Michelle Wie’s breakthrough 2014 LPGA season was worthy of Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, while Rory McIlroy is the Tour player of the year in the eyes of the newly crowned FedEx Cup winner despite falling short down the stretch this season.
Michelle Wie wins LPGA award while Rory McIlroy is Billy Horschel’s player of the year
Michelle Wie caps a breakout season with a prestigious new award while Rory McIlroy earned the player of the year vote from a certain FedEx Cup winner.
Stuart Franklin
A lingering finger injury forced Wie to withdraw from the final major of the season, the Evian Championship, before finishing Thursday’s opening round. Despite the WD, the winner of her first major this season nailed down the inaugural Annika Major Award, which goes to the golfer who accrues the most points in grand slam events.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Wie, whose injury cost her a start at last month’s Wegmans LPGA Championship, told reporters during the award ceremony following Hyo Joo Kim’s Evian victory. “I really wanted to come here and play well this week because I thought I really needed that to win … I entered this week just feeling so grateful that I even had a chance.”
Wie missed the cut at the Women’s British Open and skipped the Wegmans but her U.S. Women’s Open victory and runner-up finish at the Kraft Nabisco were enough to put her over the top for the honor, for which only major winners were eligible. Wie, with 84 points, finished eight points ahead of Wegmans winner Inbee Park.
“I really am very surprised too, but very happy,” said Wie, who, interestingly, had come under withering criticism in the past from the award’s namesake but with whom she had since made amends.
While Wie’s season may not yet be over -- she said she hoped an MRI on the injured digit would indicate she could play in China at the Reignwood LPGA Classic and Blue Bay LPGA next month -- Billy Horschel ended his with a huge W and by casting his vote for his 36-hole playing partner at East Lake.
“Rory McIlroy,” Horschel, who had just won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, told GolfChannel.com’s Jason Sobel on Sunday about his pick for player of the year.
“He won two majors and three big events back-to-back,” said Horschel, who had himself gone back-to-back at the BMW and Tour Championships. “In my mind, he’s the player of the year. I don’t think there’s anyone who comes close.
“You look at what Rory McIlroy has done the last six months, ever since May,” Horschel continued, “he’s just been on one hell of a stretch.”
Horschel will not be alone among his peers in voting for McIlroy, who earned the same award in 2012 after winning his second grand slam event, the PGA Championship.
