As of Tuesday, the finalists for the U.S. PGA Tour Player of the Year award of 2010 has been announced, revealing Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and Dustin Johnson to be at the top.
Either way, it would seem that the Jack Nicklaus Trophy will be awarded to a first-time winner once it is announced on December 4. All of the finalists were nominated by the player advisory council with each of the players having at least 15 stars in order to be eligible to vote on a winner.
Tiger Woods, former No. 1 golfing star and 14-time Major Champion had so far dominated the balloting since 1997. This was the year he captured his first ever major title when he won the Masters in a fantastic way.
Woods has been chasing the record of 18 titles that were won by Nicklaus, and has won the award 10 times. The three times, apart from this year, was when his winning streak was broken by Mark O’Meara in 1998, Vijay Singh in 2004, and Padraig Harrington in 2008.
However, this year is the first in Woods’ career to go winless after he suffered from a sex scandal that led to a five month long hiatus from the sport. He then went through a divorce from his wife Elin Nordegren, and then lost his No. 1 status to Lee Westwood after having the spot for 5 years.