Padraig Harrington Is Your 2008 PGA Player of the Year ... Right?

As Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington made the turn in the final round of today's PGA Championship, I was certain that whoever ended up winning the thing would be the favorite to win the PGA Player of the Year award.

Either player would seem like a no-brainer candidate (PGA and Players titles for Sergio, or back-to-back majors for Harrington), but Tiger Woods, hobbled since working miracles at the U.S. Open, is always lurking.

Now, though, after Paddy got the best of Sergio (again ... hello, Carnoustie, '07!), he's the obvious choice, right? I mean, there's no way Tiger wins the POY, (more feebly this time) right?

Let's see: Harrington has six top-5s -- including two majors -- in 12 starts. That's Kenny Perry territory there, folks. Eldrick, in six starts, had four wins (including that U.S. Open), a second and a fifth. He's also first in FedEx Cup points (Paddy is 10th), not to mention his standing as the world's best golfer.

So maybe there still is a case that he's deserving of the honor. Fine. I wouldn't vote for him, but I suppose rationale people can agree that Tiger's in the conversation. What is hard to dispute, however, is that Harrington is the second-best player on the planet over the last month.

And Sergio, for all his unclutch putting and "woe is me" attitude, is all growned up, apparently. He didn't make excuses after today's round, and, frankly, played some pretty inspired golf. He's still heading the tired-but-oddly-still-talked-about "best guy to never win a major" bracket, but not for long. So heads-up, Adam Scott.