ShareMIAMI: Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, two-time major winner Xander Schuaffele and DP World Tour Championship winner Rory McIlroy were named Monday as 2024 PGA Tour Player of the Year award nominees. The Jack Nicklaus Award, named for the record 18-time major winner, and the Arnold Palmer Award for the PGA Rookie of the Year will be voted upon by PGA Tour members through December 4 with winners announced by the end of the year. Nominees for PGA Rookie of the Year include France’s Matthieu Pavon and Americans Nick Dunlap, Jake Knapp and Max Greyserman.
Scheffler and Schauffele are favorites in the top player race. Scheffler won Paris Olympic gold and captured seven titles on the PGA Tour, including his second Masters title in three seasons. The 28-year-old American also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the Heritage and Memorial tournaments, the Travelers Championship and the season-ending Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup. He was the season money leader and took the Byron Nelson Award for low scoring average at 68.645 strokes. He had 16 top-10 PGA finishes without missing a cut.
Schauffele captured his first two major titles, winning the PGA Championship and the British Open, and the 31-year-old American was second in scoring average at 69.137. He had 15 top-10 efforts without missing a cut. McIlroy won the Zurich Classic pairs event with Irishman Shane Lowry and his fourth Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour and had 15 top-10s without a missed cut. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland almost captured his fifth major title and first since 2014 but settled for second at the US Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
Among the rookies, 20-year-old Dunlap was the surprise story. He won the American Express title as an amateur on a sponsor exemption in January, turned professional and then captured the Barracuda Championship, becoming the first player in tour history to win as a pro and amateur in the same season. Pavon, 32, won the Farmers Insurance Open and was third at Pebble Beach as well as fifth in the US Open. He was the only rookie to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Knapp, 30, won his first PGA title at the Mexico Open while Greyserman, 29, was a three-time runner-up. — AFP
