McIlroy Wins PGA of America's Player of the Year & Vardon Trophy Awards


Thanks to a red-hot summer in which he won two majors, the British Open and the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy has been named the PGA of America's Player of the Year for 2014.

The POY award is derived through a points-based system; winning two majors comes with a 50-point bonus. In between his two Grand Slam titles - making it a total of four in his career - the 25-year-old Northern Irishman won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, making it three victories in a row for him in those events.

Bubba Watson, winner of two of the past three Masters, was a distant second. He was followed by U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer of Germany and three-time winner Jimmy Walker.

In addition, McIlroy won the Vardon Trophy for low-scoring average over a season. McIlroy posted an adjusted average of 68.82 through 66 complete rounds, edging Spain's Sergio Garcia (68.95), who completed 61 rounds.

In addition, McIlroy finished first on the PGA Tour's money list with $8,280,096 in official earnings. In second place is Watson, nearly $2 million behind with $6,336,978.

This marks the second time in three years McIlroy, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, has swept the two awards. He's also the frontrunner to take home the PGA Tour's Player of the Year award, which will be announced before the season-opening tournament for the tour's wraparound 2014-15 season, the Frys.com Open, on October 9.