This is how Scottie Scheffler feels about beating Jon Rahm to player of the year

You'd be forgiven for thinking Scottie Scheffler winning the PGA Tour's player of the year award was a fix after Jon Rahm bolted to LIV. 

But all is not what it seems. Members began voting on 1 December, seven days before the Spaniard was announced as a rival league player. 

Of course, the speculation over Rahm's future during this period was rampant.

But do we really believe Rahm's peers would vote against him just because they had heard the reigning Masters champion was defecting?

Perhaps what this comes down to is that players have different view of how they define success?

Scheffler received a whopping 38 per cent of the vote. 

Other than Rahm and Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy were nominated. 

When you look at the stats, Scheffler's numbers are just insane:

• In 23 starts, the 2022 Masters champion finished inside the top five on 14 occasions 
• He won twice (The Players, WM Phoenix Open)
• It took Scheffler until July to finish outside the top-12
• Led the PGA Tour in strokes gained/overall (2.34) and tee-to-green (2.62)
• Had a scoring average of 68.63 

 

 

 

 

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His season scoring average has only been bested by Tiger Woods, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that what Scheffler did in 2023 was remarkable. 

Of course, Rahm clinched the Masters and had three other wins. The latter part of his season was quieter until he added three points to his overall Ryder Cup record when he helped the Europeans defeat Team USA in September. 

It's also important to remember the award is supposed to based solely off Tour events. 

Asked if he was 'surprised' that he won the award for the second year in a row, Scheffler told the media before The Sentry: "You know, 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."

So would he trade his year for Rahm's?

Scheffler said: "I don't focus too much on the past or the present -- or sorry, past or the future, and looking into the past, I'm very proud of the body of work that I put in, the consistency that I put in last year I'm very proud of.

"I'm proud of both of my wins -- or I guess all three of them now, including the Hero. Yeah, it was a really solid year and I'm proud of how I played."

If there's any consolation for Rahm, he perhaps wasn't alone in feeling 'snubbed'. Eric Cole was selected as the Tour's rookie of the year, ahead of Swedish phenom Ludvig Aberg. 

Aberg's Ryder Cup captain offered this response to that news:

Ludvig should be eligible for ROY in ‘24 as he only got on Tour in June! He could win both POY & ROY!!!

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) January 3, 2024

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