The debate has been gathering steam for a few weeks now: Is Jordan Spieth the unqualified Player of the Year, or does Jason Day have a chance to beat him out for the award?
Each side is passionate in their beliefs but the argument seems to center around one idea: As a general rule, players who win two majors in one year have won the POY award. The argument is that choosing Day over Spieth is a travesty that violates some basic law of the universe. I've even heard it argued that, if Spieth doesn't get the award, future generations will look back at us and question our intelligence. (And yes, the arguer put it in almost those exact words.)
Just to be clear, as of today -- Wednesday, 23 September 2015 -- I don't think there's any question that Jordan Spieth IS the Player of the Year. BUT -- and this is important -- the vote isn't taken today. We need to ask ourselves... could there be anything more spectacular than Jordan winning two majors, complete with all the attendant records?There are two big assumptions being made in this argument about Jordan over Jason that need to be questioned, so please stick with me for a few moments. I need to explain some things I've been considering lately so you can see where I'm coming from.
The first is simple: Is a major more important than anything else?
Before you immediately say "yes," stop and think a minute. Next year, an Olympic gold medal will be available. That medal hasn't been available for a century and it will be available only once every four years going forward -- at least, it will for as long as golf is in the Olympics this time around. Will a major, four of which are played each and every year, be worth more than that gold medal? (Or the silver medal, or even the bronze medal, which fall into the same category?)
I recognize you're tempted to argue that the Olympic medals are not to be had this 12 months, but it nevertheless matters. If there is something in order to be greater crucial than a first-rate subsequent year, how will you be so positive that a main is the be-all and end-all of golfing now? Likewise, the World Golf Hall of Fame considers THE PLAYERS to be a appropriate alternative for a prime, no doubt based totally at the electricity of subject. (As I even have argued before, THE PLAYERS has a stronger field than at least the Masters.) If THE PLAYERS carries the identical weight as a primary with the WGHoF, why ought to a first-rate be the figuring out thing in POY debates?
And we do have the historic precedent of Tiger triumphing the POY in 2013 with none primary at all, however at the power of having gained THE PLAYERS, a WGC and 3 different outstanding occasions.
Which brings me to the second one assumption, the only that I think caused the "future generations" argument I stated earlier however that is less apparent due to the fact so many human beings virtually assume it's genuine. I assume anybody has determined that that is Jordan's "breakout year," the year that released his movie star-to-be career, and that future generations will assume we had been blind no longer to apprehend it if Jordan would not get the award.
But is this automatically Jordan's breakout year certainly because he received two majors?
What if it's Jason's breakout year? I think this question isn't being considered seriously enough.
Okay, before I go any further, let me make this clear: My thoughts from this point on are based on the possibility of Jason winning THE TOUR Championship this week. If Jason doesn't win this week, I think Jordan should definitely get the POY Award. Are you with me so far? Good. Then let's proceed...Let's make sure we've got all the pieces on the gameboard, if you know what I mean.
If Jason wins this week, he additionally wins the FedExCup. Among different records he could set, like turning into the primary participant to win 3 of the four Playoff occasions, he would additionally become the first player ever to win a primary (in file-setting fashion btw), win the FedExCup and come to be #1 inside the international ALL IN THE SAME YEAR. And he did this coming from in the back of Jordan -- bear in thoughts that, on July eleven, Jordan became #2 inside the world and Jason become #9. That's a whole lot of points to make up.
Likewise, allow's deliver Jordan credit for the whole wraparound season. While Jordan simplest has four PGA Tour wins in 2015, he also gained the Emirates Australian Open and the Hero World Challenge -- and the latter is covered at the PGA Tour's event list, although it's not legit money. That could imply each players have six global wins all through this season. (Again, bear in mind that prevailing both the FedExCup and the Race to Dubai helped the gamers supply the POY Award to Luke Donald in 2011. They do keep in mind international wins.)
If it topics, Jason could have six official PGA Tour wins and Jordan best 4. However, the Australian Open and the Canadian Open (which Jason won) each started in 1904 and each are taken into consideration top rate tournaments. This would supply Jordan 3 premium activities -- the Australian Open and two majors -- and Jason would have three as well, due to the fact that THE TOUR Championship has usually been a premium event at the PGA Tour.
Jordan did all of his winning earlier than the Open Championship; his closing win came on the John Deere. Jason's first win this season became in February so -- in spite of the illness -- his wins got here over kind of the same time period as Jordan's.
Bear in thoughts that Jason collected this report even as combating vertigo. It's smooth to neglect that Jason became tied with Jordan on Saturday night time at the US Open at -four in spite of the vertigo, and could slightly play on Sunday because of the remedy. He nevertheless shot a four spherical to complete T9. Otherwise the US Open may have had a different ending. (I'm not announcing he gets credit score for nearly prevailing. I'm saying his yr turned into significantly hampered by illness, which makes what he's finished even more wonderful.)
Also endure in mind that, need to Jason win THE TOUR Championship, he could have won three out of 4 of the Playoff events -- as I stated, it truly is by no means been finished -- even as Jordan didn't even make the reduce in of them. And the fields in these activities are the guys who performed nicely enough to be completely-exempt in 2016... And all of them experience they have nothing to lose, so they are gambling aggressively. Four weeks of the whole Tour roster throwing the whole thing they've got at him because all of them need that $10mil.
Maybe -- just perhaps -- 2015 will in the end be remembered as the 12 months Jason Day have become the last decade's dominant participant.
Look, I'm not saying that Jason Day should win POY if he wins THE TOUR Championship. I'm just saying that, if he does win this week, maybe his year has been much better than we're willing to admit. If you pay attention to my Ruthless Golf World Rankings over there in the sidebar, you know that Jason's been #1 there for a few weeks. My rankings focus on only one year and give a lot of weight to recent form and wins. For me, one more win means Jason would give Jordan some serious competition in the POY race.
I'll be very interested to look if he can get that win and fire up the pot a touch!
The photo got here from this page at foxsports.Com.
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