Nov. 9, 2007More 2007 Reviews: Greatest moments | Clutch performances | Surprises | Best finishes
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Now that the 2007 PGA TOUR season is history -- and the inaugural FedExCup awarded to the game's No. 1 player, Tiger Woods -- our panel of experts wanted to take a look back at the biggest comeback players of this historic year.
T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer
Pick: Steve Stricker
Video: Stricker wins The Barclays | Stricker on his Playoff run
This guy was rock-solid during the inaugural PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. On top of that, Stricker capped off an outstanding season with his first win in six years at The Barclays. You're not likely to find a nicer man in golf and it's great to see him back on top of his game.
Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
Pick: Paul Goydos
Video: Goydos wins the Sony Open in Hawaii | Goydos talks to the media
Does Steve Stricker count? I'm thinking he doesn't, since he won the "Comeback Player of the Year" award on TOUR in 2006. And, though it felt like a while since Charles Howell III, Mike Weir and Justin Leonard had won, they'd all earned victories in the 2000s at some point so not them either. Therefore my pick for Comeback Player is Paul Goydos, who captured his first PGA TOUR victory since 1996 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Considering Goydos nearly had to go to q-school to keep his TOUR card for the 2007 season before he tied for second at the 2006 Chrysler Championship to finish 97th on the Money List, he could have missed the Sony Open in Hawaii altogether. Now, he's got a PGA TOUR win and is guaranteed a return trip to Hawaii in the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship in 2008.
Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Steve Stricker
Video: Stricker wins The Barclays | Stricker on his Playoff run
Just call it the comeback-to-back player of the year. Yes, he started all of this at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, but he really blew us away in 2007. He won his first tournament in six years, came oh-so-close to winning three others and made the Presidents Cup. Just a step behind him -- Scott Verplank.
Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Steve Stricker
Video: Stricker wins The Barclays | Stricker on his Playoff run
In 2006 Steve Stricker made 15 of 17 cuts out of the Past Champion category, where he needed Sponsor Exemptions or Top-10s to get into most tournament fields. That performance led to Stricker being named Comeback Player of the Year. So why not back-to-back considering Stricker had a career year in 2007, with a victory at The Barclays -- his first since 2001 -- during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, a second-place finish in the FedExCup standings, a spot on the United States Presidents Cup team? Oh and he won more than $4.5 million to finish fourth on the money list.
John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor
Pick: Paul Goydos
Video: Goydos wins the Sony Open in Hawaii | Goydos talks to the media
We had some great comeback stories this year. Steve Stricker was the comeback player of the year last year. He almost deserves it again. But my vote goes to Paul Goydos. Over the past several years he has spent more time at the doctor's office than he has on the driving range. Yet, at the Sony Open in Hawaii he did something that he had only done once before in his career -- and that was more than a decade ago. He won a golf tournament on the PGA TOUR. There were some other great comeback stories this year. Tommy Armour III and Jose Coceres certainly deserve a nod but Goydos won and on TOUR, that is all that matters.
Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
Pick: Paul Goydos
Video: Goydos wins the Sony Open in Hawaii | Goydos talks to the media
Although it's definitely tempting, I couldn't pick Steve Stricker -- even if he followed last year's official comeback season with a giant step into the upper echelon of his profession in 2008. He had never ranked higher than 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking -- and that was 10 years ago -- before this year's meteoric rise to fifth and a career-best $4.6 million propelled him to second in the inaugural FedExCup. So my vote goes to Paul Goydos, who broke an 11-year victory drought with a win at the Sony Open in Hawaii and ended the year with a career-best $1.2 million in earnings.
Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
Pick: Paul Goydos
Video: Goydos wins the Sony Open in Hawaii | Goydos talks to the media
With all due respect to the tremendous performances of Scott Verplank and Steve Stricker, not to mention Boo Weekley and his return to the PGA TOUR, we have to give the nod to Paul Goydos, whose victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii ended a winless streak that stretched 11 years. That's a long time between tap-ins.