Harrington, not Woods, should win Player of the Year

text size

Getty Images

Both Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington had reason to celebrate this year after claiming three of the four majors.

The PGA TOUR's Player of the Year honor, until Sunday at Oakland Hills, was being conceded to Tiger Woods. And with good reason.

In six starts, Woods won four times, finished in the top 10 in the other two, and capped it off with that awe-inspiring playoff triumph on wounded knee at the U.S. Open.

To deprive Woods -- who has won three consecutive Player of the Year awards and nine in his career -- somebody had to do something special.

Enter Padraig Harrington.

Never has a golfer won two majors and not been rewarded as Player of the Year by a vote of the membership. Simply put, two majors trumps anything else that has happened this year, including Tiger's accomplishments before his season was shortened due to injury.

Not only will Harrington's back-to-back major victories at the Open Championship and PGA Championship be remembered at voting time, so will the way he finished the rain-soaked tournament at Oakland Hills -- a pair of 66s that he posted on Sunday, a spectacular display of golf on a course that left so many of his colleagues gasping for air.

There is precedent for Harrington outdistancing Woods when the TOUR members cast their ballots.

In 1998, David Duval led the TOUR with four victories (no majors). He topped the money list with $2,591,031. In addition, he led the Presidents Cup team eligibility list and won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average (69.13).

By any measure, it was a season worthy of Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Mark O'Meara won just twice that year -- but both came in majors, the Masters and the Open Championship. Those two major victories put O'Meara over the top in the Player of the Year voting. Duval finished a close second.

The same thing should happen this year. Harrington deserves to win Player of the Year. He's currently fourth on the FedExCup points list and has four other top five finishes besides his two majors, all impressive stuff. If he wins the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, or even just one of the four Playoff events, he'll should seal the deal.

But even if he doesn't, those two major victories will be enough for him to join O'Meara and Vijay Singh (2004) as the only players to win Player of the Year in the Tiger Era.

SWING THOUGHTS

• Boo Weekley played his way into an automatic berth on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, finishing eighth on the points list. All that makes Scotland's Colin Montgomerie a very good prophet.

Weekley

It was months ago that Montgomerie predicted Weekley would make the U.S. team. Montgomerie -- who did serious damage to his own Ryder Cup chances when he shot 76-84 (20 over) at the PGA Championship -- based his observation on Weekley's ball-striking abilities.

Weekley closed with a 4-under 66 at Oakland Hills, a long, grinding course just like Valhalla, site of next month's Ryder Cup. He won't be put off by the difficulty factor or the challenge against the Europeans.

"It would be an honor to beat (Padraig Harrington) or Sergio," Weekley said. "I'm ready to go out and play with either one of them. It don't matter who Paul (Azinger, U.S. Captain) puts me against."

Think that's not music to the Captain's ear? ...

• J.B. Holmes finished the championship with an 81 after a disastrous triple-bogey 7 on the first hole. Azinger is willing to look beyond it. The captain has had his eye on Holmes, the Kentucky native who considers Valhalla his home course.

Holmes

"I feel for J.B.," Azinger said. "He had the pressure on him all week and he just got off to a horrendous start. I can't think of a worse way to start on a golf course that is just frightfully difficult.

"Once you get behind the 8-ball and you have that kind of aggression, that kind of power game, you start thinking birdies, and then all of a sudden you short-side yourself and start making bogeys and it begins to snowball. If ever there was a golf course you could discount a poor round, this would be the one."

Holmes knew what was at stake. After completing his third round Sunday morning, he said, "One more good round and I'll be in good shape. I'm excited about it."

Doubt he was feeling the same way after the 81.

• Some people may think that Ben Hogan labeled Oakland Hils' South Course the "Monster" after he brought it to its knees at the 1951 U.S. Open. But actually it was sports cartoonist Willard Mullin who first came up the description.

Hogan

Before the '51 U.S. Open, when word of Robert Trent Jones' redesign efforts on the South Course circulated around the professional golf circuit, the golfers became alarmed at what they would encounter. The buzz was palpable and Mullin, the famed syndicated sports cartoonist of the New York World Telegram, depicted the South Course as a fire-breathing monster in one of his cartoons.

The attention was good for Oakland Hills and it was good for golf. The anticipation for the U.S. Open reached unparalleled levels. The Monster didn't disappoint. It was a terror. Hogan shot a phenomenal final-round 3-under 67 in the final round -- nine strokes better than his opening 76 -- to win.

It was after the final putt had dropped that Hogan referred to "the monster." That particular portion of the quote resonated but he had more to say, calling the South Course, "the greatest test of golf I have ever played, and the toughest course."

LIPOUTS

If I'm Rocco Mediate, I'm concerned that having Weekley on the U.S. Ryder Cup team may cost me a chance to be a Captain's pick. Mediate has promised to keep the Americans loose, keep 'em laughing with his happy-go-lucky style. Weekley can now fill that role. Does Azinger need more than one of those? ...

The best rounds nobody noticed at the PGA Championship were the final round 66 by Weekley, 68 by Camilo Villegas, and 69s by a couple of Steves (Flesch and Stricker) ...

The new back tee at the ninth hole at Oakland Hills is 256 yards, but because of the tough conditions last week, the PGA of America's Kerry Haigh didn't see a reason to play it from the tips, preferring instead to play the par 3 from about 220 yards all four rounds. That tells me the additional yardage isn't necessary. If the best players in the world aren't going to use it, why would the members? ...

Overheard at the PGA Championship's awards ceremony: "Is this where he gets his Green Jacket?"

New PGATOUR.com correspondent Vartan Kupelian spent 37 years as a columnist and sports writer with The Detroit News, the last 15 as golf writer. The views of this columnist do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.