A testament to Rory McIlroy’s consistency over the past decade – in one season where he said he would give himself a B gradethe Northern Irishman was still among the nominees for the PGA Tour’s Jack Nicklaus Award, given to the tour’s player of the year.
The nominations were announced Monday following the conclusion of the 2024 season at the RSM Classic.
“It would be a pass, it wouldn’t be a pass with flying colors,” McIlroy said of his year at the DP World Tour Championship earlier this month. “But, uh, probably a B.”
Voting is currently open for the award, and all Tour players with at least 15 starts in 2024 are eligible. Voting closes on December 4 and the winner will be announced just before the end of the year.
Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are also in the running for the award. Last year, Scheffler won the Nicklaus Prize for the second time in a rowbecoming the first player to win the Player of the Year award in consecutive seasons since Tiger Woods won it three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007 and 11 times in total. Scheffler said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan called him to tell him he won the award and was one of a handful of back-to-back winners.
“So I looked at how many times Tiger had won it and there were years, between 2000 and 2008, where he won it almost every year. I think Vijay cut it one year and that was it. So he has some pretty absurd stats like that,” Scheffler said. “Any time you can be mentioned in the same breath with Tiger, it’s very special. I grew up idolizing him as a player, and any time you can be mentioned with him, it’s very special.
In August, after Schauffele scored victories at the PGA Championship and the British Open, Justin Thomas said he was inclined to choose Schauffele, due to major hardware. But that was before Scheffler won the FedEx Cup.
“For me, personally,” Thomas said in August, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I would take Alex’s just because of two majors. But yeah, let’s talk about a no-loss situation, those are two very good situations.
Here’s a look at each of the three nominees and their accomplishments this season, according to the PGA Tour:
Rory McIlroy, 35
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Competed in 19 events with wins (2) at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and the Truist Championship
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Finished 9th in the FedEx Cup
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Finished sixth in scoring average (69.914)
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Recorded a total of seven top-10s and missed a cut
Scottie Scheffler, 28 years old
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Participated in 19 events with wins (7) at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, The Players Championship, the Masters Tournament (second career major championship title), the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, the Travelers Championship and at the Tour Championship.
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Winner of the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics
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Winner of the 2024 FedEx Cup
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Winner of the Byron Nelson Award for low average (68.645)
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Recorded one of the 16 best top-10s on Tour and didn’t miss a cut
Xander Schauffele, 31 years old
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Competed in 22 events with wins (2) at the PGA Championship (first career major championship title) and The Open Championship
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Finished #4 in the FedEx Cup
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Finished second with scoring average (69.137)
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Recorded a total of 15 top-10s and didn’t miss a cut
This article was originally published on Golfweek: These three PGA Tour stars have been nominated for the 2024 Jack Nicklaus Award (Player of the Year)
