“Because of his high level of ball-striking” - Jon Rahm shares his perspective on Scottie Scheffler winning the PGA Tour Player of the Year award
Scottie Scheffler recently won the PGA Tour Player of the Year award, and Jon Rahm has nothing but praise for him. Scheffler is currently ranked World No. 1 and also holds the 2023 Players Championship title. He also became the first player to win the award back-to-back after Tiger Woods did it from 2005 to 2007.
Scheffler's ball striking was probably the most impressive part of his 2023 season, as he gained 0.7 strokes per round tee to green more than his closest competitor. Rahm recently appeared on the Jim Rome Show and appreciated Scheffler's performance over the last year.
He said, according to NBC Sports:
“Oh man, listen, Scottie had a fantastic year. Fantastic year.… I don’t want to take away anything from what he did, but historically, hardware is what’s won basically the Player of the Year."
Jon Rahm seems to value trophies, especially those earned in major tournaments. While Scheffler did not win any majors this year, Rahm is convinced that it was his ball striking that set him apart from the rest of the field.
"The year Patrick Cantlay won, I was basically the more consistent player, in 2021, [I] had a major. I think I had 16 top-10s that year and I fully understood why Patrick won it. It’s just maybe this year because of his high level of ball-striking, [the voters] decided to go in a different direction, but at the end of the day, it’s well earned.”
Scottie Scheffler edged out Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy to win 2023 PGA Tour Player of the Year
Scottie Scheffler has had quite an impressive year in 2023, and he managed to edge out tough competition to win the award. Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm were the other nominees for the award.
The World No. 1 had 13 top-five finishes and 17 top-10 finishes in the year, a mark that is just shy of Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh's record. Alongside the PGA Tour Player of the Year award, Scheffler also received the Bryson Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average on the Tour, sitting at 68.63.
On the other hand, Eric Cole received the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award, winning against Ludvig Åberg, Nico Echavarria, and Vincent Norrman.