Harrington voted PGA Tour player of the year

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-17 09:46

THOUSAND OAKS, California _ Winning back-to-back majors was the highlight of Padraig Harrington's career. He felt winning the US PGA Tour player of the year award on Tuesday was just as significant.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington tees off on the third hole during the third round of the Singapore Open golf tournament November 15, 2008. [Agencies]

Harrington, only the fourth player to win the British Open and US PGA Championpionship."

Andres Romero of Argentina was voted rookie of the year, while Dudley Hart received comeback player of the year. In other awards, Bernhard Langer was Champions Tour player of the year, with Brendan de Jonge of Zimbabwe winning the Nationwide Tour award.

Harrington presumably beat out Tiger Woods, who won four times and didn't finish worse than fifth in his six tournaments before season-ending knee surgery in June. Woods won the US Open and still finished second on the money list.

The US PGA Tour does not disclose vote totals. Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas and Kenny Perry also were on the ballot for player of the year.

Harrington said he abstained from voting, because he didn't think it was proper to vote for himself, yet wanted to win the award badly enough that he didn't want to vote for anyone else.

He felt Woods has set such a high standard that voting worked in Harrington's favor.

"If I play in the US Tour Championship. And he was among only 11 players to make the cut in all four majors, finishing in the top 10 twice.

"This year helped me realize that I can play at the same level as the best players in the world," Romero said. "And hopefully, I can continue on that path."

Hart missed most of 2007 when doctors found a softball-sized lump in his wife's lung that had cancer cells. He tended to their triplets during her surgery and recovery, and while he didn't win this year, did well enough to finish 29th on the money list, matching his highest ranking since 1999.

"It's nice to be voted by your peers," Hart said. "But there's two sides to this. It means I didn't do very well the previous year. Hopefully, this is the last time I get this award."