Scottie Scheffler won his second straight Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
Scheffler is the first player to win the honor in back-to-back seasons since Tiger Woods won three in a row from 2005-07.
The PGA Tour also announced Eric Cole on Wednesday as the winner of the Arnold Palmer Award as the tour’s Rookie of the Year.
Both awards were determined in a vote by tour members who competed in at least 15 FedEx Cup events.
Scheffler, 27, received 38 percent of the votes counted from Dec. 1-15, defeating fellow nominees Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.
“Anything that you receive voted on by your peers is very special to me and being able to go home with this trophy two years in a row now is very special,” Scheffler said from this week’s season-opening event, The Sentry at Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii. “I think the body of work I put in last year with the consistency and finishing top 10 most of the weeks that I played, I was very proud of that consistency.”
Cole, 35, earned 51 percent to beat Ludvig Aberg, Nico Echavarria and Vincent Norrman. He is the oldest to be named top rookie since 39-year-old Todd Hamilton in 2004.
In 23 starts, Scheffler won two titles (WM Phoenix Open, The Players Championship) and led the PGA Tour with 13 top-fives and 17 top-10s. He set the tour’s season record for earnings with $21 million.
What are Scheffler’s priorities for 2024?
“Mostly just continuing to improve my body, make sure everything’s moving correctly,” he said. “I think, in turn, that helps my ball striking. Then continue to refine my touch around the greens, improve my bunker game, and then putting, obviously, just kind of get the feel of the ball coming off the blade. I put myself in as many pressure situations as I could at home, whether it be playing ‘hammer’ or ‘wolf’ games, whatever it is.”
Cole was the only rookie to qualify for the BMW Championship and finished 43rd in the official FedEx Cup standings. He followed up with four top-five finishes during the FedEx Cup Fall campaign.
–Field Level Media
