Xander Schauffele should be PGA Player of the Year if the award still existed

ATLANTA — Winning two majors in one year used to be a surefire way to win the points-based player of the year award given annually by the PGA of America since 1948. Xander Schauffele had a shot at at least one this year.

A major is worth 30 points. Two majors are worth a 50 point bonus.

Schauffele, the winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship, effectively took the prize last week when Scottie Scheffler failed to win the BMW Championship. Schauffele would have had 148 points — two majors, the bonus and 19 points for every second in scoring average and money. Even if he had won the Tour Championship, Scheffler would have had only 140 points.

There’s one problem, though: the PGA Award no longer exists.

In a decision that was not made public at the time, the PGA of America quietly decided two years ago to end the awards for PGA Tour players — player of the year and the Vardon Trophy.

“We will no longer present the PGA Player of the Year and Vardon Trophy awards, as similar awards are presented by the PGA Tour,” the PGA of America said in a statement Tuesday.

The last PGA of America Awards went to Rory McIlroy (Vardon) and Cameron Smith (player of the year) in 2022.

The PGA Tour’s player of the year award is decided by a player vote, and it could go either way. Scheffler has been nothing short of astonishing this year, winning the Masters, The Players Championship, four signature event titles, an Olympic gold medal and posting the lowest scoring average since Tiger Woods.

But a number of players are leaning toward multiple majors, the most meaningful titles in golf. It could come down to one of them winning the FedEx Cup.

The PGA Tour award — named after Jack Nicklaus — dates back to 1990. The only player to win two majors and not win the award was Nick Faldo that year, and for good reason: he was not a member of the PGA Tour and therefore ineligible for the award.

The PGA of America was considered a footnote for many years, largely because the weekly golf tournament revolves largely around the PGA Tour.

But with a player-only vote comes the problem of who actually votes. Scheffler wasn’t sure how many times he had submitted his ballot and said he wouldn’t vote for himself.

The best example of voter turnout was in 2010, when the Rookie of the Year award went to Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy. Neither reached the Tour Championship. Their records were very similar, except that McIlroy won at Quail Hollow. The vote went to Fowler.

The day after it was announced, Dustin Johnson was asked what he thought of the rookie award. He replied, “Man, that’s a tough one. I’m not sure who I’m gonna vote for.” Just a hunch, but he probably forgot to vote.

The curious decision was to discontinue the Vardon Trophy, which dated back to 1937. The PGA Tour essentially copied that award — the adjusted average — with the Byron Nelson Award. The only difference was that the Vardon required 60 rounds, while the PGA Tour version required only 50 rounds.

The winner was usually referred to as the winner of the Vardon, not the Nelson. But that is over.

Nelly Korda and the majors

Nelly Korda won the first LPGA major of the year, tying an LPGA record with her fifth consecutive victory. The rest of the majors were memorable for other reasons.

She shot a 10 on her third hole at the U.S. Women’s Open in Lancaster, shot an opening-round 80 and missed the cut. She was among the leaders after one round at the Women’s PGA in Sahalee and shot an 81 in the second round to miss the cut.

More painful was the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews, where she held a two-shot lead until double-bogeying the par-5 14th, then was unable to get up-and-down from the Road Hole bunker on the 17th. She finished two strokes behind Lydia Ko.

Korda has had a great season with six wins and a major, and she is not one to make excuses for the tough times. St Andrews was no exception.

“Listen, it’s golf,” Korda said. “I’m going to make mistakes and unfortunately I messed up twice in two ways last weekend, on the home straight. Theoretically, that’s what cost me the tournament. But I played well. I played solid. I fought even after that. I’m going to take that into the next events.”

There’s one more thing she’s looking forward to for the rest of the year, after dealing with high winds at golf’s home base.

“It will be interesting to see how my ball flies when I’m not playing in a 30 or 40 mile per hour wind anymore and I finally see it going straight,” she said.

The last new test for Ludvig Aberg

Ludvig Aberg turned pro in June 2023 after his senior year at Texas Tech and has spent the last 15 months learning a lot of new courses. The three courses he had previously played were Bay Hill, the TPC River Highlands (Travelers) and the Renaissance Club (Scottish Open).

Riviera was the most difficult for him to learn.

“It’s so good because it’s stood the test of time. But it’s still really tricky when the greens are firm and you’re really working on the corners,” Aberg said. “I think once you’ve played it a few times, you know where you can’t go and where you have to get the pitches and putts. I’m definitely looking forward to coming back next year and giving it another go.”

Summer days and long car rides

Keegan Bradley’s father saw him win for the first time on the PGA Tour at the BMW Championship. Before that, it was mostly amateur events and Mark Bradley chose the Wyoming State Amateur. His son won it in 2005 at age 19.

What was a kid from New England doing in Wyoming? His dad was the pro at Jackson Hole, and Bradley drove 2,100 miles there in the summer from college in St. John’s.

“I was going to play in the Wyoming State Amateur and the Wyoming Open. I was there for three summers, I think,” Bradley said. “So I would finish school in Queens, get in my Ford Focus and drive up to Jackson for three days and work all summer, play golf and fish and play in these local tournaments, and it was awesome.”

Pits

Three PGA Tour players in the top 25 of the world rankings failed to reach the Tour Championship: Brian Harman (17), Tom Kim (22) and Max Homa (23). … Shigeki Maruyama will be at the Presidents Cup as an assistant captain to Mike Weir. Maruyama played on the last international team to win, in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. He went 5-0 that week. … Royal Dornoch in Scotland has been selected to host the Curtis Cup in 2028. … Francesco Molinari (Continental Europe) and Justin Rose (Great Britain and Ireland) will be captains of the Team Cup from January 10-12 in Abu Dhabi. The event is played during Ryder Cup years. … Matt McCarty won his third Korn Ferry Tour title this year and earned an immediate promotion to the PGA Tour.

Statistics of the week

The BMW Championship at Castle Pines was only the third non-major that Scottie Scheffler has not gone under 70 in four rounds. The others were Muirfield Village and Shadow Creek, both in his 2020 rookie season.

Last word

“These are things I could never have imagined because they were just too good to be true.” — Lydia Ko, who won the Olympic gold medal and the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews in the space of 16 days.

More from Sportsnet

Solheim Cup veteran Georgia Hall is among the four captain choices for the European team that will take on the USA

Officer Involved in Arrest of Scottie Scheffler Accused of Robbing Suspect