Rory McIlroy named PGA Tour Player of the Year

Rory McIlroy has been named the 2018/19 PGA Tour Player of the year 

Following his FedEx Cup victory, Rory McIlroy has been named the 2018/19 PGA Tour Player of the Year, voted for by his fellow players.

McIlroy, who beat out Brooks Koepka to the title, 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, claimed the FedExCup for the second time (2016, 2019) at the Tour Championship, becoming just the second player to win the season-long race multiple times with Tiger Woods, in addition to becoming the first player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the FedExCup in the same season. He had three wins during the season, and recorded 14 top 10s in 19 starts.

 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).

“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.”

But it’s no secret that this was somewhat of a unexpected outcome of the battle for the accolade between McIlroy and World No.1 Brooks Koepka, and even McIlroy said that he was ‘somewhat surprised’ to win.

Koepka also won three times, but one of those victories was the PGA Championship, another the WGC FedEx St Jude, as well as the CJ Cup. He finished inside the top-4 in all four major championships in 2019, and given that majors are the pinnacle of the sport, it seemed a formality that Koepka’s would win the award. 

It turns out though that the PGA Tour player’s didn’t feel the same about that though, voting in McIlroy and his consistency as the winner of this year’s PGA Tour Player of the Year.

“I am very proud of my consistency and success this season so it is an incredible honor to have my fellow @PGATour  players recognize me as the Player of the Year,” McIlroy wrote on social media. “Already looking forward to next season!”

Sungjae Im was voted 2019 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and will receive the Arnold Palmer Award, renamed in 2019 as a tribute to its namesake’s influence on countless young players and a fitting honor for its recipients, who will shape the game and the PGA TOUR for generations to come.