Rivals might never get a better chance
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
Tiger Woods opened the door just a crack to let someone else, anyone else, break his stranglehold on the PGA player of the year honour. But nobody walked through it.
So, after months of speculation, the POY trophy once again will reside in Tiger's trophy case after a vote by PGA Tour players that embraced as many as five contenders.
Woods finished ahead of Vijay Singh, the unofficial runnerup (unofficial because the PGA Tour does not release ballot totals, but the word is Singh was a close second).
Others on the ballot were Mike Weir, Jim Furyk and Davis Love III, all of whom could have tipped the scales in their favour by doing something down the stretch. Once it was clear that Woods wasn't going to win a major championship, the real possibility that someone would break his four-year POY string heated up the late-season tournaments.
It is the first time since 1995 (Greg Norman) that the player of the year didn't win one of the four majors.
This player of the year intrigue was somewhat unique in the Woods era. Woods has had a stranglehold on the award since 1998, when Mark O'Meara's two major championships (Masters and British Open) carried the day.
After capturing four POYs in a row (and six of seven since he turned pro), Woods began the season on the disabled list, recovering from knee surgery. When he did come back, he was on fire, winning three of his first four tournaments and finishing fifth in the other.
Then, a balky driver plagued his attempt to win his ninth major as he failed to win one of the big four for the first time since 1998.
Many players knocked on the door to strip Tiger of his title, but nobody really swung it wide open.
Weir was the early favourite with three victories, including his stirring Masters win, followed by a third-place tie at the U.S. Open. Had he won or even contended in any of the later events, such as the World Golf Championship events or the Tour Championship, the award would have been his without question. But when the voters were pondering their decision, Weir's star, nearly seven months removed from his previous win, did not shine so brightly.
U.S. Open champion Furyk and Love each had an outside chance, but Furyk won only one other event and Love, though he won four times, missed the cut at two of the four majors.
So it was left to Singh to try to unseat the king. Singh long has held the title as the hardest-working man in golf. This year, at least, he also had a legitimate claim to being the best.
Singh came down the PGA Tour stretch with a rush to win the money title, nearly $1 million ahead of Woods. His four victories, two second-place finishes and 18 top 10s were a testament to a level of consistency unmatched on the Tour this season.
Singh never takes a holiday. He played 27 PGA events and racked up $7.58 million in winnings. He finished the year with eight consecutive top 10 finishes, including two wins and three seconds. But even though he was racking up victories and money, it's a safe bet that voters were analyzing quality of field when they compared his record to Woods'.
One of the serious measuring sticks on Tour is stroke average and Woods once again won the Vardon Trophy with a stroke average of 68.41, about one-quarter stroke per round better than Singh. Voters also probably were swayed by the fact that Woods won five out of just 18 events entered, while Singh won four of 27.
However all the computations were made, the same name came spitting out on the tape at the end of the exercise. This is probably not good news for all the guys not named Tiger Woods.
Why? Well, if you figure this season was a rare hiccup on Woods' way to surpassing Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer in history, then there won't be many more chances for the others.
