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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods was voted PGA Tour player of the year for the 11th time on the strength of his five big wins and return to No. 1 in the world. It was the third time Woods won the Jack Nicklaus Award despite not winning a major. He made up for that with two World Golf Championships and The Players Championship among his five wins. No one else won more than twice this year, and Woods won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average and the PGA Tour money title. "Its been an incredible year to have won five times, two of those World Golf Championships and one Players," Woods said on a conference call Friday. "Its been just a fantastic year all around. Its also an incredible feeling to be voted by your peers, and to have that type of respect is something thats very humbling." The PGA Tour does not release the percentage of votes won or even who finished second. Jordan Spieth was voted rookie of the year in a race that likely was no contest. The 20-year-old Texan began the year with no status on any tour. He won the John Deere Classic, lost in a playoff at another event, reached the Tour Championship, was chosen for the Presidents Cup team and wound up 10th on the money list with nearly $4 million. He will be the youngest American -- and first PGA Tour rookie -- to play in the Presidents Cup next week in Ohio. "I dont know if its a pinch me moment yet," Spieth said. "I think my mind is still really on next week." Woods was on the ballot with British Open champion Phil Mickelson, Masters champion Adam Scott, FedEx Cup champion Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar. Mickelson also won the Phoenix Open and was runner-up in the U.S. Open for the sixth time. Along with his first major, Scott won The Barclays. If either of them had won the Tour Championship, three wins and a major might have won some votes over five big wins and no majors. Mickelson, with more wins (42) and majors (five) than any player except for Woods dating to the Tom Watson generation, has never been PGA Tour player of the year, No. 1 in the world ranking or won a PGA Tour money title. The Jack Nicklaus Award began in 1990. In 24 years, Woods has won it 11 times and only two other players have won it twice -- Fred Couples (1991, 1992) and Nick Price (1993, 1994). It was the fourth time in the last five years that the winner did not capture a major. Woods nearly made it a clean sweep of all the awards. Steve Stricker narrowly beat him out for the Byron Nelson Award with a 65 on the final day at East Lake in the Tour Championship. That award is for lowest scoring average, though it is not as prestigious as the Vardon Trophy from the PGA of America. The Vardon Trophy dates to 1937 and requires 60 rounds (instead of 50 for the PGA Tours version of the award) with no incomplete rounds. It was the first time since 2009, right before his personal life unraveled, that Woods won these awards. Even though he has more of them than anyone in history, he said that it doesnt get old. "I know how hard it is," Woods said. "Ive had to work my way back from injuries on numerous occasions throughout the years. These last couple years is no exception to that. There were a lot of people saying I could never win again, and two years later Ive got eight wins on our tour. Im very proud of where Ive come from, from being ranked outside the top 50 to being ranked where I am now, and to have had the success that Ive had this year just makes it all the more rewarding." He said his biggest win this year was at The Players Championship, mainly because its the one golf course he plays regularly that has given him fits. His other wins this year came on courses where he won for at least the fourth time. "You start playing golf courses that you like and that suit your game," Woods said. "Guys generally play that schedule and give themselves the best opportunity to win tournaments and to have a nice living out on tour. For me, The Players Championship is the big event and against probably the strongest field we play all year. I havent had a lot of success since 2001. "To finally put myself there with the chance and the way I was hitting it to get it done on that Sunday, boy, it sure felt good." Woods and Spieth won two different awards, though both pointed to the area of improvement -- the majors. Woods has been stuck on 14 majors since 2008, though he had a chance in the final round this year at the British Open. Spieth missed the cut at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship and tied for 44th in the British Open. "I think next year Im really going to focus on those," said Spieth, who is No. 21 in the world. "Maybe build a schedule or game plan around how to have success and maybe compete at those four events, and I think that would be a better year for me." 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Michael Strahan Jersey .com) - Even-money favorite Liams Map proved a little too tough down the stretch and won Saturdays $100,000 Harlans Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream Park.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Rick Porcello is already in his sixth full season in the big leagues, which makes it all the easier to forget that the Tigers right-hander is still just 25 years old. "I do think hes still learning himself a little bit," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said after an 8-2 win over the Kansas City Royals, a game that Porcello dominated for seven innings. "Rick has really matured dramatically over his time here," Ausmus said. "You have to remember the guy is pretty young. You think hes older because hes been in the starting rotation." Porcello (4-1) gave up a sacrifice fly to Eric Hosmer, a solo homer to Billy Butler and little else Friday night. He wound up allowing four hits while striking out six without a walk. "Throwing first-pitch strikes I think was the biggest key tonight," he said. "Being ahead 0-1 instead of 1-0 is huge. You can go a lot of different ways when you do that." Victor Martinez had a pair of doubles and drove in two runs, and J.D. Martinez and Alex Avila also drove in two runs apiece as the Tigers won their fourth straight against the Royals. Meanwhile, Shields (3-3) allowed eight runs -- seven of them earned -- on 12 hits, a walk and a hit batter in 6 1-3 innings. It was the worst outing for the Royals ace since last September, when Shields allowed 10 runs in another lousy start against the Tigers. "I threw some good pitches. Thats a good hitting ball club over there," he said. "I wasnt locating my pitches. I was getting behind in the count. I didnt do my job out there, bottom line. Ive got to do a better job of getting outs. Its just one of those games." As if that wasnt bad enough, the Royals also lost All-Star catcher Salvador Perez when he fouled a pitch off his shin in the seventh inning. He was listed as day to day with a bruise. Shields first got into trouble in the second, when he loaded the bases but escaped the jam unscathed. But things only got worse in the third, when a single by Torii Hunter and back-to-baack doubles by Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez gave Detroit a 2-1 lead.dddddddddddd They never gave it back the rest of the game. J.D. Martinez kept the onslaught going when he led off the fourth with a double, and Avila followed by hitting the first pitch of his at-bat for his first homer of the season. Detroit added another run later in the inning when Andrew Romine reached third on an error by the Royals Mike Moustakas, and then scored on a double-play groundout. Butler provided the only bright spot the rest of the way for Kansas City, guiding a line drive over the fence in left field for his first homer of the season -- and the first by any hitter batting in the cleanup spot in the Royals lineup. "I knew I hit it good. I didnt know if it was high enough to get out," Butler said. "I knew I hit it hard, but didnt hit it very high. I couldnt see if it was fair or foul. I knew it was really close, too." Shields was finally pulled in the seventh, allowing another run and leaving the bases loaded while recording one out. Reliever Kelvin Herrera gave up a double to J.D. Martinez that brought in two more runs and gave the Tigers an 8-2 lead. That was plenty of support for Porcello, who had been miserable in the month of April until this season, when he went 3-1 with a 3.96 ERA. He kept that momentum going against Kansas City, a team he oddly never faced last season, retiring his final 12 batters. "Hes been throwing the ball great all season long," Victor Martinez said. "Hes showing hes young but he knows what hes doing out there. Hes giving us a great chance to win ballgames." NOTES: The Tigers announced the signing of RHP Joel Hanrahan on Friday. The former All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery last May after nine appearances for the Red Sox. ... The Royals put LHP Bruce Chen (bulging disc) on the DL and recalled RHP Aaron Brooks from Triple-A Omaha. ... LHP Drew Smyly will start for Detroit on Saturday. LHP Danny Duffy is on the mound for Kansas City. ' ' '