3 Golf players who missed out on 2023 Player of the Year nominations
The PGA Tour Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year nominations have been officially released. There are five candidates for the Player of the Year and four for the Rookie of the Year. All of them had a stellar year but only one can be given the award when it's all said and done.
Player of the Year, perhaps the most prestigious award in golf, has several deserving candidates. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, and Viktor Hovland are up for this year's end-of-season award.
However, they're not the only deserving candidates. Plenty of others could be considered Player of the Year snubs, and that list could be lengthy. Nevertheless, here are three golfers who missed out on a deserving Player of the Year nomination in 2023.
Three golfers who were snubbed for Player of the Year
3) Patrick Cantlay
The highest-ranked player in OWGR to not receive a nomination, Patrick Cantlay feels like a bit of a snub. Perhaps it's the lack of wins in 2023, but his overall performance was more than good enough. Cantlay played 21 events this season. He made the cut in 19 of them, placed top 25 in 16 events, finished inside the top 10 in 10 different events, and was the runner-up twice. Cantlay was good enough to finish fifth in the FedEx Cup standings as well. It was a really good season, and it's a shame he's missing out.
2) Max Homa
It was a quietly great year for Max Homa. The golfer played more than well enough to land his first Ryder Cup appearance, where he dominated. The rest of the Americans were pretty poor at the tournament and Homa was just about the only player keeping them alive. Homa rose from 17 to 7 in the OWGR this season, marking a journey into the top 10 that more than deserves a shoutout from these nominations. Homa also had his personal best-ever performances at The Masters and the Open Championship, so it was a really good year for him.
1) Brian Harman
While Wyndham Clark was a little better than Harman in 2023, winning a tournament to go along with his maiden Major win, both he and Brian Harman had similar years. They both dominated their way into the Ryder Cup conversation and Harman won the Open Championship. Combine that with a rise to the ninth spot (up from 22 at the end of last year) in the Official World Golf Rankings and it's easy to see why the golfer at least deserved a nomination for the best year of his career. Harman achieved three runner-up finishes and seven top 10 cuts this season while making the cut in 20 of 28 total events played. It was a great year that deserves more credit.