Nelly Korda has been the LPGA Player of the Year. Lydia Ko would be a good debate: golf

Photo: The Canadian Press

The case for the LPGA Tour Player of the Year could be compelling if it were decided by a player vote instead of a points system.

As it stands, Nelly Korda has practically locked down the award for the first time. Lydia Ko should win four more tournaments the rest of the season, and she’s only playing in two of them. Two more players, Ayaka Furue and Haeran Ryu, should win.

Korda’s victory would not raise much debate. Her six wins this year include a major at The Chevron Championship, and she tied an LPGA record by winning five in a row that brought much-needed attention to the LPGA.

Ko has won four times this year, including the Women’s British Open in St. Andrews. The LPGA remarkably counts only three wins for the points-based award. Gone is that shiny gold medal at the Olympics.

How will the players vote?

The advantage of using points is to eliminate subjectivity. The PGA Tour uses a player vote, and it was surprising last year when Scottie Scheffler with his two wins won the award over Jon Rahm, whose four wins included the Masters.

Scheffler’s consistency, the best statistical season since Tiger Woods’ peak, was a big factor. It was unknown if Rahm lost votes by defecting to LIV Golf in the middle of voting.

Ko might be the first to agree that Korda deserves the award. The Kiwi is also unlikely to change his season. Golf is about trophies, and it’s also about moments. Ko had big ones.

Her gold medal in Paris, following bronze in Tokyo and silver in Rio de Janeiro, made her eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Winning another major was important, but winning at St. Andrews is next level.

The Golf Writers Association of America will decide later this year through a vote.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour could make a similar argument. Scheffler is the likely choice for another impressive statistical year, this time with seven wins, including the Masters and The Players Championship, and four flagship events.

He also won the Olympic gold medal with a 62 in the final round.

Xander Schauffele won only twice, but they were majors at the PGA Championship and the British Open. And players tend to put more weight in the majors.

No member of the PGA Tour has ever won two majors in the same year without being voted Player of the Year (Nick Faldo was not a member in 1990). Again, it could be a measure of whether the players really put The Players on par with a major.

Voting for the PGA Tour Player of the Year does not begin until the season ends on November 24.

It would seem like an easy choice, at least Schauffele thinks so. Japan was asked on Tuesday what it would take to win the award next year.

“Looks like I need to have the best run ever,” he said. “I had my best race and it wasn’t very close.”

A short return

Justin Thomas is ending one of the longest layoffs of his career when he plays in the Zozo Championship. He last competed on September 1 at the Tour Championship. And then it’s time for another break, as his wife is due to give birth to their first child next month.

“I was struggling to get here,” Thomas said Tuesday. “The time off is nice, but if I don’t compete for a long time, I want to come back and play tournaments again.”

He said he has a mix of time spent with family and friends and lots of practice.

“I’ve been excited to train and really excited for the opportunity to play and compete this week,” he said. “Although it’s been a nice time off, I’m very happy to be back and playing in a tournament again.”

He said impending fatherhood (they’re expecting a girl) probably won’t hit him until the flight home to Florida.

Field of the Bahamas

Tiger Woods rolled out the field for his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in the first week of December. His name is not yet on the list.

Woods had another back surgery last month and the recovery time is eight to 12 weeks. The hope is that he can return to the PNC Championship with his son on Dec. 21-22, and his field had not ruled him out of playing in the Bahamas.

Scottie Scheffler returns to defend his title December 5-8. Ludvig Aberg (coming off knee surgery) and Patrick Cantlay also committed to play. Newcomers include Robert MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon and Aaron Rai.

Players must be in the top 50 in the world to receive an invite. Woods is exempt from that as the tournament host.

Stricker on early leave

Regardless of his age or where he is in his career, Steve Stricker has been consistent in one part of his schedule: he doesn’t really like playing after September. This is the case this year. He won the Sanford International on September 15 and is done for the year.

Part of this is due to a low back. Stricker said he is considering ablation to burn the nerve endings, hoping that will help. The alternative is surgery which I would prefer to avoid.

The biggest part about not playing is that Stricker never does this time of year. He has never played a Charles Schwab Cup playoff event. Stricker clinched the title last year before the playoffs began. He intended to play in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship until his father’s health began to decline.

This is nothing new, of course. In 2006, he was 32nd on the PGA Tour money list with three tournaments remaining to enter the Tour Championship. It was October and Stricker skipped them all.

The most famous was in 2001, when he took off two months before the Tour Championship and narrowly held on for 30th place.

What occupies his time, for now, is bow hunting. But it’s back to work this week, even if it means leaving his clubs at home. She is caddying for her daughter, Bobbi, in the second leg of the LPGA Qualifier.

divots

The Champions World Cup at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida has been canceled this year. It is a PGA Tour Champions event of nine-hole matches between teams from the United States, Europe and the rest of the world. Organizers felt the focus should be on recovery from Hurricane Milton. … Michelle Wie West is now a mother of two. Wie West and her husband Jonnie West announced the birth of their son, Jagger Jerry YooJun West. West is the son of the late NBA legend Jerry West. They already have a daughter, McKenna. … The PGA Professional Championship is moving from Frisco, Texas, to Bandon Dunes in Oregon for 2025. The tournament that determines the top 20 club professionals entering the PGA Championship will be played at the Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes courses. … Utah can count on two PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments in the next few years. Along with the PGA Tour’s new Black Desert Championship, the Korn Ferry Tour announced an extension of the Utah Championship through at least 2027. It will be held next year at Ogden Golf and Country Club.

Statistics of the week

Four of the last five PGA Tour tournaments were won with four rounds in the 60s. The exception was the Procore Championship, where Patton Kizzire had a round of 70.

final word

“You can’t put it in a carry-on, I’ll say that much. That would be a huge log.” — Xander Schauffele, on why he brought the British Open claret jug he won to Japan instead of the PGA Championship’s Wanamaker Trophy. The trophy is 28 inches (71 centimeters) tall and weighs 27 pounds (12 kilograms).

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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf