So it comes down to the last tournament of the year. Luke Donald and Webb Simpson will go head-to-head for PGA Tour Player of the Year at the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic played on the Magnolia and Palm golf courses at Disney in Orlando, Florida. Tournament officials had the very good sense to pair the two combatants together for the first two rounds.

Some say Donald already has the Player of the Year title locked up, because he is trying to win the US and European money titles in the same year. But I say nay-nay. If Donald thought he had Player of the Year locked up, I don’t think he would be here at all. He’d be sipping champagne and making room on the mantel for the trophies.

Donald is $363,029 behind Simpson on the PGA Tour Money List. He needs no worse than a second place tie to earn as much as $413,000. And even that might not be enough, depending upon where Simpson finishes. But Simpson’s second place finish last week in The McGladrey Classic at Sea Island certainly put the pressure on Donald.

A fair question is “Why wouldn’t Donald win the Player of the Year title anyway, given that he is threatening to walk off with both money titles?” The answer is that is comes down to wins, and Donald only had one win that counts on the PGA Tour. Even that win wasn’t a stroke play event. Donald won the WCG Accenture Match Play back in February. Since the players are the ones that vote, they will look at the Match Play as a nice win, but not as a full field win. Anyone can win a match play tournament; all you need I opponents that play worse than you in head-to-head competition.

Simpson on the other hand, has won two events, and one of those two was a FedEx Cup playoff event, which tour players consider to be, if not full-filed, very high level competition. Simpson has also dominated the all-around playing statistics this year, exhibiting wonderful ball striking capabilities. Simpson is second in scoring average, second in birdies per round average, second in top-ten finishes, and first in Par 4, Par 5, and back nine scoring average. He is clutch, and gets better as the day goes along. No wonder he is the number one ranked all-around player on the Tour.

Not that Donald is a slouch statistically. He is the scoring leader, and he dominates putting rankings. His short game is ridiculous. But players love guys who are consummate ball strikers, and honestly this year Simpson has been better.

The perfect scenario would be Donald and Simpson dueling it out down the stretch, with one other player involved. If Donald wins, Simpson would have to finish alone in second place to hold onto the Money Title, and then the vote would be really close. But one thing is not in dispute. These two have been the most consistent players this year. Whoever wins the Money Title and Player of the Year will be a deserving champion.