In a vote that came as no surprise, the PGA Tour announced today that the tour players have selected Tiger Woods as the 1999 recipient of the Jack Nicklaus Trophy as the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
The 23-year-old Woods, who won eight tour events this year, including the PGA Championship and two World Golf Championship events, also won the Player of the Year award in 1997. He is the third player to win it twice in the 1990s, joining Fred Couples (1991-92) and Nick Price (1993-94).
David Duval, who had four wins, and the late Payne Stewart, whose two wins included a U.S. Open victory, also were on the ballot.
The players also selected Carlos Franco as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and Steve Pate as the Tour's Comeback Player of the Year.
Woods is the first player since Johnny Miller in 1974 to win eight PGA Tour events in a season. He won seven of his last 10 PGA Tour starts, including the last four in a row. He is the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four consecutive starts. He also set a single-season PGA Tour record with $6,616,585 in official earnings.
"I have had a good year and I am very proud of the way I played," Woods said. "It's a season I will remember for a long time and one during which I learned a great deal.
"But in this game, you can't rest. You must keep trying to get better. As soon as you feel like you're finished, then I guess you are finished because you have already put a limit on your ability and what you can attain. I don't think that's right. You should always strive to become a better player.
"It's nice to work on the things Butch (Harmon) and I have worked on and to start to see some results. I had to be patient on the things I worked on the last couple of years, but when it came together, I felt like I could start winning and that is what happened."
Earlier this month, Woods also claimed the PGA of America's Player of the Year award for the second time in three year and Vardon Trophy for the first time.
The Vardon Trophy is awarded to the player registering the lowest adjusted scoring average on the tour for the season. The world's No. 1 ranked playerrecorded the lowest scoring average since the award format was changed in 1988. Woods had a scoring average of68.43over 75rounds,betteringthe previous adjusted scoring mark set by Greg Norman in 1994 of 68.81.
In addition, Woods won two international events in 1999, the Deutsche Bank SAP Open and the World Cup of Golf, plus two unofficial events, the Showdown at Sherwood and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. He also was a member of the winning United States Ryder Cup team.
Woods now has 15 career PGA Tour victories, including two major championships, in just 70 starts as a professional.
Franco won both the Compaq Classic of New Orleans and the Greater Milwaukee Openin his first year on the Tour. The 34-year-old native of Paraguay had seven top-10 finishes in his 22 starts this season to finish 11th on the money list. He was selected over two-time winner Notah Begay, Rich Beem, and Sergio Garcia.
Pate, whose injuries include a bruised hip from a car accident during the 1991 Ryder Cup and, most recently, an injured wrist in 1996,did not win an event in 1999 but placed 13th on the money list with $1,755,960. He was a semifinalist in the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship, lost in a playoff in the GTE Bryon Nelson Classic, and finished second when Duval shot a 59 in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.The 38-year-old Pate was also a member of the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team.
