The interesting thing about the post-Tiger world of the PGA Tour is that everything is always up for grabs. Majors, scoring titles and awards are never penciled in before the final announcement and while some miss the dominant player that everyone shoots for, it's nice to have different years for different players.
And even towards the end of this 2011 PGA Tour season, nobody really had any idea who should be the Player of the Year. That was, until Luke Donald went bananas at the Disney event, winning the Children's Miracle Network Hospital Classic with a closing 64 that not only landed him his second PGA Tour win of the season, but also the PGA Tour scoring title. Couple that with the Order of Merit, something that doesn't count on this tour but still sits in the back of voter's minds, and the way Donald played all season, and you have your Player of the Year.
After the PGA Championship, it was thought that Keegan Bradley might have a good shot at the award (he was named Rookie of the Year on Tuesday as well), but if you're talking about the best player for the entire season, you had to go with Donald. The 34-year-old Englishman had 14 top-10s in 19 starts, and finished out of the top-25 just three times all season. While majors do normally swing voting in these things, Donald was obviously the right call this year and deserved to win this award.
Talk about a career year for Luke. Not only is he the top player in the world rankings, but now he has this accomplishment under his belt and with it, became the first British player to claim it since the award started back in 1990.
