An American not named Tiger Woods hasn't won the PGA Tour Player of the Year award since 1998, but that changed Monday when Jim Furyk was given the prestigious award.
Furyk was the king of this strange 2010 season, one that saw only one player (Furyk) win more than two times. The 40-year-old Furyk was victorious at the Transitions Championship, Verizon Heritage and Tour Championship, which helped vault him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and the $10 million bonus.
Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar were just behind Furyk with 50 points to Jim's 60, with Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson rounding out the top five.
However, not all was lost for Kuchar, who finished with the PGA Tour's lowest scoring average of the season, which landed him the Vardon Trophy, an award for just that stat. Kuchar's final number landed at 69.61, just five one-hundredths better than Stricker.
This is the first time since 2006 that two different Americans won both the Player of the Year award and the Vardon Trophy, when Woods took home the former trophy and Furyk the latter.
Furyk winning marks just the second time since 1995 that a player without a major title was named Player of the Year (the only was Woods in '03).
I figured it would be worth saying that the only way to define this season (which was wacky and saw three first-time major winners and a winless season by Tiger) is that the Player of the Year is a player that swings like he's one of those guys at intersections trying to draw your attention by flipping a business sign. Nothing normal about that move, as nothing was normal about 2010.
But, we here at Devil Ball love Furyk, and congratulate him on a great season. Bear Down, sir.
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