What became all but inevitable on September 1st at the Tour Championship became official on Tuesday: the PGA Tour announced that World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had been named recipient of the PGA Tour’s Jack Nicklaus Award for Player of the Year in 2024.
Scheffler won an incredible seven official PGA Tour events in 2024, including his second Masters title in April and his second-straight Players Championship in March.
The seven wins do not count two other victories the 28-year-old Texan recorded this year: the gold medal at the Paris Olympics and last week’s Hero World Challenge.
Xander Schauffele at least made the contest interesting this summer, winning two major titles at the PGA Championship and Open Championship. With those big wins, some wondered whether Schauffele would deserve Player of the Year honors if he went on to win the FedEx Cup title as well. But Scheffler stomped out that possibility by winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup himself, along with its $25 million bonus.
Including his bonuses, Scheffler made over $63 million on the course during his most recent Player of the Year campaign.
This is Scheffler’s third-straight PGA Tour Player of the Year win, joining Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Jack Nicklaus Award in three consecutive years. Woods accomplished the feat twice, winning five in a row from 1999-2003 and three in a row from 2005-2007. In all Woods has 11 Jack Nicklaus Awards. Rory McIlroy is the only other player with three.
The Jack Nicklaus Award is determined by a vote among players who competed in at least 15 PGA Tour events this season. Scheffler won with a whopping 91% of the vote according to the PGA Tour, with Schauffele and McIlroy also receiving votes.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan congratulated Scheffler in a press release announcing the award, writing, “On behalf of the PGA Tour, congratulations to Scottie Scheffler on a truly historic season, capped off with his first FedExCup title and today a third consecutive Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA Tour Player of the Year. Scottie took on challenges from the best players in the world on the biggest stages all season, and being honored as PGA Tour Player of the Year is the ultimate sign of respect from his peers.”
Scheffler’s seven Tour wins in his successful Player of the Year campaign were the most in a single season by any player since Woods in 2007, and Scheffler has been installed at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking for 82-consecutive weeks. He also won the 2024 Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average for a second-straight season, finishing the year with an average of 68.65.
