COMMENTARY | By winning The Barclays this weekend, some golf fans are suggesting that Adam Scott should be named the PGA Tour Player of the Year when all is said and done. Those people would be wrong.
With five tournament victories -- including the WGC-Cadillac Championship, WGC-Bridgestone and The Players Championship -- Tiger Woods is still the heavy favorite to win POY honors, and rightfully so. The fact that this is even in question is ridiculous to me.
But is there a case to be made for Scott?
According to Yahoo! Sports' Brian Murphy, apparently so. As Murphy suggests, could it be possible that Scott's Masters green jacket and winning the first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs be weighted higher than the total of all Woods' victories in 2013? He seems to think quality of wins (Scott) is more impressive than quantity (Woods).
I could not disagree more.
Earlier last week, Scott suggested that, while Woods recently called his five-win year "great" prior to The Barclays, Tiger would much rather have the type of year the Aussie was enjoying. He was correct in that assessment; Tiger has always preferred major championships over "regular" tour wins. Then again, that's like saying LeBron James "prefers" NBA rings over division titles. No duh.
But we are talking about five wins here, people. The last time I checked, five is still more than two, major championship included or not.
Strength of tournament field in each golfer's respective wins is also a wash when compared side-by-side. Three of Tiger's wins -- the two WGC events and his triumph at Sawgrass -- featured a tournament field that would be similar to that of any major championship. His other two wins -- the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Farmers Insurance Open- - included many of the world's top-ranked players (eventual US Open winner Justin Rose finished runner-up to Woods at Bay Hill). That's nothing to shake a stick at, folks.
Yes, Adam Scott can hang his Player of the Year nomination on winning what many believe to be the crown jewel of majors (sorry, but it's true, everyone loves Augusta no matter how much history the US Open or British Open boast). His win at the talent-heavy Barclays added to his case. That doesn't mean Scott is automatically the frontrunner for the award. Everything Tiger has done this year still happened.
By the way, Tiger finished second to Scott at The Barclays. Let's not forget that.
The question no longer hinges on some arbitrary comparison of quality over quantity. If you take away Tiger's wins at Bay Hill and the Farmers, he still has more wins than Scott. Winning The Masters is a monumental deal. However, just because you won the Super Bowl doesn't make you the MVP of the league.
Adam Fonseca has covered professional golf since 2005. His work can also be found on the Back9Network. Follow Adam on Twitter at @chicagoduffer.
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