Scottie Scheffler was named the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year in voting by the Tour’s membership.
In receiving 89 percent of the votes, Scheffler was selected for the honor over the other two nominees: Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith.
In doing so, Scheffler became the first player to win Korn Ferry Player of the Year, PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors. Scheffler, who spent four years on the men’s golf team at the University of Texas, received the Jack Nicklaus Award during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay before the Longhorns football team hosted No. 1 Alabama in Austin. Texas coach John Fields presented Scheffler the trophy in front of the reigning NCAA men’s championship golf team.
“It’s very special,” Scheffler said. “It was definitely a surprise this morning. It means a lot to me. Never really expected anything like that.”
A SUPRISE FOR SCOTTIE ❤️
Scottie Scheffler is the 2022 @PGATOUR Player of the Year 🏆 pic.twitter.com/DZsFQdWz86
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 10, 2022
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.
“Scottie Scheffler is going to win the Player of the Year. There’s no doubt about that,” McIlroy said after winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. “He played an unbelievable season.”
Scheffler’s four victories came at the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, 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 FedEx Cup standings for 24 weeks, including the final 23 weeks of the FedEx Cup regular season, and went on to finish in a tie for second at the Tour Championship, receiving $5.75 million in FedEx Cup bonus money.
With $14,046,910 in official money, Scheffler earned the most in a single season in Tour history, a record previously held by fellow former Texas Longhorn Jordan Spieth ($12,030,465 in 2014-15). Scheffler also received $4 million via the Comcast Business Tour top 10 for finishing the regular season as the FedEx Cup 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.
“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,” said Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.
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.
