McIlroy tops Koepka for PGA Tour Player of the Year honours

Article by

ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy may not have added to his collection of major titles during the 2018-19 campaign, but the Northern Irishman did enough to be named the PGA Tour Player of the Year on Wednesday for a third time.

The 30-year-old Northern Irishman, who won three titles during the season including the Players Championship and Tour Championship, beat Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar and Xander Schauffele in a vote by players for the Jack Nicklaus Award.

“I couldn’t be more proud of what I achieved this year,” McIlroy, who had 14 top-10 finishes in his 19 starts, said on a conference call.

“I wanted to try to bring my best every single week that I played, and I feel like I did that to the best of my ability.”

McIlroy, who won the award in 2012 and 2014, made 17 of 19 cuts while racking up three victories, the final one at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta where he also claimed the FedExCup for a $15 million payday.

The four-times major champion’s other victory came in his RBC Canadian Open debut, where he set a tournament record and won by seven shots – the largest winning margin of the season.

But when it came to the majors, McIlroy finished tied for 21st at the Masters, tied for eighth at the PGA Championship, tied for ninth at the US Open and missed the cut at the British Open in his native Northern Ireland. (Reuters)