The PGA Tour announced Saturday morning that Scottie Scheffler has been named the 2021-22 PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Scheffler received 89% of the votes to win the Jack Nicklaus Award over Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith after a season that saw the former Longhorn win four times, including his first major championship, the 2022 Masters.
PGA Tour members who played at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2021-22 season were eligible to vote.
The world No. 1 spent four years at the University of Texas and received the award while making an appearance on ESPN’s “College Gameday” in Austin as the Longhorns prepared to host the Alabama Crimson Tide.
A SUPRISE FOR SCOTTIE ❤️
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 10, 2022
Scottie Scheffler is the 2022 @PGATOUR Player of the Year 🏆 pic.twitter.com/DZsFQdWz86
The Masters champ was noticeably emotional as the Texas crowd chanted, “SCOTTIE! SCOTTIE! SCOTTIE!”
Scheffler, 26, was the Player of the Year on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 and won the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2020. By being named PGA Tour Player of the Year, he is the first player to win those three awards, doing so in the span of four seasons. The awards were established in 1990.
“On behalf of the PGA Tour, congratulations to Scottie on his remarkable season and his unprecedented achievements,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. “Undoubtably, one of the highest compliments a player can receive is the endorsement from his peers, and the fact that Scottie’s season was both dominant and consistent spoke volumes to the membership. And as gratifying as it has been to see his development on the course over the last several years, we are equally thankful that Scottie has embraced the role as an ambassador of the PGA Tour and the game of golf. With young stars like Scottie leading the way, the PGA Tour is in great hands for many years to come.”
Scheffler came into the season as arguably the best player in the world yet to win on the Tour before capturing his first title in a playoff at the WM Phoenix Open. That was the first of four victories in a six-tournament stretch that saw him catapult to No. 1 in the world, a ranking he has yet to relinquish.