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Golf - Vouching for Vijay

By Vincent Musco
Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
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Soon after the Tour Championship concludes, the players of the PGA Tour will cast their vote for the Player of the Year award. No one knows who will win -- a handful of players all have a chance. What is known is something that is characteristic in all subjective selection processes -- that is, someone will not agree with the decision.

I'm not clairvoyant, but I do foresee myself as one who will disagree with the choice. And that's because the man who should win the Player of the Year award, Vijay Singh, has no chance of taking the honor.

Sure, Singh has not won a major this season. He has won three times, but both Tiger Woods and Davis Love III have won more. And his comments on Annika Sorenstam will not help his karma with the golfing gods. But consider this:

* Singh has broken Tiger Woods' stranglehold on the Money List. If he holds on, Singh will be the first player other than Woods to take the crown since 1998.

* Singh leads the Tour in top-10 finishes with 14, the measure of consistency on the PGA Tour. He has finished in the top-five nine times out of the 23 tournaments in which he competed.

* Singh is one of only 10 players to make the cut in every major, including a near victory at the British Open.

Singh's season has been a model of consistency. Besides his flawless cut record in the majors, he made 22 of 23 cuts in all PGA Tour events. He won in January, May, and September. For Singh, the 2003 season has been just that: a season. He has been unrelenting in his pursuit of a great season. He finished fourth in his first tournament of the year in January, and last week, he won.

It is Singh's consistency that makes him Player of the Year. It is not the Player of the "First Three Months" award. If that were the case, Mike Weir would be your winner. Yes, he won the Masters, but he has not won since.

Davis Love III spread out his four victories, but he finished behind Singh in every major, including two missed cuts. He also made only 15 of 18 cuts all season.

Jim Furyk equaled Singh's season-leading total of 14 top-10s, but has won only twice. Indeed, one of his victories was a U.S. Open, but he has one less victory than Vijay, and trails him in both money-earned and scoring-average.

Tiger Woods, on the other hand, has won four times (more than Singh), leads the Tour in scoring-average, and has also made every cut in the majors. But Tiger's year has been particularly lackluster in those majors, since he has not seriously contended for any of them.

Woods has also not won since the first week in July, and the fact that he may relinquish his grip on the money title should equate to his loss of the Player of the Year award winning-streak, as well.

Why, then, is Singh destined to be on the outside looking in?

Mostly, it will be because Singh has been so rock-solid week-to-week that we almost forget he is there. When he tees it up, he is not introduced as this year's Masters or U.S. Open or Players' Championship winner. And his name is not Tiger Woods.

In fact, Singh's most memorable moment of the year was his verbal assault on Annika Sorenstam. His comments made him even more unpopular with the media and fellow players than ever before.

But the Player of the Year award is not a popularity contest. It's purpose is to recognize the player who, week in, week out, played the best golf of any other player on Tour. And this season, Vijay Singh is that player.

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