WASHINGTON (AFP) — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was named the 2022-2023 US PGA Tour Player of the Year on Wednesday while fellow American Eric Cole captured the PGA Rookie of the Year award.
Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, became the first golfer to take Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons since 15-time major winner Tiger Woods won three in a row from 2005-2007.
“It’s good,” Scheffler said. “Anything you receive voted on by your peers is very special to me and being able to go home with this trophy two years in a row now is very special.”
World No. 41 Cole, the 35-year-old son of pro golfers Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh, was twice a PGA runner-up last season, at the Honda Classic and Zozo Championship in Japan. His mother was the 1973 LPGA Rookie of the Year.
“It’s a huge honor,” Cole said. “It’s an award in golf where you only get one chance to win it, which is a little bit unique. To win that and be voted by my peers is pretty incredible.”
PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 events last season were eligible to vote for the awards from 1 to 15 December 2023.
Scheffler received 38 percent of votes for Player of the Year to defeat the four other nominees — 2023 US Open winner Wyndham Clark, 2023 Tour Championship winner Viktor Hovland of Norway, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Spain’s third-ranked Jon Rahm, the reigning Masters champion who announced 7 December he was jumping to the rival LIV Golf League.
