Furyk, Kuchar and Els in line for PGA Tour Player of Year

London: Americans Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, along with South African Ernie Els, are in the running for the 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year award, the tour said.

The elite quintet was nominated by the tour`s player advisory council and player directors and the eventual winner, to be determined by tour member voting, will be announced on Dec 4. Furyk, a three-times champion on the US circuit this season, has already been named the PGA of America`s Player of the Year. One of the steadiest players in the game despite an unorthodox swing, Furyk ended his 2010 campaign with victory at the Tour Championship in September when he also landed FedExCup honours and the $10 million bonus. Kuchar won the lucrative Barclays playoff event in August on the way to securing the Arnold Palmer Award for topping the tour`s money list with earnings of USD 4,910,477.He also landed the Byron Nelson Award after leading the tour`s scoring average charts with 69.61. Long-hitting Johnson triumphed twice this season, at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the BMW Championship, but will be best remembered for his nightmare finish to the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in August. A stroke in front playing the last, Johnson ended up being eliminated from the tournament playoff after being given a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker off the 18th fairway.Left-hander Mickelson clinched his fourth major title at the U.S. Masters in April while former world number one Els won twice this season -- at the WGC CA Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bureau Report