A Twofer For Tiger Woods in 2009?

Well, it’s about that time of the year again for Tiger Woods to begin clearing out some space in his Windermere, Florida home or whatever warehouse he rents out to store his ever growing collection of hardware.

Only this year, he may need to set aside some extra space.  

Even if Steve Stricker were to win the Tour Championship this week, thus securing the FedEx Cup title, Woods would still be a virtual lock for an unprecedented 10th PGA Tour Player of the Year award.

Although Stricker has had one of the best seasons in recent years by any player not formerly named Eldrick, his success is still a far cry from what Woods has accomplished since returning to the tour in late February.  

Stricker’s name appears second in virtually every statistical category of any importance, including FedEx Cup Points, scoring average, earnings, top 10 finishes, and even the World Golf Rankings—which demonstrates an extreme level of consistency throughout the entire 2009 season.

The only problem is that Tiger Woods’ name appears directly above Stricker’s in each of these categories.

In 16 events, Woods has six wins and 13 top 10s. 

He’s finished within the top 10 at three out of the four majors, and his missed cut at the British Open was the only time he’s finished outside of the top 25 all year.

Woods leads the PGA Tour in scoring average by more than a stroke.  So, unless he goes out and shoots four consecutive rounds of 125 this week, he has all but locked up his eighth Vardon Trophy, which is awarded each year to the player with the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour.

Although Woods seemingly has a firm grasp on both the Vardon Trophy and the Player of the Year award, there’s another prestigious honor that Woods may also be deserving of: the 2009 Comeback Player of the Year.

Following his epic victory at the 2008 US Open while literally playing on a broken leg, Woods shut it down for the remainder of the year to undergo reconstructive ACL surgery on his left knee.

At this time last year, Woods was just learning how to walk again.

In fact, Woods didn’t even pick up a golf club until late 2008, and when he finally returned to the PGA Tour in February for the Accenture Match Play Championship, he hadn’t played a competitive round of golf in over eight months.

Eight months away from the game while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery—surely at least some rust would have had to accumulate on even Tiger Woods’ golf game, right?

Well, if you consider three wins and five additional top 10s rust, then yes, Woods was "rusty" during the first four and a half months of his return to competitive golf.  

A missed cut at the British Open?

Tiger doesn’t miss cuts.

Could he be finished?

Could his reign of dominance really be over?

Well, if three wins, two second place finishes, and a tie for 11th since missing the cut at the British Open doesn’t signify a complete domination of the PGA Tour, then yes, he’s done, finished, finito.

“It's one of my best years,” Woods said after demolishing the field by eight strokes at the BMW championship.

“There's no doubt about that. You know, I haven't won as many times as I did in 2000, didn't win any majors this year, but certainly I was—I've never had a year where I've been this consistent, either, this many high finishes in the number of events I've played.”

In terms of the majors, this is only the fourth time since 1997 that Woods has gone a full calendar year without winning at least one major championship.

If given the chance, Woods would undoubtedly trade in all six of his wins this season for one major championship.

He would probably even trade in all six wins just for the opportunity to go back in time and have another crack at Y.E. Yang at Hazeltine.

However, in terms of pure consistency, this year has been one of his best.

Considering what Woods has accomplished after reconstructive knee surgery and more than eight months away from the game, how could he not be a lock for the 2009 Comeback Player of the Year?