With another Canadian Tour season in the books, it's time to take a guess at who might be the developmental circuit's player of the year. Well, it's not much of a guess this year.
The tour makes an official announcement Tuesday but it would be surprising if Aaron Goldberg of the United States weren't the winner. He seems an obvious choice.
The California kid won three tournaments, including the flagship Canadian Tour Championship, and had five other top-10 finishes in nine starts.
Goldberg, a 25-year-old graduate of San Diego State, amassed a tour record $156,000 in winnings and came within one title of tying Trevor Dodds for the most in a season in Canadian Tour history.
It's hard to argue with those gaudy numbers.
But let's give an honorable mention to Adam Hadwin. The 23-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., had a breakout season in his first full year as a pro.
He collected his first Canadian Tour trophy on Sunday at the season-ending Desert Dunes Classic and moved into second place on the 2010 money list. Nearly as consistent as Goldberg, Hadwin had one win, two runner-up finishes and three other top 10s in eight starts.
Goldberg and Hadwin are both headed to the second stage of the PGA Tour's Q-school next week. (Winning the money title gave Goldberg a direct pass into the second stage, while Hadwin had to advance from the first stage.)
With the success they've had on the Canadian Tour this year, it wouldn't be surprising to see them advance to Q-school's final stage and secure either PGA Tour or Nationwide Tour status for 2011.
"He will play on the PGA Tour one day," Goldberg's former college coach, Ryan Donovan, told Globe and Mail golf columnist Lorne Rubenstein this fall.
That's one of the bittersweet aspects of the Canadian Tour. The best and brightest don't stay long.