Tag: Jack Nicklaus Award

Scottie Scheffler voted PGA Tour Player of the Year over Jon Rahm who jumped to LIV Golf

Scheffler is the fourth player to win the Jack Nicklaus Award in back-to-back seasons.

Twice is nice for Scottie Scheffler.

On Wednesday, the 27-year-old Texan was named the winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.

“I was very pleased with the news.  I was very proud of how I played most of last year. The consistency was very special to me,” he said. “To be able to win this award two years in a row is truly special.”

In doing so, he becomes the first 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 and 11 times overall. Scheffler said that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan called him to tell him that he had won the award and that he was one of less than a handful of back-to-back winners.

“So I looked to see how many times Tiger won it and there was years from like 2000 to 2008 where he won it almost every year. I think Vijay clipped it one year and that was it. So he’s got some pretty absurd stats like that,” Scheffler said. “Anytime you can be mentioned in the same breath with Tiger it’s very special. I grew up idolizing him as a player, and anytime you can get mentioned with him is very special.”

The Player of the Year award is determined by a member vote, with PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official FedEx Cup events during the 2022-23 season eligible to vote. The voting period ran from Dec. 1 through Dec. 15. Scheffler received 38 percent of the vote and was selected over four other nominees: U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Masters champ Jon Rahm.

BY THE NUMBERS: Did the players get the vote right?

Rahm, who won the GWAA Player of the Year Award on Tuesday, which is voted on by members of the media, won four times last season before defecting to LIV Golf last month. When Scheffler was asked if he was surprised that he won, he said, “Maybe a little bit. I think it was a close race. It could have gone either way.”

Asked the same question on a separate conference call with media, he said, “I just think it depends on what the guys kind of looked at for their vote. I guess this year they really kind of appreciated my consistency. Like I said, I was very proud of that. The way I played the entire year, I think I maybe only had one or two starts that were — that I would categorize as not great, but other than that I had a lot of starts where I just played really solid golf and to do that for an entire season out here I think is very difficult. I’m very proud of that aspect of my game.”

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. (He also won the Hero World Challenge in December.) 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 Woods each had 13 top-fives and Singh had 18 top-10s. Scheffler never missed a cut and set the 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).

Scheffler is the fourth player to win the Jack Nicklaus Award in back-to-back seasons since the award was established in 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).

Scheffler was presented the award at The Sentry, the 2024 season-opening event in Maui, Hawaii.

Patrick Cantlay, who in 2021 edged Rahm for Player of the Year, recalled visiting Woods at his home shortly after he received the Jack Nicklaus Award.

“It felt like a big deal to me at the time that I had got a Player of the Year, and they give you this little Jack Nicklaus bronze trophy that’s about yeah high,” Cantlay recalled. “So we’re walking through Tiger’s house and we’re in the basement and he’s got, like, 11 of ’em lined up right next to each other all in the corner of the basement boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I go, ‘Hey, I’m catching up,’ and he looked at me and he goes, ‘You got a lot of work to do.'”

PGA Tour announces finalists for 2021-22 Player and Rookie of the Year awards

The winners will be announced at a later date.

The PGA Tour announced Monday the finalists for its Jack Nicklaus Award and Arnold Palmer Award for the 2021-22 season.

The Jack Nicklaus Award is given to the Tour’s Player of the Year while the Arnold Palmer Award goes to the Rookie of the Year.

The finalists for Player of the Year are Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith. For Rookie of the Year, it’s Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young.

McIlroy, 33, had three victories, including the Tour Championship, and he finished in the top eight at every major. Scheffler, 26, had a breakout year, winning four times, including the Masters, and he finished runner-up to McIlroy at the Tour Championship. Smith, 29, won the Players Championship, the Open Championship as well as the Sentry Tournament of Champions and had the second-lowest scoring average behind McIlroy.

Kim, 20, became the second-youngest player to win on Tour since World War II with his victory at the Wyndham Championship. That earned him a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and he finished 35th in the standings. Theegala, 24, had five top-five finishes and finished T-2 at the Travelers Championship and T-3 at the WM Phoenix Open. Young, 25, was the runner-up at the Open Championship and also finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship, The Genesis Invitational, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He also qualified for the Tour Championship.

The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with Tour members who played in at least 15 official FedEx Cup events during the 2021-22 season eligible to vote. The voting will close on Friday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced at a later date.

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Peers vote FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay the PGA Tour Player of the Year

En route to receiving the Jack Nicklaus Award voted on by his peers, Cantlay won four times.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, the only player to win more than twice during the 2020-21 super season, was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year, it was announced Tuesday.

En route to receiving the Jack Nicklaus Award voted on by his peers, Cantlay won four times, including the last two events of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The world No. 4 won the Zozo Championship last fall, the Memorial in June, and then the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship to wrap up the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the $15 million grand prize.

“Receiving this award through a member vote reflects the respect his peers have for Patrick,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a release. “His play throughout 2020-21 was phenomenal, and in stepping up to win consecutive FedEx Cup Playoffs events and the FedEx Cup, Patrick was at his best when it mattered most in our season.”

The other players on the ballot were world No. 1 and 2021 U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, No. 3 and reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa, No. 7 and 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, and No. 11 Harris English.

Cantlay fired a final-round 65 to defeat Rahm and Justin Thomas by one shot to win the Zozo Championship. He defeated Morikawa in a playoff to win the Memorial. He defeated DeChambeau in an epic six-hole playoff to win the BMW Championship. And armed with a 2-shot lead in the Tour Championship due to the staggered scoring format, he held off Rahm by one shot.

Cantlay, who has six career PGA Tour titles, made 24 starts and had seven top 10s, including a runner-up finish in the American Express and a tie for third in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Rahm made a compelling case for the award. He won the U.S. Open 15 days after testing positive for COVID-19 at the Memorial. He was told of the result moments after completing his third round with a six-shot lead and was forced to withdraw. With his substantial advantage, he likely would have won instead of Cantlay.

Rahm also tied for the lowest total at the Tour Championship with Kevin Na. But because of the staggered scoring system – he started the tournament four shots out of the lead – he fell one shot short of Cantlay.

Rahm also led the Tour in several statistical categories, including scoring average (69.3), total driving, official money, top-10s (he had 15 and no one else had 10), birdie average, Strokes Gained: Tee-to Green, and Strokes Gained: Total.

In the six major championships, Rahm finished in ties for 23rd, seventh, fifth, eighth and third and won the U.S. Open. He also tied for ninth in The Players. Cantlay finished in ties for 43rd, 17th, 23rd, 15th and missed two cuts in the six majors. He also didn’t make it to the weekend in The Players.

But the PGA Tour membership gave the nod to Cantlay and his four wins.

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It’s Patrick Cantlay vs. Jon Rahm again, this time for PGA Tour Player of the Year honors

There’s one big advantage Cantlay has over Rahm in the Player of the Year discussion.

In the latter stages of the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup Playoffs this past Sunday, Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm went mano-a-mano to the very end.

With a brilliant birdie on the last, Cantlay won at East Lake Golf Club and was on the receiving end of $15 million.

Now the two seem pitted in another two-man race, this one to the Jack Nicklaus Award for PGA Tour Player of the Year (more specifically, Player of the Super Season). While cases could be made for Collin Morikawa (won British Open and World Golf Championships event) and Bryson DeChambeau (won U.S. Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational), it’s Cantlay vs. Rahm.

To some it’s not even close – Cantlay wins because he had four wins to Rahm’s one. To others, it’s not even close – Rahm wins because his victory came in the U.S. Open, he’s No. 1 in the world, his stats are eye-popping and there are two gigantic asterisks attached to his resume.

Their peers have a lot to chew on before casting their ballot.

My ballot would have an X in the Cantlay box.

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Wins are the most important stat and Cantlay won four of the Super Season’s 50 events; there were 43 different winners and Cantlay was the only one to win more than two. Yes, none of the four was a major, and to many, majors carry much more weight. But Cantlay held off Rahm and Justin Thomas to win the Zozo Championship in the fall by one shot, defeated Morikawa on the first playoff hole to win the Memorial, outlasted DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff to win the BMW Championship, and held off Rahm to win he Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. And he went T11-W-W in the playoffs.

As for Rahm, he won the U.S. Open 15 days after testing positive for COVID-19. Which leads us to the first asterisk. Rahm led the Memorial by six shots through 54 holes before being told he tested positive for COVID-19. He likely would have won the Memorial – which would take one of Cantlay’s victories away – but likely doesn’t equal actual.

The other asterisk involved the Tour Championship. Because of the staggered scoring format used for the final event of the season, Cantlay started two clear of the field and four ahead of Rahm. Well, Rahm and Kevin Na each shot the lowest total – 266 – over the 72 holes (Cantlay shot 269). But Cantlay won by one shot over Rahm. Is that a win for Rahm? No. He even said so. And all the players would have played differently if they all started at even-par.

So, the W’s outweigh the *’s.

Now we get to the stats. Rahm led the Tour in several statistical categories, including scoring average (69.3), total driving, official money, top-10s (he had 15 and no one else had 10), birdie average, Strokes Gained: Tee-to Green, and Strokes Gained: Total. Cantlay led the Tour in one category – wins.

Rahm also finished in ties for 23rd, seventh, fifth, eighth and third and won the U.S. Open in the six major championships. He also tied for ninth in The Players. Cantlay finished in ties for 43rd, 17th, 23rd, 15th and missed two cuts in the six majors. He also didn’t make it to the weekend in The Players.

There are a lot of checkmarks for Rahm. But the biggest checkmark is for wins.

I would have voted for Tiger Woods in 2008 when he won five times in seven starts – he won the U.S. Open and two WGC titles and finished in the top 5 in the two events he didn’t win. But Padraig Harrington was the Player of the Year on the strength of his two wins – the PGA Championship and British Open. It should be noted that Woods said Harrington was the POTY because of the two majors.

I also would have voted for Woods in 2013 when he won five times, including The Players and two WGCs. But Adam Scott won the POTY honors as he won the Masters, a playoff event, and the Australian PGA and Masters (the fields weren’t exactly stacked Down Under).

And I would have voted for Rory McIlroy in 2019 when he won three times, including The Players and the Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup. He did win POTY but many screamed foul because Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship and a WGC event.

Wins stand out, and four beats one all the time.

Cantlay it is.

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New pro John Pak, poised to be a star, shoot 70 at Travelers Championship

The Travelers Championship has a history of showcasing stars of the future. John Pak appears ready to continue the tradition.

CROMWELL, Conn. – More than any other tournament on the PGA Tour, the Travelers Championship is where you go if you want to see future stars of the game. Two years ago at TPC River Highlands, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland (all PGA Tour winners now) accepted sponsor exemptions and played here as new pros.

Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open winner and new world No. 1, played here on a sponsor exemption in 2015 and a first-year pro named Rickie Fowler, who is now a five-time PGA Tour winner and expectant father, played here on a sponsor exemption in 2009.

This year, the young stud to watch is John Pak, and he has loads of pedigree. If you haven’t been following college golf, Pak, who is 22, just graduated from Florida State and is this year’s winner of the Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Fred Haskins awards. That made him the consensus player of the year. In addition, he finished with the lowest scoring average in Florida State history (better than Brooks Koepka or Daniel Berger), won eight times while playing for the Seminoles and was a member of the winning 2019 and 2021 Walker Cup teams.

Making his second PGA Tour start, Pak birdied three of his first six holes Thursday morning in perfect scoring conditions. Then, he cooled off and was 1 over the rest of the way before signing for a 68 on the par-70 course.

“It got a little windy on the back nine and started swirling, so I struggled hitting the right shots,” he said. “I’ll work on that for tomorrow.”

Pak is from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, which is only about 130 miles southwest of TPC River Highlands, but this week marks the first time he’s ever played this course. He feels comfortable on the tree-lined layout but admits that the last few months have been dizzying and that he is looking forward to getting into a routine, having structure and starting to practice more regularly.

“It’s been a little overwhelming, to be honest,” he said. “I like to practice a lot, and I haven’t had time to practice and work on my game. I’m slowly starting to settle in to where I should be. I’m going to courses and don’t know where I should be, but I’m getting used to it.”

Koepka arranged for Pak and some Florida State staffers to ride on a private plane to Dublin, Ohio, in early June so Pak could pick up his Jack Nicklaus award from the Golden Bear himself during the Memorial Tournament.

However, Pak said he hasn’t talked with Koepka about what to expect from life on the PGA Tour. He played with Florida State alum Hank Lebioda two weeks ago, and Lebioda offered some advice. He also said that if Pak has questions, he should reach out for help.

“I thought that was cool and really nice of him,” Pak said.

It’s unfair to judge Pak’s game against the pros, statistically, based on just three rounds on the PGA Tour. However, from an eye-test perspective, he already chips and putts like a pro. He has touch around the greens and can make the ball dance with a wedge. Pak is not long by PGA Tour standards, but he is effective off the tee. What he needs is more power and more experience, especially on the courses he will be playing. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get that.

For instance, Pak hit driver off the tee on the uphill second hole and found the left side of the fairway. Many pros play either a driving iron, hybrid or fairway wood. Unfortunately, Pak’s tee shot wound up too close to the green to make a full swing, and his half-swing wedge shot went long, leading to a bogey. However, he recovered on the next hole, hitting an approach shot from 134 yards to 17 feet and making the birdie putt.

College awards and honors won’t win John Pak this golf tournament. Birdies will, lots of them. He will start Friday seven shots off Kramer Hickok’s lead at 7 under, but Pak is mature, confident and already looks like someone who thinks he belongs on the big stage.

Two years ago, Morikawa, Wolff and Hovland had that look before the start of the Travelers Championship. We knew they would be good, probably soon. Pak appears to be the next young player poised to use the Travelers Championship as a springboard to stardom.

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FedEx Cup Playoffs finale could decide Player of the Year honors

Jon Rahm? Dustin Johnson? Collin Morikawa? Justin Thomas? Who deserves to win the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year on the PGA Tour.

ATLANTA – In less time than it would take him to tap in a putt, Justin Thomas gave his answer when asked who the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year would be at the current moment.

“Me.”

If Thomas would have elaborated this week at East Lake Golf Club, his argument would have been strong. The world No. 3 is the only player to win three times this season – he captured the CJ Cup last fall; defeated Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January; and closed with a 65 to win the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last month to become the world No. 1 for a brief moment.

He also lost in a playoff in the Workday Charity Open and tied for third in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And Thomas, who was the 2017 POY winner, is the Tour’s leading money winner.

But the competition is stout for the POY honors for the 2019-2020 season.

Tee times, TV info | Betting odds | Fantasy golf | Prop bets

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 5 Collin Morikawa and No. 6 Webb Simpson have says in the matter, too. Brendon Todd, ranked 39th, can’t fully be dismissed from the discussion, either.

Which leads us into The Tour Championship beginning Friday. It is the season ending event and the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with the victor receiving $15 million. And possibly the Jack Nicklaus POY award.

“I think right now it’s really close,” Johnson said. “I think this week could help solidify Player of the Year.”

Johnson’s in the pole position in The Tour Championship and starts with a two-shot lead because of the staggered scoring format. He’s in a strong position to win POY honors, too. He’s won twice – the Travelers Championship and the Northern Trust, the first event of the postseason where he shot 30 under to win by 11 and became the No. 1 player in the world.

The 2016 POY also lost in a playoff last week in the BMW Championship and finished in a tie for second in the PGA Championship.

Rahm’s case is strong, too. He became the No. 1 player for a week when he won the Memorial and defeated Johnson in last week’s BMW Championship with a 66-foot putt on the first extra hole.

Rahm also finished runner-up in the Farmers Insurance Open, tied for third in the WGC-Mexico Championship and tied for sixth in the Northern Trust. He also won two times on the European Tour (though most players who vote for the PGA Tour’s POY only consider events played on the PGA Tour).

Rahm starts two shots behind Johnson in the first round at East Lake.

“I will say being as fair as possible, I think it comes down to if any one of us wins this week,” Rahm said. “If any of those names (he rattled off the six contenders) that I just said wins, I think they will be a deserving Player of the Year.”

Morikawa is the only major champion this season, winning the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The win came with possibly the shot of the year when he drove the green of the 16th hole and knocked in a seven-foot putt for eagle.

Morikawa also beat Thomas in a playoff to win the Workday Charity Open and lost in a playoff to Daniel Berger in the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first tournament after a 13-week break due to COVID-19.

Simpson has won twice – he beat Tony Finau in a playoff in the Waste Management Phoenix Open and won the RBC Heritage. He has six other top-10s, including a playoff loss to Tyler Duncan in the RMS Classic last fall.

Todd is the longshot in the POY talks. He won twice in the fall – the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Classic and has two other top-10s.
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Sahith Theegala adds another line to resume as Jack Nicklaus Award winner

Sahith Theegala completed the postseason awards sweep as he was named the Jack Nicklaus Award winner.

Sahith Theegala teed it up in the last two PGA Tour events as a professional. The Pepperdine player continues to rack up college golf awards, though, and on Wednesday was named the Jack Nicklaus Award winner.

Theegala already was named the Ben Hogan Award winner and Haskins Award winner earlier this spring after a shortened senior season during which he won a pair of tournaments and also posted four top-10 finishes. He finished the year as the No. 1 player in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Theegala becomes just the fifth player to earn all three awards in the same year.

The Nicklaus Award recognizes the top players at the Division I, II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA levels.

At the Division II level, Delta State’s Zach Zediker was named the award recipient. Zediker claimed four victories during his senior campaign after opening the season with a runner-up finish at the Cougar Invitational. Zediker becomes the first Delta State player in program history to win the Nicklaus Award.

Rob Wuethrich of Illinois Wesleyan was the Division III winner. Wuethrich posted a scoring average of 70.2 and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the final Golfstat NCAA Division III rankings. He won four times this season and did not finish outside the top six.

Dalton State’s Ben Rebne, the NAIA winner, won four individual titles, posted five top-5 finishes, and never finished outside the top-10 in all six events. Rebne becomes the fourth Dalton State player to win the Jack Nicklaus Award in the last six years.

Finally, NJCAA winner Jon Hopkins of Mississippi Gulf Coast recorded three wins during the 2019-20 campaign and is headed to Florida Gulf Coast next season to continue his college career.

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