Yet Another Runaway Victory for Tiger

Tiger Woods was a repeat winner Tuesday as the Associated Press male athlete of the year. Like so many of his amazing victories, it was no contest.

Fresh off his incredible season of nine victories, three consecutive majors, the career Grand Slam and shots that had to be seen to be believed, Woods joined Michael Jordan as the only three-time winner of the AP award since it began in 1931.

He received 47 first-place votes and 160 points from sportswriters and broadcasters to easily defeat back-to-back Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Woods became the sixth player to win the award in consecutive years. The others were tennis great Don Budge, golfer Byron Nelson, track star Carl Lewis, quarterback Joe Montana and Jordan, who won it three years in a row.

“It’s very humbling,” Woods said. “It’s a great honor to be in the presence of such great names. I didn’t realize that Jordan was the only other three-time winner.”

Armstrong had eight first-place votes and 72 points, while St. Louis Ram quarterback Kurt Warner was third with 34 points. Points were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis.

Rounding out the top five were Pedro Martinez and Shaquille O’Neal.

In a sport where two strokes is considered a comfortable victory, Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, a World Golf Championship by 11, the British Open by eight and two other tournaments by at least four strokes.

Five consecutive wins on the PGA Tour piqued a nation’s interest. Then, Woods made it six in a row by coming from seven strokes behind over the final seven holes at Pebble Beach.

Woods made it three consecutive majors at the PGA, the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to do that.

When asked at what point in the season he thought he was capable of winning three majors in a row and more than half of all the tournaments he played, Woods replied, “On the first day of the year.”

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AP Male Athlete of Year

Voting based on a 3-2-1 point system (first place votes in parentheses):

Player: Pts

Tiger Woods (47): 160

Lance Armstrong (8): 72

Kurt Warner (3): 34

Pedro Martinez (3): 31

Shaquille O’Neal (1): 22

Rulon Gardner (3): 18

Jason Giambi (2): 13

Derek Jeter: 8

Marshall Faulk: 7

Josh Heupel (2): 7

Michael Johnson: 6

Lenny Krayzelburg (1): 5

Pete Sampras: 5

Felix Trinidad: 4

Michael Vick: 4

Chris Weinke: 4

Kobe Bryant: 3

Randy Johnson (1): 3

Jeff Kent: 3

Bobby Labonte: 3

Karl Malone (1): 3

Ian Thorpe: 3

Rich Gannon: 2

Haile Gebrselassie: 2

Jaromir Jagr: 2

Lennox Lewis: 2

Randy Moss: 2

Pieter van den Hoogenband: 2

Maurice Greene: 1

Patrick Roy: 1