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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 1:08 p.m., Monday, December 15, 2008

Golf: Writers vote Harrington, Ochoa, Haas players of the year

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Double major winner Padraig Harrington was voted player of the year Monday by the Golf Writers Association of America, receiving 75 percent of the vote to end Tiger Woods' three-year run with the award.

Lorena Ochoa was the overwhelming choice for female player of the year, and Jay Haas became the first golfer to win senior player of the year three times in a row.

Harrington successfully defended his title in the British Open with a four-shot victory at Royal Birkdale, then became the first European in history to win consecutive majors in the same season when he won the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.

He received 184 votes, with 58 votes going to Woods and five for Vijay Singh. Woods had won the GWAA award the last three years, and has won the award nine times in his career.

Ochoa won seven times this year, including a major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and won the GWAA award for the third straight year. She received 232 votes, while Paula Creamer had 13 votes and LPGA champion Yani Tseng had three votes.

Haas won twice on the Champions Tour, including the Senior PGA Championship, and captured the Charles Schwab Cup. Hale Irwin also won the senior player award three times, but not in successive years.