Running 2013 Golf Thread

[LongTimeListener]

As long as Tiger is happy being arguably the best golfer in the world at a given time -- say, in a range somewhere in the top 10 -- this award is meaningful. It's particularly meaningful if you accept that majors outcomes are a somewhat random occurrence and carry no more weight or pressure than any other tournament. Certainly there is some backing for that thought.

And maybe that's just the new post-Elin, post-knee Tiger. But that isn't the Tiger we saw for the first 13 years of his career.

 

[JackReacher]

It's almost as if the pro-Tiger camp has to continually convince itself.

Does that include the players who voted on this?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Scott, surely one of the contenders for this award, said a month ago he'd vote for Tiger. He also said he'd rather have his Masters win than five other victories. I can see both points.

 

[JC]

Scott, surely one of the contenders for this award, said a month ago he'd vote for Tiger. He also said he'd rather have his Masters win than five other victories. I can see both points.

I'm sure any golfer would, it doesn't mean Tiger didn't have the better overall year.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

It's almost as if the pro-Tiger camp has to continually convince itself.

Who's this camp (I mean other than me, I admit)? The players vote on it. Are they working with Ferguson on a pro-Tiger agenda? The players who are supposedly secretly so up in arms about Tiger's various rules debacles that they think he's hurting the game.

Sure Phil or Scott would have been deserving but 5 wins...yeah, that's Player of the Year.

Donald in 2011: 2 wins, no majors. Player of the Year.
Furyk in 2010: 3 wins, no majors. Player of the Year (a year that included an iconic Mickelson victory, just like this year, at the Masters).

Here's the one I'd love to know about though:
1990: Wayne Levi. Won four times. Won Player of year over Faldo...the winner of The Masters and the British Open. What the heck? Was Faldo that hated?

At that time it's very conceivable that Faldo was that hated. It wasn't until '96 when he put his arm around Norman after his Sunday Masters unraveled that people started softening on the guy.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

JC, my point was that SCOTT thought Tiger had the better year. He voted for the award, not me.

 

[MileHigh]

I would have gone with Scott, with his Masters win and contending at the British (T3) and the PGA (T5).

Tiger had an excellent year, but he won on four courses where he's got 28 of his 79 wins, so other than the Players, he didn't have a "wow" win. And you never got the sense he was going to pull out a win in any of the majors: T4, T32, T6, T40.

 

[Birdscribe]

I would have gone with Scott, with his Masters win and contending at the British (T3) and the PGA (T5).

Tiger had an excellent year, but he won on four courses where he's got 28 of his 79 wins, so other than the Players, he didn't have a "wow" win. And you never got the sense he was going to pull out a win in any of the majors: T4, T32, T6, T40.

This.

You could make a very good argument for Tiger, given the five wins. But Mile's argument holds a lot of water, given the fact his wins -- save the Players' -- were on courses he's dominated on in the past.

And SmallTownGuy, yes, Faldo was not thought upon fondly in the early '90s. He was very aloof. That said, to deny him POY in place of Wayne Levi that year was criminal.

 

[Mark2010]

The tournaments that Tiger won --- Bay Hill, Memorial, The Players, Firestone --- had very good fields. Almost as good of fields as the majors. So that is what tilted the award in my mind.

 

[JC]

I would have gone with Scott, with his Masters win and contending at the British (T3) and the PGA (T5).

Tiger had an excellent year, but he won on four courses where he's got 28 of his 79 wins, so other than the Players, he didn't have a "wow" win. And you never got the sense he was going to pull out a win in any of the majors: T4, T32, T6, T40.

This.

You could make a very good argument for Tiger, given the five wins. But Mile's argument holds a lot of water, given the fact his wins -- save the Players' -- were on courses he's dominated on in the past.

And SmallTownGuy, yes, Faldo was not thought upon fondly in the early '90s. He was very aloof. That said, to deny him POY in place of Wayne Levi that year was criminal.

Why does the venue matter more than the field?

 

[Key]

I waited on Wayne Levi and his wife once. At least, I think it was his wife. I didn't recognize him, but I definitely knew who he was. At one brief time he was probably in the running for best golfer without a major. I was surprised to see his woeful record in the majors. Never played the British...no top 10s...best finish was a T11 at Augusta.

In that magical 1990 season, he went Cut, Cut, DNP, DNP in the majors.

 

[Rhody31]

Weighing the Majors more than other tourneys for POTY is akin to the BBWAA guys voting for players who "played in more important games"