Luke Donald 2011 PGA Tour Player of the Year: Consistency at its best
Recently, the PGA Tour announced the world’s number one, Luke Donald, as the Player of the Year, he won the Race to Dubai and PGA tour money list titles in 2011.
Four top performers of the 2011 PGA Tour season were shortlisted, and the ballots were mailed to the players and golf experts, who pondered over their options and voted for one of them.
In the 2011 PGA Tour, each of the shortlisted players had fabulous performances to their credit.
However, Luke Donald was especially in the limelight due to his number one spot in the World Golf Rankings, with 14 top-10 finishes in the 19 events that he played. His record also includes two second and two third positions.
Donald was remarkable throughout the year and accomplished what no one has ever been able to do so far.
He won the PGA Tour money list title as well as the European Tour Order of Merit, becoming the first player in history to claim both awards in the same calendar year.
His stats in the 2011 season are a testament to his true consistency throughout the year. Whenever he teed off, there had always been a chance that he will finish in the top five or the top ten. Mentally too, he always looked very strong, grinding out the
scores whenever he needed to.
Prior to Player of the Year award announcement, the debate was whether a player who has not won a single major championship deserves to claim the said title or not.
Some people believed that winning a major should be necessary for a player to be called as the ‘Player of the Year’.
On the contrary, others said that the award is for the ‘Player of the Year’ and not the ‘Player of the Year with a Major’.
It was difficult to vote for a player who was partially playing on both, the PGA Tour and European Tour, at the same time. However, it went in his favour, having triumphed both the tours.
“It’s not easy playing both tours and travelling as much as I have done but certainly it’s worthwhile when you can come out and win both money lists,” Donald said of his appearance and winning the money list titles on both the tours.
He played overall fewer events compared to the other nominees and yet holds both the money list titles, with the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Keegan Bradley was also in view of many of the experts, as he won a major in his debut 2011 season.
However, he missed cuts in 10 events in the season which was not good enough to challenge Luke Donald. He was later awarded with the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title.
Webb Simpson, another contender for the Player of the Year award, was quite impressive in the season, with similar amount of wins as Donald had, 12 top-10 finishes in the season.
Yet, Donald had an edge over Simpson with less number of events played and greater consistency in the season.
He improved his game to a great extent this year and created a fine distinction between a good player and the best player of the year.
So, Donald was best rewarded for his consistency throughout the season, while being a well deserving candidate for the prestigious award.
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