FedEx champ Rory McIlroy is PGA Tour’s Player of Year

By Rahul Banerji

Players Championship and FedEx Cup winner Rory McIlroy was voted player of the year for the 2018-19 season by eligible fellow professionals, the PGA Tour said on Wednesday. Korean star Sungjae Im was named Tour rookie of the year.

McIlroy received the Jack Nicklaus Award for being voted player of the year for the third time in his career after 2012 and 2014.

Sungjae Im received the Arnold Palmer Award, renamed in 2019 as a tribute to its namesake’s influence on countless young players and a fitting honour for its recipients, who will shape the game and the PGA Tour for generations to come.

PGA Tour members who played at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2018-19 season were eligible to vote. The balloting process ended on September 6, the Tour statement noted.

August company

McIlroy, 30, of Holywood, Northern Ireland, won the FedExCup for the second time (2016, 2019), becoming just the second player to win the season-long race multiple times after Tiger Woods, and the first player to win The Players Championship and the FedExCup in the same season.

With three wins in the season (The Players, RBC Canadian Open, and Tour Championship), McIlroy matched Brooks Koepka for the most titles and marked the third time he collected three or more victories in a single season.

McIlroy also won the Byron Nelson Award for adjusted scoring average (69.057) for the third time and led the Tour in Top-10s (14) and strokes gained: Total (2.551).

“On behalf of the PGA Tour, my congratulations to Rory McIlroy on being voted the 2019 Player of the Year,” said Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.

‘Model of consistency’

“While there are a number of honours one can receive in this game, Player of the Year has to be among the most satisfying as it comes directly from his peers. Rory’s season was a model of consistency punctuated by milestone victories and ultimately the FedExCup in Atlanta.”

McIlroy opened the 2019 calendar year with top-sixes in his first five starts before winning The Plyers for his 15th career PGA Tour victory. He became only the third to win The Players, a major, the FedExCup and a World Golf Championships event in a career, joining Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson.

Six starts later, McIlroy made his tournament debut at the RBC Canadian Open, where he set the tournament record and won by seven shots, the largest winning margin of the season.

Three of McIlroy’s 14 top-10 finishes came at World Golf Championships events: Mexico Championship/2, Dell Technologies Match Play/T9 and FedEx St. Jude Invitational/T4.

McIlroy ended the regular season at no. 2 in the FedExCup standings, claiming second place in the inaugural Wyndham Rewards Top 10, a $10 million bonus pool split among the top-10 finishers in the FedExCup regular season.

Strong finish

He entered the Tour Championship at no. 5 in the FedExCup standings, beginning the playoffs finale at 5-under, based on the new starting strokes system. With rounds of 66-67-68-66, McIlroy won the event and the FedExCup for the second time in his career.

The Northern Ireland golfer was selected for the honour over Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar and Xander Schauffele.

Im, a 21-year-old native of Jeju, South Korea, was the only rookie to advance to the Tour Championship and finished the season tied for 19th in the FedExCup standings.

With his Rookie of the Year honours, Im joins Stewart Cink (1996-97) to be named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in consecutive seasons.

Im took the honours over Cameron Champ, Adam Long, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff.

Also read: A Rory McIlroy flashback to the 2008 Omega European Masters