Jim Furyk and fellow American Matt Kuchar made the most of a forgettable year for Tiger Woods by landing the leading honors after the 2010 PGA Tour ended with the Disney Classic at the weekend.
Rock-steady Furyk triumphed three times during the season to earn his first PGA Player of the Year award while Kuchar headed the official money list and also the scoring averages.
Kuchar was a model of consistency, recording 11 top-10 finishes in 26 starts to end his campaign with overall earnings of US$4,910,477 and an adjusted scoring average of 69.61.
Kuchar clinched the third PGA Tour title of his career at the lucrative Barclays playoff event in August on the way to securing the Arnold Palmer Award for topping the money list.
He also edged out compatriot Steve Stricker in the race for the Byron Nelson Award for low adjusted scoring average. Stricker was just .05 higher with an average of 69.66.
Each of Kuchar’s awards had been earned by Woods last year before the former world No. 1’s life unraveled amid allegations of serial philandering.
The 14-times major champion played only 12 events this season before ending up 68th in the money list with earnings of US$1,294,765, the second time he has been outside the top four.
Like Kuchar, Furyk took advantage of Woods’s woes as he won the prestigious PGA Player of the Year award after the first “three-win” season of his career.
One of the steadiest players in the game despite his unorthodox and looping swing, Furyk claimed his third victory of the year at the Tour Championship in September when he also landed FedExCup honors and the US$10 million bonus.
This is only the third time in 12 years that Woods has not landed PGA Player of the Year honors.
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