Woods, Spieth earn PGA TOUR awards

Two former Rolex Junior Players of the Year were honored with end-of-the-season honors as Tiger Woods was named PGA TOUR Player of the Year and Jordan Spieth was announced as PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year by the PGA TOUR. Woods was named Player of the Year for a record 11th time, while Spieth received the award over David Lingmerth, Russell Henley and Derek Ernst.

 

Tiger Woods
Woods played in 13 and won eight AJGA tournaments from 1991-93, which ties him for second-most AJGA career wins and earned him the title of Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. Woods appeared in the Wyndham Cup from 1990-1993 as a member of the West Team and posted a record of 11-3-2, the best of any boy in the tournament’s history.

Before beginning his professional career, Woods spent two years at Stanford University where he was a two-time first team All-American. In 1996, he was the NCAA individual champion, the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year, the Pac-12 conference champion and Pac-12 Player of the Year.

In 2013, Woods won five times in 16 starts, bringing his total career victories to 79, three wins short of Sam Snead’s all-time PGA TOUR record of 82.

 

The 2009 Rolex Junior Player of the Year collected five AJGA victories including wins at both the 2008 and 2010 PING Invitational. He closed his AJGA career with a win at the 2011 HP Boys Championship at Carlton Woods, the same year he won his second U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, having previously won in 2009. He became only the second player to earn two titles at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship behind Tiger Woods (1991-93).

 

The three-time Rolex Junior All-American received his first amateur exemption in 2010 for the HP Byron Nelson Classic making him the first player since 1995 to receive an amateur exemption into the event. Spieth finished his first PGA TOUR start in the top 20 at T16. 

 

Spieth played his college career at the University of Texas where he helped the Longhorns win the 2012 NCAA Men’s Division I Golf National Championship, before turning professional in December 2012.

In 2013, Spieth made history at the John Deere Classic where he became the youngest player to win on the PGA TOUR. He tied Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas for most top-10 finishes on TOUR with nine, including a runner-up finish at the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, the same venue where he competed in the FJ Invitational as an AJGA junior.