Tiger Woods, who captured three of golf's four major championships among his astonishing nine titles in 2000, was named PGA Tour Player of the Year yesterday.

Woods earned the Jack Nicklaus Award, selected by a vote of PGA Tour members, for the third time in four years, becoming the first player named Player of the Year three times.

Michael Clark, the only first-year player to win a PGA Tour event this season, was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, while Paul Azinger, who won his first title since battling lymphoma in 1993, earned PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year honors.

In one of the most dominant years in professional golf history, Woods recorded the most PGA Tour wins since Sam Snead won 11 times in 1950.

"The fact that I was able to work on a lot of things I haven't been able to work on in the past few years all came together in the biggest events," said Woods, who set scoring records for winning margins at the U.S. and British Opens.

Woods also shattered his own season earnings record with $9,188,321 in official prize money, his third money title in four years. He also collected his second successive Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average (67.79).

Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson were the other finalists for Player of the Year.