Luke Donald voted writers’ male player of the year

REUTERS: British world number one Luke Donald added another accolade to his rapidly growing resume when he was named male player of the year by the Golf Writers Association of America on Thursday.

Taiwan’s world number one Yani Tseng, who triumphed 12 times across the globe in 2011, was the runaway GWAA female player of the year while American veteran Tom Lehman was named senior player of the year. Donald, who won four times worldwide in 2011 and became the first player to clinch the money titles on both sides of the Atlantic, earned 88 percent of the GWAA votes. The 34-year-old Englishman comfortably beat Americans Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy for the award. Bradley won his maiden major title at the PGA Championship and McIlroy claimed his first grand slam crown at the Masters but Donald eclipsed all his rivals with an extraordinarily consistent campaign. He won twice on the U.S. PGA Tour and posted a further 12 top-10s in 19 starts. Donald took over at the top of the world rankings on May 30 and went on to win the 2011 PGA of America player of the year award and the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average. On December 13, he became the first Briton to be named PGA Tour player of the year and just two days later was voted the European Tour’s golfer of the year. Donald, Tseng and Lehman will be honoured at the GWAA’s annual awards dinner on April 4 next year, held on the eve of the Masters.