Scottie Scheffler wins PGA Tour Player of the Year for 2022-23

Published at :January 4, 2024 at 6:29 AM

Modified at :January 4, 2024 at 6:29 AM

(Courtesy : The Sports Illustrated)

He becomes the first player after Tiger Woods to win the award in successive years.

The PGA TOUR today announced that World No. 1 and 2023 PLAYERS Championship winner Scottie Scheffler has won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA TOUR Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season. Scheffler is the first golf player to win Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons since Tiger Woods won the award in three straight years from 2005-2007.

Eric Cole, the only rookie to advance to the 2023 BMW Championship, has been named the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, receiving the Arnold Palmer Award. Cole recorded two runner-up finishes on the season, including the 2023 Cognizant Classic (lost in a playoff) and the 2023 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.

The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with PGA TOUR members who played in at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2022-23 season eligible to vote. The voting period ran from December 1 through December 15. Scheffler received 38 percent of the vote for the Jack Nicklaus Award and was selected over four other nominees: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. Cole received 51 percent of the vote for the Arnold Palmer Award and was selected over three other nominees: Ludvig Åberg, Nico Echavarria and Vincent Norrman.

Scheffler won twice during the 2022-23 season, successfully defending his title at the WM Phoenix Open and winning THE PLAYERS Championship by five strokes. In 23 starts, Scheffler recorded 13 top-fives and 17 top-10s, both high marks for any player in a single season on TOUR since 2005, when Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods each had 13 top-fives and Singh had 18 top-10s. Scheffler set the PGA TOUR record for most Official Money earned in a single season at $21,014,342, breaking his own record set last season ($14,046,910).

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Scheffler is the fourth player to win the Jack Nicklaus Award in back-to-back seasons (est. 1990), joining Fred Couples (1991, 1992), Nick Price (1993, 1994), and Woods (five straight from 1999-2003, three straight from 2005-2007). McIlroy (three times) and Dustin Johnson (twice) are the only other players to win Player of the Year honors multiple times.

Scheffler also received the Byron Nelson Award for recording the lowest Scoring Average on TOUR in 2022-23. At 68.63, Scheffler’s Scoring Average was the lowest on TOUR since Tiger Woods in 2009 (68.05).

Cole finished the season No. 43 in the official FedExCup standings, becoming the lone rookie to qualify for the BMW Championship, and followed that up with four top-fives during the FedExCup Fall, including each of his final three starts. His total of six top-five finishes during the 2022-23 season was tied for the fifth-most of any player and trailed only Scheffler (13), Patrick Cantlay (8), McIlroy (8) and Rahm (8), who all currently rank among the top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking.

He led the TOUR with 554 birdies on the season, which was 59 more than the second-highest total. At 35 years old, Cole is the second-oldest player to win Rookie of the Year honors (est. 1990) and oldest since Todd Hamilton in 2004, who won the award at 39. Scheffler and Cole were presented the awards at The Sentry, which serves as the PGA TOUR’s season-opening event for the first time since 2013.

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