PGA Tour 2022 Player of the Year: Rory McIlroy, Cameron Smith, Scottie Scheffler in title nominations list

The PGA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year nominations have been announced, and the nominees are exactly who you think they will be. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith topped the Player of the Year race, while Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young and Tom Kim were the Rookie of the Year contenders.

The three-time, three-time PGA Tour winner McIlroy won this year’s PGA Tour, including a dramatic Tour win over Scheffler, in which he pocketed $18 million for his efforts. McIlroy’s two other titles are the CJ Cup in the fall of 2021 and the Canadian Open in the summer of 2022. While he won a record $28 million for his on-court game (between tournament earnings). , FedEx Cup and Comcast Business Top 10 bonuses), he didn’t have a good year like Scheffler or Smith.

It was Smith who beat McIlroy at The Open Championship in July at the Old Course with a record of 64 scintillations in the final round. It ended a remarkable season for the Australian, who made the move from the PGA Tour to the LIV Golf League. He added the Player championship and Tournament of Champions win to his collection this year and brought in nearly $15 million in the process.

However, it was Scheffler who had the best season. His four wins have all been at tournaments ranked in the world’s top 12 for court power in 2022 as he won the Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and all course masterswhere McIlroy came in second and Smith was second.

“Scottie Scheffler is going to win Player of the Year,” McIlroy said after beating him at the Tour Championship. “There’s no doubt about it. You know, it would be fitting if he ended his breakout season with the FedEx Cup title. I think he… He’s had an unbelievable season. He didn’t have his best today, and I played well and took advantage of that.

“Scottie will have a better chance of winning FedEx Cups. A goddamn tennis player, a competitor. The better one. Loves his family. Listen, it’s hard. You really don’t know what to say. nothing on green 18 because he’s had such a great year, but he’s coming back, and he’s a great player, and I told him it certainly won’t be the last. we have battles like this on the golf course.”

Each of the three most recent PGA Tour Player of the Year winners have doubled as FedEx Cup and Tour Championship winners, a record that is likely to be broken this year as the PGA Tour members vote on this award. Humorously speaking, Smith may not even be eligible to vote for the award after making his LIV Golf debut at the event in Boston last weekend. Eligible players to vote are “PGA Tour members who have played in at least 15 official FedEx Cup events during the 2021-22 season.”

As for the Rookie of the Year award, it will likely be closer than once in doubt. Although Cam Young – who once flirted with LIV Golf – has established himself as the best rookie at this year’s majors, Tom Kim – who will almost certainly play for the International Team at Presidents Cup at the end of September. – went strong and won the Wyndham Championship to make it to the FedEx Cup Playoffs at the end of the year.

Voting will remain open until Friday, September 9.