Dec 16th, 2008 – Only One Decision to Make
Is this typical of these guys or what? For the first time in a long time the PGA tour had a tougher than usual decision to make when it came to naming the player of the year for 2008.
And they blew it.
From the tour that just introduced its third version of its playoff system that is only two years old, and that is reeling from a cascade failure of corporate sponsorship comes the choice of Padraig Harrington as its “best” player.
For most people that will draw an automatic, “Who?”
Voted on by the players themselves, their reasoning is based on Harrington’s back-to-back majors in July and August at the British Open and the PGA Championship.
The only problem with that is that both of those tournaments were most notable due to who wasn’tplaying in them, Tiger Woods.
Woods’ mid-season surgery took him out of the running for those final two, however his performance up to that time was of the “I can’t believe what I just saw” variety.
Woods had four wins in his six starts – all played on a knee with a severed ligament.
After finally beating a very game Rocco Mediate in 90 excruciating holes at Torrey Pines to take the U.S. Open, he said it was “the biggest win of my pro career.”
A day later we found out why when it was revealed Woods had also recently broken his leg.
Despite dropping out in June, he still managed to finish second on the tour money list even though he’d played 17 fewer tournaments than the eventual money winner Vijay Singh had.
Harrington finished 8th by the way.
Such was the result in all their head-to-head matchups. Each time Tiger faced Harrington he beat him. He finished second at the Masters. Harrington managed fifth. Woods won the World Match Play Championship. Harrington was 17th. When Tiger won the Open, Harrington was 36th.
Padraig did have an amazing year, but his 13.3% winning percentage can hardly be compared to Woods’ 66.7%. 
The wags will say a player’s year is always defined by how they did in the Majors, and Harrington out Majored Woods, 2-1.
But just how “Major” were they? Foreshadowing what’s to come in just a few short years from now, both were Tigerless. Fewer folks tuned in the final two majors than have in the past 12 years – the same number of years a certain player with the initials “TW” has been on tour not so coincidentally.
Nope – it is pretty clear why the players chose Harrington this year, and it’s simply because they could. Woods has won the Jack Nicklaus Award in 10 of the past 12 seasons after all.
Just like when the NBA players picked someone other than Michael Jordan as their MVP, the tour players took the opportunity to give another guy the title.
The only problem is, just like 1993’s Charles Barkley MVP nod, in a few years it won’t make any sense.
Simply put, in ten years time, what will be the story everyone will still be talking about when it comes to golf in 2008?
Padraig Harrington defeating Ian Poulter at Royal Birkdale? His taking out Sergio Garcia at Oakland Hills?
Nope. They’ll be talking about Tiger’s caddy Steve Williams calling Phil Mickelson a “prick.”
And oh ya, and that broken leg thing too.
Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch
