Thomas voted 2017 PGA Tour player of year

FedEx Cup champ was obvious choice

Justin Thomas wrote down a dozen goals at the start of the season, some higher than others, none about winning PGA Tour player of the year.

He achieved so much that Thomas was the obvious choice.

Thomas had a tour-best five victories, won his first major at the PGA Championship, set the tour’s 72-hole scoring record and captured the FedEx Cup. After all that, it was no surprise when the tour said Wednesday Thomas had been voted the PGA Tour player of the year.

The tour does not disclose vote totals. Thomas was on the ballot with British Open champion Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama.

Thomas made the choice easy when he closed with a 66 at East Lake to finish one shot behind in the Tour Championship, which allowed him to win the FedEx Cup and its US$10-million bonus.

Then he headed to Liberty National for his first Presidents Cup, where he went 3-1-1.

“It was weird with Presidents Cup last week. It never really was a thought,” Thomas said. “And then I finally got that call and it just kind of sunk in. I was with my parents when I got the call, so I was able to kind of share the moment with them a little bit.”

The next list of goals will be tougher. At some point, he said, he will talk to Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and perhaps even Spieth on how to raise the bar.

“Those are the only people I know that have had such success in one season multiple times, and they’ve had to deal with resetting their goals and re-evaluating,” he said.

Xander Schauffele, whose two victories this season included the Tour Championship, was voted rookie of the year.