McIlroy, Lewis, Chapman named GWAA POYs

• By Golf Channel Digital
• Dec 19, 2012 8:36 AM ET

Rory McIlroy, Stacy Lewis and Roger Chapman have been named the Players of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America.

They will be honored during the GWAA’s 41^st Annual Awards dinner on April 10, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. It is the first GWAA Player of the Year award for each player.

McIlroy, who won five times worldwide in 2012 and also claimed Player of the Year awards on both the PGA and Europoean tours, earned 190 of 194 first-place votes, as he was joined on the ballot by Brandt Snedeker (three votes) and Tiger Woods (one).

Lewis, who became the first American since 1994 to win the Rolex Player of the Year award, received 78.8 percent of the vote (153 votes), while Na Yeon Choi (31 votes) and Inbee Park (10) also received consideration.

In the senior balloting, Chapman, a two-time major winner in 2012, received 60 percent of the vote (116 votes), compared to just 22.6 percent for Tom Lehman (44) and 17 percent for Bernhard Langer (33).

This is the third consecutive year (and fourth time in five years) that the GWAA award has gone to a European-born player, following Graeme McDowell (2010) and Luke Donald (2011).