Since 1990, when the PGA Tour established the Participant of the 12 months Award—now generally known as the Jack Nicklaus Award—eight gamers have received a number of main championships in a given season.
Tiger Woods achieved this feat on 4 events, profitable a number of majors in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2006. Xander Schauffele most lately did so this previous season, profitable the PGA Championship at Valhalla and The Open at Royal Troon. These two wins launched his profession into a distinct stratosphere, as Schauffele additional cemented himself as top-of-the-line golfers on the planet. He additionally grew to become one of many high gamers of his era.
Earlier than this season, 10 gamers received at the very least two majors in the identical calendar yr relationship again to 1990. In all 10 cases, that particular person received the Jack Nicklaus Award, as determined by fellow tour execs by a vote. The whole record follows beneath:
- 1994: Nick Value
- 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
That mould will break this yr, and Schauffele is aware of it.
“I imply, it appears I must have the perfect yr ever,” Schauffele stated when requested what he must do to win the Participant of the 12 months subsequent yr.
“I simply had the perfect yr of my profession and wasn’t actually shut. I’m fairly content material with how I performed and the place my sport is at. If I can carry on doing what I’m doing, I’d be more than happy.”
The PGA Tour will presumably have a good time Scottie Scheffler as its Participant of the 12 months for a 3rd straight season. Scheffler went on a historic tear starting in early March at Bay Hill, profitable the Arnold Palmer Invitational after which The Gamers in back-to-back weeks. He went on to win at Augusta Nationwide, Harbour City, Muirfield Village, and TPC River Highlands, thus turning into the primary participant to win six instances earlier than Jul. 1 since Arnold Palmer did so in 1962. He capped off his season with a dominant efficiency at East Lake, capturing his first FedEx Cup title throughout Labor Day weekend. Scheffler additionally added a Gold Medal at The Olympics in between, due to a historic Sunday cost at Le Golf Nationwide that shall be highlighted within the historical past books endlessly.
Schauffele, in the meantime, didn’t win exterior of his two main triumphs. However he made each minimize in 2024. He had a presence on the entrance web page of the leaderboard seemingly each week. He completed among the many top-10 in 15 of the 21 occasions he performed on the PGA Tour, together with all 4 majors in 2024—the one one to take action. Scheffler can’t say the identical. Because of his putter not displaying up, the previous Texas Longhorn tied for forty first at Pinehurst No. 2. Schauffele tied for seventh that week, ending 5 again of Bryson DeChambeau, so at the very least he can maintain that in opposition to the World No. 1.
But, regardless of making historical past associated to the Participant of the 12 months award, Schauffele wouldn’t change a factor about this previous season.
“It was a dream come true,” Schauffele stated forward of this week’s ZOZO Championship.
“Successful two majors in a season is, you realize, you type of dream of that stuff, and for me, with the ability to do it is rather particular. So I’ll all the time bear in mind 2024.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
