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AP Names Tiger Athlete Of Decade

AP NAMES TIGER ATHLETE OF THE DECADE: Voting members defend their decision.

(December 17, 2009)

*The Associated Press announced Wednesday that its members have voted Tiger Woods Athlete of the Decade, choosing to base their decision strictly on his golf performances, and not his personal "transgressions."

He received 56 of the 142 votes cast since last month by editors at U.S. newspapers that are members of the AP. More than half the ballots were returned after the Nov. 27 car accident outside his Florida home that set off sensational tales of infidelity.

Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor who won the Tour de France six times this decade, finished a distant second with 33 votes. He was followed by Roger Federer, who has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other man, with 25 votes.

Record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps came in fourth with 13 votes, followed by New England quarterback Tom Brady (6) and world-record sprinter Usain Bolt (4). Five other athletes received one vote apiece.

"The only reason I wouldn't vote for Tiger Woods is because of the events of the last three weeks," said Mike Strain, sports editor of the Tulsa (Okla.) World. "And I didn't think that was enough to change my vote. I thought he was a transcendent sports figure."

Paul Vigna, sports editor of The (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot-News, said, "Seems an unlikely time to vote for him, but he had more influence and impact on the complete decade, 2000 to 2009, than any of the other athletes."

Woods won more than one-third of all the tournaments he played this decade, an unprecedented rate in golf. Nine of his victories were by at least eight shots. He was No. 1 in the world ranking for all but 32 weeks in the decade.

Along with his 12 majors this decade — he has 14 overall, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus — Woods was runner-up in six other majors. He won 14 times out of 27 appearances in the World Golf Championships.

Woods finished the decade with $81,547,410 in earnings from his PGA Tour events, an average of $482,529 per tournament.

"No athlete dominated a particular sport the way Tiger Woods did this decade," said Phil Kaplan, deputy sports editor at the Knoxille (Tenn.) News-Sentinel