Tiger Woods Awarded as Male Player of 2009

For the 10th time in his career, Tiger Woods has been voted by the Golf Writers Association of America as male player of the year, winning with a huge margin against Steve Stricker on December 17, 2009.

Woods was forced to sit out eight months due to a major knee surgery. When he returned, he was able to win six times while on the U.S. PGA Tour. He also captured the FedEx Cup plus the tour money title, as well as the Vardon Trophy for acquiring the lowest scoring average.

Despite the fact that most of the ballots were returned after Woods became involved in a sex scandal, he received 168 votes or 84%, Stricker received 20 votes, and Y.E. Yang was awarded 13 votes.

The voting began three days before the reported car accident that happened outside Wood’s Florida home. This eventually led to the player’s admission of infidelity, plus the announcement that he was taking an indefinite leave from golf so that he could focus his attention on saving his marriage. Despite all of these developments, the voting trend showed no change and Woods was voted for the 10th time as male player of the year.

For women’s golf, Jiyai Shin, the U.S. LPGA Tour rookie, was voted as the female player of the year by the association over Lorena Ochoa. For the seniors, Loren Roberts received the award.

Shin received 105 votes or 52% against the 85 votes that Ochoa received, and the 11 votes that Christie Kerr received.

For Loren Roberts, he had 111 votes or 55% against 78 votes that Bernhard Langer received, and the 10 votes that Fred Funk received.

Players will be receiving their awards on April 7, 2010 in Augusta, Georgia, during the Golf Writers Association of America Annual awards dinner.