Top 3 most successful golfers on the PGA Tour from 2022
The 2022 PGA Tour season saw a lot of ups and downs. A lot of big names chose to switch camps and allied themselves with LIV Golf.
Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson were among the few names who had either joined the Saudi-backed league or resigned from the PGA Tour. The tour announced that all LIV Golf-assoicated players would be banned from its events.
The season also saw Scottie Scheffler's breakthrough as he became the new number 1. However, the veteran Rory McIlroy dethroned Scheffler and regained the top position.
Here, we will throw light on the top three successful professionals in the 2021-22 PGA Tour season.
Scottie Scheffler: 4 PGA Tour victories including one major
The 2021-22 season was a breakthrough one for Scottie Scheffler. He had his first tour victory this year and went on to win three more, making him the most successful player of the past season, in terms of tour victories.
Scheffler was declared the PGA TOUR Player of the Year, for which he received the Jack Nicklaus Award.
His four tour victories included the WM Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the World Golf Championships, and the Masters Tournament.
Scheffler reached the TOUR Championship for the third consecutive season where he ended up second. The 26-year-old also finished runner-up in the FedEx Cup standings, for which he received a bonus of $5.75 million.
The best moment of Scheffler's career came when he moved to No.1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time, in March. As a No. 1, Scheffler was successful in winning his first career major, the Masters Tournament.
Scheffler also received $14,046,910 as official money, making him the first player in PGA TOUR history to cross $14 million in one season. Scheffler stayed at No. 1 for 24 weeks before McIlroy overtook him.
Apart from four victories, Scottie finished T2 at the Houston Open, T3 at the BMW Championships, and runner-up in the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Cameron Young: Seven top 3 finishes but no title
For a rookie like Cameron Young, it was a successful season as he reached the top 3 in seven events this year. Out of them, Young finished as runner-up in five. Though he failed to record a victory, it is quite a remarkable achievement to be this consistent.
Young advanced to the Tour Championships in his first season. He finished at 19 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Since Vijay Singh in 2003, Young has become the first player to have five No. 2 finishes. The five events were the Sanderson Farms Championship, Rocket Mortgage Classic, Wells Fargo Championship, The Open Championship, and The Genesis Invitational.
Apart from these events, Young also finished T3s at the RBC Heritage and the PGA Championship. In both tournaments, he missed the playoffs by just one stroke. Young's official money this season was $6,520,598, making him the first PGA TOUR rookie to grab more than $5 million in a season.
The 25-year-old also became the first player to earn more than $6.5 million without a single victory in a season.
Young also finished the season as No. 17 in OWGR, giving him the highest position reached without winning any event. The American earned a bonus of $1.1 million for finishing No. 9 in the FedEx standings.
Rory McIlroy: 12 top 5 finishes, top 10 in all four majors
Rory McIlroy didn't win a Major this year, nor did he win most titles, yet he was the most successful player of the season. McIlroy has had 12 top-five finishes this year and finished in the top 10 of all four Majors.
McIlroy tasted three victories this season, THE CJ Cup, the RBC Canadian Open, and the TOUR Championship. The veteran became the 31st player in PGA TOUR history to have 22 career wins.
This was the fourth season in which Rory recorded three or more victories and was the first since 2018-19.
He finished 2,8, T5 and 3 in the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, US Open, and The Open Championship, respectively.
McIlroy closely missed the playoffs for the title at the Dubai Desert Classic.
The Tour Championship was Rory's third FedEx Cup victory, surpassing Tiger Woods, who only had two. He got an additional $18 million bonus for his FedEx Cup triumph. He lost the BMW PGA Championship by just one shot.
The Irishman successfully defended the CJ Cup in October, displacing Scottie Scheffler as the new world No. 1.
McIlory finished fourth at the DP World Tour Championship, successfully retaining his top position.
Rory also won the Harry Vardon Trophy as Europe's top dog.