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Well, the POY race just got a lot more interesting. Whereas Phil was way out in front after winning the Masters, I think Ogilvy actually took the lead on him after winning the U.S. Open. His 2 wins were more prestigious than Phil's two wins. Bellsouth isn't anywhere near as prestigious as the Match Play. Now that Tiger's won the Open Championship, he's jumped up there either tied with Ogilvy or maybe slightly behind. Tiger's got 3 wins, 2 of which were pretty good ones with good fields on good golf courses (Torrey Pines and Doral), but I personally the missed cut at the U.S. Open sort of drops him down some in my opinion. It's a very tight race for sure and Phil is obviously very much in it still. If he defends at the PGA, he's POY no question. But if Tiger or Ogilvy win it, then obviously either one of them would be a lock too. It's a good race this year for sure.

It's very tight. Ogilvy's two wins were biggies, but overall he doesn't quite have the consistency of Tiger or Phil. Phil has the 2nd at the US Open to go with his win and a 20th or so at the Open...Tiger was 3rd at the Masters but the missed cut at the US Open probably drops him behind Phil. I'd put Phil in the leader's spot still, with Geoff and Tiger joint second.

Wait, Phil only has 2 wins this year. Tiger has 3. Wins are important, and Tiger's 2 regular wins were more prestigious events than Bellsouth (namely that he did it against quality fields that INCLUDED Phil, whereas Tiger hasn't played Bellsouth for a long time). I'm sorry, but Phil is in 3rd at this point. He'd have it locked up if not for one ugly hole of course, but the results are what matters.

Another way of judging it is money per start. That shows how well someone really is playing. PGATour.com hasn't updated yet, but I figure Tiger will be around $4 million through 10 events, and Phil around $4.2 million through 16 events. That's almost a $140,000 difference per start in Tiger's favor, and that includes a MC with $0 for Tiger at the U.S. Open.

$4,263,563 now...as a side, he also went over $60 million in career earnings.

I still give Phil a slight edge because he doesn't have a MC at a major. Ogilvy is right there now, but I can't see him there at the end of the season. It's down to Tiger and Phil at Medinah for the POY. Wouldn't it be something to have them in the final pairing Sunday?

Call me crazy, but if Phil had driven it exactly the same as he actually did at Winged Foot all week and had almost no preparation just as Tiger did, I have a feeling he'd miss the cut too. You gotta consider the circumstances. Hardest U.S. Open course ever (it's proven itself to be ridiculously hard 2 times in the last 30 something years) and no competitive golf for 9 weeks, first tournament since the death of his father, and definitely not 2 or 3 weeks of practice at the course like Phil had. Phil's knowledge of the course really helped him out there because the way he was driving it, if this had been the early 2000's before he developed this strategy of practicing the course so much, he woulda missed the cut almost for sure just like Tiger did. Like I said, I consider Tiger's 2 wins to balance that out and then some.

Well, I agree that Phil would have struggled in Tiger's shoes, but it doesn't mean the MC doesn't count. He still has a T3, MC, 1 in the majors to a 1, 2, T22 for Phil. Phil has a slight edge to me...although I'll take Tiger to make it 2 majors in a row at Medinah.

Fair enough, but as I said IMHO Tiger's got a pretty big advantage on Phil with regular events this year. 2 high quality wins vs. 1 dominating performance at a not-so-prestigious tournament. Phil's got the edge in the majors no question about it, but I still think overall Tiger's ahead of him due to the other tournaments. And I agree, Tiger will stand a very good chance to win at Medinah again especially if he employs a similar strategy of irons off the tees.

Medinah plays a lot longer than this course will, and with lots of doglegs...so I'm not sure irons will get it done. But hitting a lot of 3 woods would be a great strategy and he'd be in the thick of things come Sunday for sure.

Not that this matters but ill throw this in for kicks. Tiger has 4 worldwide wins this year. He won in Dubai earlier. So the man has played some great golf in the few events he has played.

We have a lot of golf to play yet. There is the PGA Championship, the WGC Firestone event, The WGC event at Harding Park and the Tour Championship. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I think mentallly and emotionally winning the British Open did a lot in terms of helping Tiger get his golf mojo back after the death of his father. It's going to be interesting to see how Phil Nickelson bounces back from the U.S Open and a lackluster performance at the British Open. Many of the voters may give Tiger's performance at the U.S. Open a "Mulligan" due to his father death. If Jim Furyk wins a major and another tournament then you have to throw his name in the hat as well.

I think Tiger will end up winning it. Tiger seems to have a lot of momentum right now and Phil's momentum has kinda hit a brick wall since Winged Foot, and I think you'll see this continue to play out as the 2nd half of the year takes place.

Aren't the POY voters the Tour players themselves? If so, then I'm SURE they'd be willing to excuse Tiger's MC at Winged Foot, especially those who have lost a parent or other loved ones and experienced similar results on the golf course right after.

Any discussion still on who will win Player of the Year? Any votes for Ogilvy? Mickelson? Furyk? What about that Tiger guy....is he still a candidate? Does he need to win 7 in a row to be considered? Should be interesting....

Exactly why I am not a Tiger fan.

let's talk about Most Improved or Comeback Player or Rookie of the Year (something we can debate).