boo Weekley and Hunter Mahan, most people had even forgotten that Woods wasn't playing.