Player of the Year wraps fitting end to Scottie Scheffler’s historic season

It’s hard to develop consensus in today’s world. Unless, apparently, it involves the current hierarchy of pro golfers. Then it’s pretty simple, at least according to the results of the Jack Nicklaus Award.

Ninety-one percent of PGA TOUR members voted to name Scottie Scheffler the Player of the Year, the TOUR announced Tuesday. It wasn’t fully unanimous, but it was close, despite a strong case on paper from Xander Schauffele who redefined his career arc and broader narrative with two breakthrough major championship victories. Rory McIlroy was also a finalist.

Scheffler joins Woods as the only golfers to win the award in three consecutive years. Scheffler, Woods and McIlroy are the only golfers to have won the award at least three times. McIlroy has won it three times; Woods won it 11 times.

“It's tough to compare seasons,” Scheffler said, but I think in terms of the amount of tournaments I won and with having a major championship, THE PLAYERS and the Olympics, I think when you look across the whole season I think it's the best golf that I've played in my career.”

Simply, it’s hard to compare to Scheffler. His seven official PGA TOUR wins in 2024 and nine worldwide, are the most on the PGA TOUR since Tiger Woods in 2007. Scheffler, Woods and Vijay Singh are the only golfers to win seven or more times in a season in the modern era. The Texan has spent the last 82 weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking, a lead big enough to carry him through much of 2025 regardless of his play.

Scheffler is sheepish about most honors, something we’ve come to expect from the world No. 1 and reigning FedExCup champion. He just wants to golf. He pays little mind of where he ranks among peers or in larger history, though he does care how his peers view him.

“I just feel like the players kind of know the body of work and to get their support and their vote on this award is really special just because we're competing against each other week in and week out," said Scheffler, who was presented with the award during a charity outing in Plano, Texas, Tuesday evening. "I just feel like getting their vote is pretty cool."

The voting margin of Scheffler’s peers made it clear that they don’t believe anyone is particularly close to Scheffler. His closest competitor even said it publicly earlier this year.

“I feel like we're all just chasing him,” Schauffele said at the BMW Championship in August. “I've done probably the best job of getting the closest to him, but it's still very far away.”

By strictly counting stats, it’s hard to argue. The numbers are gaudy. He’s the first to win THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters and TOUR Championship in the same season. His other four wins were all against the world’s best in Signature Events – the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and the Travelers Championship.

Among the notable categories, Scheffler led the TOUR in wins, top 10s, Scoring Average, Par 4 Scoring Average, Par 5 Scoring Average, Birdie Average, Strokes Gained: Total, SG: Tee to Green and SG: Approach.

It has naturally brought about comparisons to Woods, the 82-time TOUR winner, who dominated the game for years. Scheffler’s just getting started when it comes to matching the longevity, but with every passing record Scheffler breaks, the comparisons get louder. Scheffler believes it silly.

“I saw it a lot growing up,” he said. “You know, I can remember when Jordan (Spieth) had his season in I think it was 2015 and he won a bunch of times and people were comparing him to Tiger Woods. There's really only one Tiger, that's just kind of it.”

With his Player of the Year trophy and the FedExCup in the background, Scheffler added he is more than happy with just being the best version of himself. “I'm just trying to day in and day out continue to improve a little bit, just go out there and compete, have fun,” he said.

That’s taken him pretty far already.