Now, this has come as a shocker to many including Rory McIlroy, who was named as the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year Award. It would not be out of place to say now that this piece of news has stirred the hornet’s nest and has triggered controversy among the golfing fraternity. Golf pundits strongly feel that the award should have gone to Brooks Koepka who also clinched the PGA of America's Player of the Year award. Interestingly, Rory was all praise for Koepka when the later beat him at Tour Championship last month.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                     (IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images)

 

 

 

McIlroy will receive the Jack Nicklaus Award for winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year for the third time in his career (2012, 2014, 2019).

 

 

 

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 (Tiger Woods), and the first player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the FedExCup in the same season. With three wins on the season (THE PLAYERS, RBC Canadian Open, TOUR Championship), McIlroy matched Brooks Koepka for the most on TOUR, 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 in his career and led the PGA TOUR in Top-10s (14) and Strokes Gained: Total (2.551).

 

 

 

 

 

                                               Rory pipped Brooks Koepka to win the award

 

 

 

 

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, my congratulations to Rory McIlroy on being voted the 2019 PGA TOUR Player of the Year by the TOUR’s membership,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “While there are a number of honors one can receive in this game, PGA TOUR 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.”

 

 

 

After one start in the fall of 2018 (World Golf Championships/HSBC Champions), McIlroy opened the 2019 calendar year with top-sixes in his first five starts before winning THE PLAYERS for his 15th career PGA TOUR victory. He became only the third player to win THE PLAYERS, a major, the FedExCup and a World Golf Championships event in a career, joining Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson.