Love, Romero highlight the PGA TOUR 2008 award ballot

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Winning the final PGA TOUR event of the year could lead to Davis Love III winning his first award on a vote of the players.

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Will Andres Romero's international experience prevent him from earning all the votes for Rookie of the Year?

The 16-man Players Advisory Council and four player-directors on the PGA TOUR policy board have nominated Love, Rocco Mediate and Dudley Hart as candidates for comeback player of the year.

Limited by back injuries, Mediate lost a 19-hole playoff to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open and had another top 10 at the Memorial to finish 74th on the money list, his best year since 2003.

Hart missed most of last year during his wife's illness tending to his triplets, played this year on a family crisis extension and made it to THE TOUR Championship for the first time since 1999. He had six top 10s, including a runner-up finish at the BMW Championship, which enabled him to finish 12th in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Love is the only winner among the candidates, at Disney World for his 20th career victory. He was recovering from ankle surgery that kept him out of golf for four months and out of contention until the final month of the season. All three of his top 10s came during the Fall Series.

A more compelling vote might be for rookie of the year.

The five candidates are Dustin Johnson, Chez Reavie, Andres Romero, Kevin Streelman and Marc Turnesa, with all but Streelman winning a TOUR event. Reavie (RBC Canadian Open) and Romero (Zurich Classic of New Orleans) won events that awarded full FedExCup points.

No rookie had a better season than Romero, the Argentine who made the cut in all four majors (with top 10s in two of them) and finished 36th on the money list -- the highest of the rookie nominees. He also was the only rookie at THE TOUR Championship.

It will be interesting to see whether players regard him as a pure rookie. Romero, 27, has played on the European Tour and nearly won the British Open last year at Carnoustie.

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SERGIO'S YEAR
Sergio Garcia won a career-high four times in 2001 (twice each on the PGA TOUR and European Tour), although this is considered his best season ever. The best evidence comes from the world ranking, and not just because the Spaniard is now No. 2.

Garcia earned 400.62 points this year, second only to Tiger Woods.

Garcia

His only PGA TOUR victory came at THE PLAYERS Championship, but he also won the Castello Masters on his home course in Spain and the HSBC Champions against a strong field in China. He finished at No. 4 on the U.S. money list and No. 9 on the Order of Merit in Europe, and he won the Vardon Trophy for lowest adjusted scoring average.

His best golf came in the last three months.

Starting with the PGA Championship, where he tied for second, Garcia played eight times and finished out of the top five only once -- a tie for 20th at the BMW Championship in St. Louis. He lost in a playoff at The Barclays and at THE TOUR Championship.

The question now is whether he can resume his pace early next year, starting in Abu Dhabi, and catch the idle Woods at No. 1. Garcia currently has an 8.59 average and is 5.2 points behind -- the same gap between Garcia and No. 24 in the ranking.

Woods probably won't return from his knee surgery before March 1, at which point he will be at 9.38.

"It's possible, mainly because he's been injured," Garcia said after winning in China. "But we know that as soon as he comes out, he's going to play well and he's going to become quite tough, and he seems to get away from us a little bit. But I've never been this close to No. 1, and it's exciting to be there."

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DIVOTS
Bob Tway led the PGA TOUR in putts per greens in regulation with a 1.718 average. At age 49, he became the oldest player to lead the TOUR in any statistical category. ... Of the rookies who finished among the top 125 on the U.S. money list, four came from q-school and four came from the Nationwide Tour.

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STAT
The Masters was the only major that did not finish in the top 10 toughest courses on the PGA TOUR this year.