Since 1990, PGA Tour creates Player of the Year AwardNow known as the Jack Nicklaus Award, eight players have won multiple major championships in a single season.
Tiger Woods accomplished this feat four times, winning multiple major championships in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2006. Xander Schauffele most recently accomplished this feat last season, winning the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the British Open at Royal Troon. These two wins further cemented Schauffele as one of the best golfers on the planet and elevated his career to another stratosphere. He also became one of the top players of his generation.
Prior to this season, 10 players had won at least two majors in the same calendar year dating back to 1990. In all 10 times, the player won the Jack Nicklaus Award, which is determined by a vote of fellow tour pros. The complete list is below.
- 1994: Nick Price
- 1998: Mark O'Meara
- 2000: Tiger Woods
- 2002: Tiger Woods
- 2005: Tiger Woods
- 2006: Tiger Woods
- 2008: Padraig Harrington
- 2014: Rory McIlroy
- 2015: Jordan Spieth
- 2018: Brooks Koepka
This year will break that mold, and Schauffele knows it.
Asked what he needs to do to win Player of the Year next year, Schauffele said, “So it looks like we need to have the best year ever.”
“I just had the best year of my career and I just fell short. I'm pretty happy with how I'm playing and where my game is. I hope I can continue to do what I'm doing. I’m happy.”
The PGA Tour will likely celebrate Scottie Scheffler as Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. Scheffler came off a historic loss at Bay Hill in early March, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then winning The Players several weeks in a row. He went on to win at Augusta National, Harbor Town, Muirfield Village and TPC River Highlands, becoming the first player to win six times by July 1 since Arnold Palmer did it in 1962. Ta. He ended the season with a dominant performance. He won his first FedEx Cup title at East Lake over Labor Day weekend. Scheffler also won gold at the intervening Olympics thanks to his historic Sunday charge at Le Golf National and will forever be in the history books.
Schauffele, on the other hand, has no wins other than two major wins. But he earned all his spots in 2024. He made his presence felt on the front page of the leaderboard every week. He finished in the top 10 in 15 of the 21 tournaments he played on the PGA Tour, including all four majors in 2024, his only finish. The same cannot be said for Scheffler. A poor putter left the former Texas Longhorn tied for 41st at No. 2 Pinehurst. Schauffele tied for seventh that week, finishing five behind Bryson DeChambeau, so he should be able to maintain that position, at least against the world No. 1.
But despite making history associated with the Player of the Year award, Schauffele wouldn't change anything about this past season.
“It's a dream come true,” Schauffele said ahead of this week's ZOZO Championship.
“Winning two majors in one season is kind of a dream and for me to be able to accomplish that is very special, so I will always remember 2024.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
