The 25-year-old had already claimed the Arnold Palmer Award as the tour’s leading official money winner (£5.1m) and won the Byron Nelson Award for adjusted scoring average (68.83).

“It means a lot to win it for the second time in three years,” McIlroy said. “Being voted player of the year by your peers is something that’s very important.

“They are the guys you are trying to beat week in, week out and if they appreciate what you have done over the year, see the hard work that you’ve put in and the golf that you’ve played and think that’s been the best of the season that means a lot to me.

“I would like to win a lot more in my career and even though the last year wasn’t what I wanted, the last three or four years have been very, very good and it gives me even more motivation to go on and work harder and try to win more tournaments, more majors and be involved in more Ryder Cups like last week.”

PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official money events were eligible to vote for the award and that of rookie of the year, which went to American Chesson Hadley.

Hadley, 27, won the Puerto Rico Open and was the only rookie to advance to the BMW Championship, the third of the four FedEx Cup play-off events.