Player of the Year - Jordan Spieth? What would Jason Day have to do to win it?

[rehmwa]

Are we talking about the Tour Player of the Year (based on votes from the players)

or the PGA POTY (points systems)

?

I assume the Tour one......

then it's just as random as this thread isn't it since the players are human and will have many differing opinions....

edit:  just checked - they've aligned with each other for a VERY long time

[inthehole]

hmmm, Day would have to win 4 out of the last 6 events.

check.

There you have it.   The only way I would vote for Spieth is if he WON the last event - his utter lack of game lately should carry alot of weight in POY voting

[Golfingdad]

hmmm, Day would have to win 4 out of the last 6 events. check. There you have it.   The only way I would vote for Spieth is if he WON the last event - his utter lack of game lately should carry alot of weight in POY voting

Spieth played pretty well last week though. Also, I think it would be a mistake to overweight the last few weeks just because they're the most recent. Player of the Year should equally weight the entire season.

[pumaAttack]

Spieth played pretty well last week though. Also, I think it would be a mistake to overweight the last few weeks just because they're the most recent. Player of the Year should equally weight the entire season.

So you are overweighing Jordan's hot steak but discounting Day's?

[jgreen85]

Still JS. Day is coming off a W in a field with 70 players. The Tour championship is only 30. Still very respectable accomplishment - winning two legs of the playoffs so far. I think its tougher to string two in a row during the regular season. Spieth's 1, 2, T2, 1 at the Valspar, Valero, Shell, and Masters (didn't play at Bay Hill) are much more impressive than Day's current run - even if he wins the TC - and that's not taking into account everything JS did before/after that five week stretch.

aren't all of those tournaments you listed around the same time? i know valero/shell/masters are back to back to back. Basically, Spieth was hot march/april and Day is hot july/august. Cancel each other out. The big bogie is US Open; Spieth obviously won = very impressive. Day finished T-9 despite the vertigo; also very impressive?

1,2, T2, 1 is more impressive than a potential 1, 1,12, 1, 1? For the sake of the PGA Tour's "Playoff" the Tour should certainly hope not.

I think you're crazy to say it's tougher to win in the regular season than the playoffs. These aren't just 70/30 random players; these are the 70/30 BEST players on Tour this year. Go look at the fields of the valspar/valero/shell. They don't touch the fields in the playoffs. Literally, the playoffs are only for the best players on Tour this year. Tiger Woods would've had no problem showing up for those 3 tournaments, but he was not invited to the playoffs. There are PGA tour winners who did not make the top 125 let alone the top 70.

Comparing the Master's to the PGA, forget the history, the PGA is a much more impressive win. The Master's is well-known for having the weakest field of all of the majors and the PGA the strongest.

[Wally Fairway]

hmmm, Day would have to win 4 out of the last 6 events.

check.

There you have it.   The only way I would vote for Spieth is if he WON the last event - his utter lack of game lately should carry alot of weight in POY voting

Ummm, it is player of the year not of the last 2 months (as awesome as Day's year has been)

Jordan - 24 events, 4 wins (2 majors) 4 second places, 14 top tens, 18 top 25's, 4 missed cuts

Majors - 1st, 1st, T4, 2

Jason - 19 events, 5 wins, 0 second places, 10 top tens, 14 top 25's, 2 missed cuts

Majors - T28, T9, T4, 1st

So I agree that Jason Day is the hottest player on tour right now, but you seem to write off the rest of the year.

[jgreen85]

I think I changed my mind on this though. In most sports, the playoff events don't play a role in determining "regular season" awards (MVP, PotY, CY Young, etc). If the PGA Tour has a true "Playoff" then these last 4 events don't count towards these awards. Clearly, Jordan is the PotY (MVP) of the regular PGA Tour Season and Day is the PGA Tour Champion. Of course, this being golf, it has to be a sponsored award lol.

[Yukari]

Sure it matters. Who's win is more impressive Ben Curtis in 2003 or Tiger Woods in 2005? Curtis won because the field fell apart. Tiger won because he destroyed the field. Sorry, but how you win can matters a lot. To me I think Dustin gave away the US Open over Spieth winning it.  I am throwing out the sentimental value of the tournament and just looking at overall quality of the field. In terms of that Jason has won more tournaments under tougher competition and has decimated the field.

[quote name="pumaAttack" url="/t/84181/player-of-the-year-jordan-spieth-what-would-jason-day-have-to-do-to-win-it/90#post_1202501"]The point is that Day has dominated golf and has won going away. Jordan got lucky that DJ chocked or else he wouldn't have been in a position to win at all.    Day did not have to rely on somebody else screwing up, he went out and won.   [/quote] Those are very pursuavive arguments, and I agree. Day gets my vote for POY. He destroyed the field which is more impressive than having someone choke to win.

[Golfingdad]

So you are overweighing Jordan's hot steak but discounting Day's?

I don't believe so, and I'm actively trying not to.  Like I said, I wouldn't begrudge anybody who voted for Day at this point, I'm just arguing against the definitive "case closed" type arguments.  I'd still lean towards Spieth at this point, but if Day wins this week, I could certainly see him winning POY as well.

Sure it matters. Who's win is more impressive Ben Curtis in 2003 or Tiger Woods in 2005? Curtis won because the field fell apart. Tiger won because he destroyed the field. Sorry, but how you win can matters a lot. To me I think Dustin gave away the US Open over Spieth winning it.

I am throwing out the sentimental value of the tournament and just looking at overall quality of the field. In terms of that Jason has won more tournaments under tougher competition and has decimated the field.

I'm kind of in the middle on this but lean towards agreeing with @newtogolf .  Similar to my argument above to @pumaAttack - overweighing Days performance this month against Spieths earlier in the season is a form of recency bias.  Talking about how Spieth needed DJ to "choke" to win the US Open is another form of the same recency bias.  You're giving too much weight to the last 0.4% of DJs shots in that tournament.  If DJ happened to 3 putt 4 holes earlier, or 71 holes earlier the result would have been the same, and specifically Spieth could have done, quite literally, the exact same thing and many people would consider it somehow a "better" victory.  That makes very little sense.  He finished the tournament with one more shot than Spieth ... PERIOD.

Right now it's still Spieth.

Even though he didn't win the Deutsche Bank, I think a Tour Championship win could now push Day over the top. Nothing short of that though. 2 Majors, and a second and 4th in the other 2 still trumps all else.

Pretty much what I think as well.  We'll see - should be exciting.

The point is that Day has dominated golf and has won going away.

Jordan got lucky that DJ chocked or else he wouldn't have been in a position to win at all.

Day did not have to rely on somebody else screwing up, he went out and won.

See above, but also remember that even if DJ wins, we're still talking about a guy who is probably worthy of POY.  One major, two seconds and a 4th in the other three, 3 victories.  I think that if DJ wins the Open then we're still making the same arguments about whos POY and the margin between the two is still razor thin.

[Dave2512]

Destroyed the field which included Spieth, who has gone on record saying he can't compete at the level Jason is playing at. Even if JS wins it in his head he isn't thinking it and IMO it's not a good spot for him to be. I don't think JD is going to dominate Tiger style or anything but with the rotating cast of very good players on the tour and the flavor of the week media shifting the attention around it's likely another bomber will go on a run. It seems for JS to play his best he has to be at the front of the pack. Jason is on a different level atm.

[nevets88]

I think I changed my mind on this though. In most sports, the playoff events don't play a role in determining "regular season" awards (MVP, PotY, CY Young, etc). If the PGA Tour has a true "Playoff" then these last 4 events don't count towards these awards. Clearly, Jordan is the PotY (MVP) of the regular PGA Tour Season and Day is the PGA Tour Champion. Of course, this being golf, it has to be a sponsored award lol.

This is similar to how I feel. I realize I'm in get off my lawn territory - maybe I need to buy a pair of big honking wrap around sunglasses.

[Wally Fairway]

Quote:

Destroyed the field which included Spieth, who has gone on record saying he can't compete at the level Jason is playing at. Even if JS wins it in his head he isn't thinking it and IMO it's not a good spot for him to be. I don't think JD is going to dominate Tiger style or anything but with the rotating cast of very good players on the tour and the flavor of the week media shifting the attention around it's likely another bomber will go on a run. It seems for JS to play his best he has to be at the front of the pack. Jason is on a different level atm.

I agree with you, it is a flavor of the week mentality and it is led by the media.

The year started off being the year of Rory, coming off winning the last 2 majors of 2014.

Then quickly it became the year of Jordan, as he won the first 2 majors this year.

And right now it is the year of Jason, with his PGA and FedEx performance.

So the question is, without over weighting recent performance, who had the best year on the PGA?

I think many people will look to this weeks event to help them decide, which should be a part of it - but not a big part, considering that this is the most limited field event of the year.

[Dave2512]

My guess is if you asked the tour players they would say Jordan. He has been steady the exception being two missed cuts that coincided with JD going nuts. If he made those cuts and contended there would be no media and fan doubt (I hate to say if).

For whatever reason people have latched on to JD, he's a likeable guy. If Bubba had done the same thing I don't think the response would be the same.

[mvmac]

It's close but I'm still going with Spieth.

Thought this was a good tweet.

[Golfingdad]

It's close but I'm still going with Spieth.

Thought this was a good tweet.

Well, that sums it up pretty well.  Puts everything in perspective, eh?

[saevel25]

Well, that sums it up pretty well.  Puts everything in perspective, eh?

It's an interesting question. With Day actually winning the PGA Championship and achieving a goal he set to be the Worlds #1. I would happen to guess he would not trade this season for Spieths. I think Day's the type of guy who takes a lot of pride in the fact he achieved this much under his hard work. If I had to guess, he would probably say it would have been nice to win one more Major, but no he wouldn't trade this season.

[Golfingdad]

It's an interesting question. With Day actually winning the PGA Championship and achieving a goal he set to be the Worlds #1. I would happen to guess he would not trade this season for Spieths. I think Day's the type of guy who takes a lot of pride in the fact he achieved this much under his hard work. If I had to guess, he would probably say it would have been nice to win one more Major, but no he wouldn't trade this season.

I think you're looking at it too philosophically.  Looking at it that way, I wouldn't trade my season for Spieth's either.  Too much other stuff in my life would have to be different and I wouldn't want that.  I like it how it is.  But with Day and Spieth, I think he's simply asking would you have rather won 2 majors and reached number 1 this year, or just the one major and reached number one, but you won an extra regular season event?

I'd guess that he probably would switch.  ("Guess" being the key word, you are just as likely to be correct as me.) :)

EDIT:  Also, consider how close he's been to winning the Masters several times and he'd have that monkey off his back and that trophy in his hands.  That means something too.

[Shorty]

I think Day's the type of guy who takes a lot of pride in the fact he achieved this much under his hard work.

Just wondering if there are any players, past or present, who would be any different.