McIlroy voted PGA Tour Player of the Year for second time

Sport360 staff 10:06 02/10/2014
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  • Towering performance: McIlroy has now won the award twice in three years.

    Back-to-back major titles, with a World Golf Championships crown tossed in for good measure, saw Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy voted the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year by his peers.

    The award was announced yes­terday and 25-year-old McIlroy spoke on a conference call from St. Andrews about winning the award for the second time in three years.

    He joined 14-time major cham­pion Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Nick Price as the only multiple winners of the award since it was introduced in 1990.

    “It’s a very important honor for players to be voted Player of the Year by your peers,” said McIlroy, coming off an inspiring series of performances in Europe’s success­ful defence of the Ryder Cup last weekend.

    “They’re the guys that you’re try­ing to beat week-in, week-out, and the other guys see you put the hard work in, and to know that they appreciate what you’ve put into it and how well that you’ve played, it’s a great honour – and a great honour to win twice in the space of three years.

    “Hopefully, I can win it for many more years to come,” he added.

    McIlroy’s season was unspectac­ular until he came alive at the Open Championship, where he led wire to wire and finished two strokes clear of Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

    He followed that up with his first WGC title at the Bridgestone Invitational and another major at the PGA Championship in his next start. He played in 17 events on the PGA Tour, finishing in the top 25 in all 17 with 12 top-10 finishes.

    He finished third in the final Fed- ExCup standings and won the Arnold Palmer Award as the tour’s top money winner for a second time.

    “I don’t feel like I got off to a slow start to the season,” he said. “It was a solid start, quite a few top 10s, without really getting the wins.”

    McIlroy said the turning point came on the European Tour – when he came from seven shots adrift to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth – having announced his split from tennis star Caroline Wozniacki on the eve of the tourna­ment.

    “I think the catalyst for this year probably wasn’t even on the PGA Tour, it was probably back on the European Tour in Wentworth when I won there,” he said.

    “To get that first win of the sea­son is always important, and then to go on from there gave me the confidence going into the summer, and obviously I had a great stretch in the summer. It’s been an incred­ible run, and just trying to keep it going as long as I can.”

    McIlroy got the nod from col­leagues ahead of US Open cham­pion Martin Kaymer, Masters champion Bubba Watson, FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel and three-time winner Jimmy Walker.

    Meanwhile, ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this week, which McIlroy is playing alongside dad Gerry as the amateur partner, the world No1 endorsed Darren Clarke as Europe’s captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazel­tine.

    McIlroy said: “There’s been a few names thrown about and, with the next Ryder Cup being in America, I feel Darren Clarke would be the perfect man to lead the team. He has a great reputation everywhere, but especially in the States. The fans really love him there and he’s got a good rapport with everyone.”

    Ryder Cup team-mate, Martin Kaymer, agreed: “I believe Darren is next in line. Thomas (Bjorn) will be a very good captain as well one day, but I think he’s still playing too good to be captain in America in two years’ time. So I believe the chances for Darren Clarke are quite high right now.” 

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