HOUSTON (Dec.12, 2005) – Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and Dana Quigley are the winners of the Golf Writers Association of America 2005 Player of the Year Awards.
All three players will be honored at the GWAA’s Annual Awards Dinner April 5, 2006 in Augusta, Ga.
Woods has won the award record seven times in the last nine years. He won five consecutive awards before losing to Vijay Singh in 2004. Sorenstam has won the GWAA award five consecutive years and seven times in the last 11 years. It is the first award for Quigley.
Woods and Sorenstam both collected 95 percent of the votes in their respective categories. Quigley collected 40 percent of the vote, while Hale Irwin pulled 34 percent and Tom Watson pulled 26 percent.
Woods won six times this season, including two majors – the Masters and the Open Championship – and two World Golf Championships. He finished second four times, including at the U.S. Open, was tied for fourth at the PGA and wound up four shots away from a potential Grand Slam. He also won his sixth Vardon Trophy (68.66 average), led the PGA TOUR money list with $10.6 million and won the PGA Player of the Year award for a record seventh time.
Woods’ seventh GWAA award broke a tie with Tom Watson for most GWAA Male Player Awards. Watson won six in his regular career and added his first Senior GWAA POY Award last season.
Sorenstam won the first two majors of the year by a combined 11 shots and went on to win 10 LPGA events and more than $2.5 million. She also captured her sixth Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, finishing at 69.33, the fourth best in LPGA history. It was the second time Sorenstam has won at least 10 times in one LPGA season and her 66 career wins keep her on pace toward Kathy Whitworth’s career record 88 victories. Mickey Wright won 82 times.
Quigley won twice – the MasterCard Championship and Bayer Advantage Classic – and led the money list for the first time with $2,170,258. Quigley finished second five times, losing playoffs at two majors – the JELD-WEN Tradition to Loren Roberts; the Senior PGA to Mike Reid. The TOUR’s Ironman, Quigley had his streak of 264 consecutive starts end at the Senior Open Championship, which he missed due to a combination of a hip injury and bad weather. He led the Schwab Cup standings until the final week when Watson won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The GWAA, founded in 1946, has more than 950 members. The professional organization takes an active role in protecting the interests of all golf journalists, works closely with all of golf’s major governing bodies, the World Golf Hall of Fame and facilitates a scholarship/internship program which is currently helping students at 17 major U.S. universities.
Contact:
Melanie Hauser
Golf Writers Association of America
713/782-6664
