NEW YORK, 7 December 2004 — The Commissioner of the PGA Tour Tim Finchem, announced yesterday that Vijay Singh has been named PGA Tour Player of the Year by a vote of the membership. Craig Stadler and Jimmy Walker had previously been announced as Players of the Year on the Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour respectively.
“Congratulations to Vijay, Craig and Jimmy for their exceptional seasons,” said Finchem. “They played at the highest level throughout the season and are deserving recipients of this honor.
“Congratulations also to the other players nominated who produced outstanding results during the 2004 season.”
Todd Hamilton was named Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour while Mark McNulty earned that honor on the Champions Tour. John Daly and Hubert Green were named the PGA Tour and Champions Tour’s Comeback Players of the Year. Singh earned PGA Tour Player of the Year honors and the accompanying Jack Nicklaus Trophy for the first time, breaking Tiger Woods five-year hold on the award. Stadler and Walker were also first-time winners of the prestigious award.
Other PGA Tour finalists included Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Woods. Hale Irwin was also nominated on the Champions Tourwhile Ryuji Imada, D.A. Points, Kevin Stadler and Charles Warren joined Walker in being nominated on the Nationwide Tour.
Singh captured a career-high nine titles, including his third major championship at the PGA Championship. His $10,905,168 earned him the Arnold Palmer Award and is the PGA Tour single-season earnings record, as he became the first player to surpass the $10-million mark. His nine victories were fifth most in a single season matching Paul Runyan’s total in 1933 and Woods’ 2000 total. Singh led the PGA Tour with 18 top-10 finishes and by averaging 4.40 birdies per round. He won the Byron Nelson Award for leading the Tour with his 68.84 scoring average.
Singh was particularly strong towards the end of the season, at one point winning six times in eight events. During that span he won the Deutsche Bank Championship, Bell Canadian Open and 84 Lumber Classic in consecutive starts. His exemplary play in the fall led to his winning the Fall Finish presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the third consecutive season.
Stadler, who was last season’s Champions Tour Rookie of the Year, won five times in 2004 and earned the Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list with $2,306,066. He won his second career Champions Tour major at the Jeld-Wen Tradition. That victory was the first of a streak of three wins in three starts, followed by The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach presented by Wal-Mart and culminating with the SAS Championship presented by Forbes.
In addition, he was victorious at The ACE Group Classic and the Bank of America Championship. He led the Champions Tour in four statistical categories including winning the Byron Nelson Award for best Scoring Average (69.30). Stadler also led in Eagles (86.1), Birdies (4.18) and All-Around (87). His battle to win the Charles Schwab Cup came down to the final hole of the season, with him finishing a mere 39 points behind Irwin. Walker won the season-opening BellSouth Panama Championship and followed that with a victory in the Chitimacha Louisiana Open three events later to become the first player in Nationwide Tour history to win two of a season’s first four events.
He led the money list with $371,346 and was second in the All-Around statistical category. In addition to his two victories, Walker posted runner-up finishes at the Virginia Beach Open and the Albertsons Boise Open. His position as the Nationwide Tour’s leading money winner earns him full-exempt status on the PGA TOUR for 2005.
Todd Hamilton was named PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year after winning The Honda Classic and the British Open. He was the leading rookie money winner, finishing 11th on the money list with $3,063,778. Zach Johnson, winner of the BellSouth Classic; Vaughn Taylor, winner at the Reno-Tahoe Open; and FUNAI Classic at WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort champion Ryan Palmer also were nominated.
