from: DOUG FERGUSON, Associated Press
Posted: 09/14/2021 / 7:44 AM CDT
Updated: 09/14/2021 / 07:44 AM CDT
Patrick Cantlay poses with the trophies after winning the Tour Championship golf tournament and FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday, September 5, 2021 in Atlanta. (AP Photo / Brynn Anderson)
Patrick Cantlay was named PGA Tour Player of the Year for his four wins, including a one-shot advantage at East Lake that made him FedEx Cup Champion.
Tuesday’s announcement was another big step for Cantlay, a 29-year-old Californian who went from the world’s number 1 amateur to a three-year incapacity to play due to a career-threatening back injury.
Now he has the Jack Nicklaus Award after a grand finale to his best season. Cantlay has won four times this season, crowned by the FedEx Cup. Nobody else has won more than twice.
The PGA Tour does not publish voting totals or how many players voted at all. It was probably a close race between Cantlay and Jon Rahm, world number 1.
Rahm landed one stroke behind Cantlay in the Tour Championship, where the Spaniard started the tournament four strokes behind. He won his first major this year at the US Open with a birdie-birdie finish. Rahm also had a six-shot lead into the final round of the memorial until he was forced to retire with a positive COVID-19 test.
Cantlay won the Memorial for his second win of the season and then pulled out in the end. He won the BMW championship at Caves Valley with as convincing putting as all year to beat Bryson DeChambeau in a playoff, and then he won the Tour championship for the FedEx Cup and his $ 15 million -Collect price.
Rahm, meanwhile, won the PGA of America Award for Player of the Year. This is based on points, three times the value of winning a major.
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