Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
On Monday, the PGA Tour announced the five finalists for the 2023 Player of the Year award.
On Monday morning, the PGA Tour released the five finalists for the 2023 Player of the Year award. This title has been handed out every year since 1990, with legendary figures such as Rory McIlroy (3), Fred Couples (2) and Nick Price (2) having won multiple times in the past.
Of course, Tiger Woods lapped the field since the Jack Nicklaus Award was first presented. He won it a ridiculous 11 times, including five straight from 1999 through 2003.
This year, we could add a new name to the back-to-back winners list, with Scottie Scheffler having won the prestigious title last season.
The voting will take place between PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official PGA Tour events in 2023, with voting closing on December 15th.
Unlike in years past, the winner will not be announced until early January at the Sentry. That’s because of the new structure of the PGA Tour Fall schedule this season.
Now let’s break down the five finalists for the 2023 PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler followed up his fantastic 2022 season with arguably an even more stellar one this year. Despite not winning a major, his consistency was incredible.
The 2022 Masters champion made the cut in all 23 tournament he played in this season. He defended his crown at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and later won his first Players Championship.
He then capped off his season with a dominant win at the Hero World Challenge this past weekend.
Scottie Scheffler’s incredible 2023 season:
• Won WM Phoenix Open
• Won THE PLAYERS
• Won Hero World Challenge
• Made every cut (23/23) with 17 top-10s
• Recorded 18 consecutive top-12 finishes
• 1st in SG: Total
• 1st in SG: Tee-to-Green
• 1st in SG:… pic.twitter.com/GOq1XX2ywF
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 4, 2023
Beyond that, Scheffler logged 17 top-10’s and posted the lowest scoring average per round at 68.629, earning him the Byron Nelson Award.
The 27-year-old from New Jersey finished first in nearly every statistical category, except putting. If his flat stick was even average, he like would have had one of the best seasons in history.
He is very clearly one of the favorites from this group.
Wyndham Clark
The one true surprise player to make this list is Wyndham Clark. He broke out this season on the PGA Tour, capturing his first tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship in May.
Any notion of that being a fluke was quickly put to bed a month later. Clark bested both Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler on Sunday at the U.S. Open to capture his first major championship.
How he played that final day was something to marvel at. That vaulted him up the FedEx Cup standings, where he finished third. It also earned him a spot on the American Ryder Cup team.
Jon Rahm
The other major winner on this list, Jon Rahm put together another incredibly strong campaign.
He won his second major, emerging victorious at the 2023 Masters. He led all golfers with four PGA Tour wins this season. Rahm did so in some of the biggest events, too. He won two Signature Events: Sentry Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational.
He had 10 top-10’s, made 18 of 20 cuts and posted the third best scoring average. On its face, Rahm should absolutely be the favorite.
But knowing the blockbuster rumors of Rahm ditching the PGA Tour for LIV circulating, that is very likely to play a part in the voting.
Viktor Hovland
Hovland is probably the hottest player on the planet right now.
He closed out the PGA Tour Championship in style, cruising past his competitors and making it look easy. Hovland carried that momentum into the Ryder Cup where he embarrassed Scheffler and Brooks Koepka to historic proportions.
The Oslo, Norway native won three times this season, including The Memorial, the BMW Championship and the aforementioned Tour Championship and first FedEx Cup.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Like Scheffler, he made the cut in all 23 events he entered and finished fourth in scoring average.
You can bet that even if he doesn’t win this award, his smile will still light up a room.
Rory McIlroy
The last guy on this list is looking for his fourth crown. McIlroy was unbelievably consistent, especially over the last few months of the season.
Rory just missed out on his fifth major a number of times, finishing solo second at the U.S. Open, tied for sixth at the Open Championship and seventh at the PGA Championship. He won the CJ Cup in South Carolina and then the DP World Tour co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open.
As solid of a season as it was for McIlroy, it likely won’t be enough though for him to take back the crown.
Who do you think should win the PGA Tour Player of the Year for 2023? Let us know in the comments below.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
