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The PGA Tour player of the year and rookie of the year will be announced on Friday but voting (by other golfers on the PGA Tour) will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon.
Here are your nominees (along with some self-made odds):
Player of the year
Tiger Woods -- It's fine to hold Tiger to Tiger's standards (majors, etc.) but when measuring him against his competitors, let's not grade on a sliding scale.
If you filled in the name "Tiger Woods" with, say, "Hunter Mahan" or "Webb Simpson" they wouldn't even have to vote on the award. They would have just handed it out after the Tour Championship and move on with things.
The stats are abundant but the one you need to know is five wins in 16 appearances. The conversation starts and ends there. Odds: 2-1
Adam Scott -- To me Scott is really the only other golfer who has an argument here. He finished in the top 25 the same number of times as Woods (10) and played in the same number of tournaments (16).
He also won the year's biggest (and maybe most exciting) major and nearly won both the British Open and PGA Championship. He was one win away from usurping Woods but I don't think he did quite enough. Odds: 8-1
Phil Mickelson -- Lefty was one round at Merion away from taking this home. He had six top three finished (same as Woods) but only two wins -- though one of those wins was an historic, unbelievable win that doubled as the final round of the year.
Mickelson will get some love from his fellow golfers, if only because he's never won player of the year (insane, I know), but just like the US Open, he'll come up a bit short. Odds: 12-1
Henrik Stenson -- Stenson had a nice year but they don't hand out player of the year awards for nice years. He had sort of the mini-version of Rory McIlroy's 2012 season where he just went crazy at the end of the year.
If Stenson had won the PGA Championship (like McIlroy did) or British Open, my interest would be piqued. But he won't and I think shouldn't win this year. Odds: 15-1
Matt Kuchar -- It would be the shocker of the year to me if Kuchar won this award. His season was nice (two wins, including the Match Play Championship) but this feels more like a "crap, we need five guys on the ballot" nod than anything else. Odds: 500-1
Rookie of the year
Jordan Spieth -- Actually it would be the shocker of the year if Jordan Spieth didn't win rookie of the year. He posted arguably the most prolific rookie campaign in Tour history and we aren't talking about a European Tour life here either.
He was 19 for most of the season, a season in which he led all golfers in top 10 appearances and closed with rounds in the 60s in eight of his last 11 tournaments. Odds: 1-5
Russell Henley -- Henley had the type of season you're supposed to have as a rookie of the year winner. He made 17 of 24 cuts, finished in the top 10 three times and won early on in Hawaii.
It would have been good enough for the award in most years but that Spieth guy keeps getting in his way. Odds: 100-1
Derek Ernst -- I talked to Ernst for a bit at the Crowne Plaza Invitational and he's as confident as they come. And why wouldn't he be? The 23-year-old was coming off his first win at the Wells Fargo Invitational and riding the high that comes from receiving your Tour card guaranteed for two years.
It would turn out to be his only top 25 appearance all season. He makes them count, I guess. Odds: 1,000-1
David Lingmerth -- Lingmerth's claim to fame in 2013 was nearly stealing the Tiger-Sergio show at the Players Championship but eventually settling for a T2. This was after missing five straight cuts. He also lost in a playoff to Brian Gay at the Humana Challenge.
It was a nice year from Lingmerth (three top 10s), but not an elite one. Odds: 1,000-1
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