Florida: Scottie Scheffler has been named the 2022 PGA TOUR Player of the Year. He was voted for the honour by the TOUR’s membership for the 2021-22 season.
Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, led the TOUR with four victories this season, including his first major championship title at the Masters Tournament.
Scheffler, who spent four years on the men’s golf team at the University of Texas, received the Jack Nicklaus Award for winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay before the Longhorns football team hosted No. 1 Alabama in Austin.
In receiving 89 per cent of the votes, Scheffler was selected for the honor over the other two nominees: Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith.
Scheffler, 26, was the Player of the Year on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 and won the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year in 2020. By being named PGA TOUR Player of the Year, he is the first player to win those three awards, doing so in the span of four seasons. The awards were established in 1990.
“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, congratulations to Scottie on his remarkable season and his unprecedented achievements,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan.
“Undoubtably, one of the highest compliments a player can receive is the endorsement from his peers, and the fact that Scottie’s season was both dominant and consistent spoke volumes to the membership. And as gratifying as it has been to see his development on the course over the last several years, we are equally thankful that Scottie has embraced the role as an ambassador of the PGA TOUR and the game of golf. With young stars like Scottie leading the way, the PGA TOUR is in great hands for many years to come.”
Scheffler’s four victories came at the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters. He collected all four in the span of six starts, becoming the first player to win four times in a six-start stretch since Jason Day during the 2014-15 season. Only Tiger Woods (eight times) had previously won four times, including a major and a WGC, in the same season. Scheffler totaled 11 top-10 finishes in 25 starts on the season, including runner-up finishes at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, Charles Schwab Challenge, the U.S. Open and the TOUR Championship.
Scheffler held the lead in the FedExCup standings for 24 weeks, including the final 23 weeks of the FedExCup Regular Season, and went on to finish in a tie for second at the TOUR Championship, receiving $5.75 million in FedExCup Bonus Money.
With $14,046,910 in Official Money, Scheffler earned the most in a single season in PGA TOUR history, a record previously held by fellow former Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth ($12,030,465 in 2014-15).
In addition to his $5.75 million bonus for finishing No. 2 in the FedExCup standings, Scheffler received $4 million via the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 for finishing the Regular Season as the FedExCup leader and $1 million for winning the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge. Between Official Money and bonus programs, Scheffler earned a total of $24,796,910 this season.
Scheffler moved to World No. 1 for the first time in his career following his third victory (March 27), becoming the 25th player in the OWGR era to reach the No. 1 position (est. 1986), and won in his first start as World No. 1 (Masters). He maintained his position as World No. 1 through the end of the season and has held the top spot for 24 consecutive weeks.
PGA TOUR members who played at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2021-22 season were eligible to vote.
–IANS
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