Rory McIlroy wins McCormack Award

McIlroy won the Mark H. McCormack Award for being No. 1 the most weeks during the year in the closest race since the award began in 1998. McIlroy returned to No. 1 with his victory at Firestone and stayed there the final 22 weeks of 2014. He won over Tiger Woods, who was at No. 1 for 19 weeks at the start of the year. Adam Scott was atop the ranking for the 11 weeks in between.

The award doesn't get the attention it once did, perhaps because Woods won the award 13 straight times from its inception. It's not even listed in the "Awards" section of the PGA Tour media guide.

But it was the second closest race in the last three years.

McIlroy and Luke Donald took turns at the top in 2012, and McIlroy wound up being No. 1 for 28 weeks compared with 24 weeks for Donald.