Scheffler won 91 percent of the player votes and seemed the obvious choice given the number of victories he had, including an Olympic gold medal when he shot 62 on the final day.
His seven PGA Tour victories included his second Masters title and he became the first multiple winner of The Players Championship.
He also won the Tour Championship and won the FedEx Cup. His other four wins were all highlight reels against the strongest teams – Bay Hill and Memorial, Hilton Head and Hartford.
While no one has been able to match him this year, the question has arisen how players view Xander Schauffele’s rare feat of winning two majors in one year, at the PGA Championship and The Open. Scheffler’s standard was too hard to miss.
Masters champion for the second time in April. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Schauffele became the first player to win two majors and not be named player of the year since the award began in 1990. Nick Faldo won the Masters and The Open in 1990, but was not a member of the PGA Tour and was not eligible for the award.
Rory McIlroy was the third name on the ballot.
Woods is an 11-time winner of the award, winning five times in a row (1999–2003) and three times in a row (2005–2007).
McIlroy is the only other player to win the award three times – in 2012, 2014 and 2019.
“Scottie has taken on the challenges of the world’s best players on the biggest stages all season long, and being named PGA Tour Player of the Year is the highest level of respect from his peers,” said commissioner Jay Monahan.
Scheffler also won the Byron Nelson Award for the second consecutive year for lowest scoring average. As he won titles, his streak of 28 consecutive sub-par rounds earlier in the year was overlooked.
He didn’t break par in any round until Saturday at the PGA Championship, a day after he was arrested entering Valhalla following a traffic accident investigation. The charges were dropped a few weeks later, a strange episode in an otherwise flawless season.
He broke the PGA Tour earnings record, which was inevitable given the surge in prize money this year, in which he hosted 11 tournaments with prize pools of $20 million or more, not including four majors.
Scheffler won just over $29.2 million in 18 official cash prize tournaments, as well as a $25 million FedExCup bonus and an $8 million bonus for leading the regular season.
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