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Brooks Koepka Wins PGA Player Of The Year

Published

7 years ago

August 27, 2019

The best of the PGA TOUR has come to a dramatic conclusion this past weekend with Rory McIlroy edging out Brooks Koepka for the FedEx Cup victory but Brooks is still taking some honors away from McIlroy.

Rory may have broken the season earnings record but he did not win the PGA Player of the Year Award, as it was given to Brooks Koepka. By winning the honor, Koepka is now the first player to win back to back POY awards since Tiger Woods did it in 2006 and 2007.

The Player of the Year award that Koepka took home was given to him based on a point system. Points are earned in categories such as money earnings, scoring averages, and, of course, tournament wins.

The tournament wins are really what gave Koepka the edge, where he got 50 points for winning the C.J. Cup, WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, and the PGA Championship. Overall, Koepka scored 84 points to take home the crown.

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Following closely behind him was Rory McIlroy, who came in with 78 points but didn’t have a major championship win to keep up with Koepka. After that, the field was pretty bleak with Patrick Cantlay and Gary Woodland tying for third place with 42 points.

Matt Kuchar rounded out the top five with his 36 points earned.

McIlroy will have another opportunity to beat Koepka in a player of the year contest, however, as PGA TOUR players will vote to bestow their own award on who they see as the top golfer of the year. While Rory has been more consistent, Koepka’s continuous dominance of majors may give him the edge again. There have only been two years since the awards were instituted that two different players won the awards so Koepka looks to have a good shot.

It is a hot debate to determine if Rory or Brooks deserve this honor but I think we can all say that both players had a fantastic year on the circuit and have a lot to be proud of. And no matter who wins the PGA TOUR Player of the Year, both men will be strong competitors when the 2020 season kicks off.

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