Mid-Year Roundtable: Player of the year

text size

Editor's note: The PGA TOUR has reached the midway point of the regular season this week at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Here's who our PGATOUR.COM panel of experts thinks has the early lead in the Player of the Year race.

• Other Picks: Rookie of the year | Comeback player of year
• Join our new Facebook fan page and get in the discussion: Give us your picks on Facebook

T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.COM Interactive Producer
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Watch Tiger get his fifth Bay Hill victory
With just five starts in 2008, Woods has five top-five finishes -- three wins, a second and a fifth. Amazing. Unfortunately, it's that second-place performance everyone is obsessed with because it came at the Masters, which means there's no chance of seeing a Grand Slam from Tiger in 2008. Nevertheless, no player has been more dominating, or more exciting to watch, through the first half of the season than Tiger.

Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Watch Tiger win the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship
Could it be anyone other than Tiger Woods? In five starts, he's done no worse than fifth and he's won three times. At the Masters, Woods clearly did not have his 'A' game and still finished second. For the first half of the year, there's no question he dominated. Ask me again at the end of the season, though, as he continues to recuperate from knee troubles.

Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Tiger does it again at the Buick Invitational
It's true. Five events. Three wins. A second. A fifth. And all that on a bad left knee. The R&R -- rehab and more rehab -- gives other players a crack in the door, but, honestly, it doesn't get much better than his first five events unless, this year at least, your last name is Ochoa.

Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Every time he tees it up Tiger Woods doesn't hope to win, he expects to
Three victories in five starts. Two top-10s in his other events, including a second in the 2008 Masters on a bum knee. Any questions?

John Maginnes
PGATOUR.COM Contributor
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Tiger's 2008 PGA TOUR results
Second verse. Same as the first. Tiger is obviously the Player of the Year once again. He has won three times, including his 97th Buick Invitational. Actually, I lost count -- it may be closer to six at Torrey Pines, but you get the point. With the U.S. Open also being held there, it seems likely that Tiger will cruise in June and then you never know. He is the defending FedExCup champion and it will take something unprecedented to take him down.

Scott Pianowski
PGATOUR.COM Fantasy Insider
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Tiger's 2008 PGA TOUR statistics
You can't deny a guy who's got 7,664 FedExCup points on the field, not to mention those five tidy starts (1-1-1-5-2). Get well soon, Tiger.

Helen Ross
PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PIck: Tiger Woods
• How will Tiger's absence affect the TOUR?
So, he didn't win the first major of the year. Tiger's three wins to start the season, though, trumps anyone else this year. Obviously, this all hinges on how he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery -- but the last time, in 2003, he came back and won five times. Tiger's got a head start this year and three more majors for motivation.

Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.COM Senior Correspondent
Pick: Tiger Woods
• Like Ben Hogan, Tiger owes much of his success to hard work
Sure, he's been slumping of late, but that slump is comprised of a fifth at the World Golf Championship-CA Championship and second place at the Masters. That's a good year for most of the membership. Prior to his "slide" Woods won three straight. That's a career year for most of the membership. Case closed.