As only two of the playoff events remain in the regular PGA Tour season, talks of the Player of the Year award are intensifying. And unlike last time, choosing the winner this year could be far more challenging. There are many multiple-time winners, including Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, and others. But Rory McIlroy has made his pick.
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Speaking ahead of the BMW Championship 2026, a media representative asked the Northern Irishman if he sees himself as a contender for the Player of the Year Award if he wins the Tour Championship next week along with his Masters title. He laughed and said no.
“No. I’m not the Player of the Year. No chance. Scottie is,” Rory McIlroy continued. “Well, sorry, there’s two weeks to go, but I firsthand watched him for the first two days last week, and if he keeps playing like that, we’re — you know, if he gains nine strokes on the greens every week, we’re all F’d.”
The Northern Irishman is right to exclude himself, at least at this point. His Masters resume is excellent, but the Player of the Year Award is decided based on a season, not a single prestigious event. Scheffler, on the other hand, has won two, like many others. But it is his consistency and ability to consistently create chances to win that make him a strong contender.
The World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were paired for the first two rounds of last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, but their weeks went in sharply different directions. McIlroy carded rounds of 74, 70, 72 and 72 to finish at 8-over 288, placing 66th in the 69-man field.
Still, the Player of the Year race had been unsettled long before the FedExCup Playoffs began. A PGA Tour analysis in June identified Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup as legitimate contenders, with each building a distinctly strong case.
Fitzpatrick and Gotterup led the Tour with three wins apiece. Young had claimed THE PLAYERS Championship, while Clark’s U.S. Open victory gave him one of the season’s most significant titles. Scheffler, meanwhile, stood out because of his sustained excellence from week to week.
That consistency also gave Scheffler a commanding position in the FedExCup standings. When the 70-man playoff field was finalized following the Wyndham Championship, he ranked No. 1 with 4,123 points, ahead of Fitzpatrick, Young, Clark and Gotterup. McIlroy sat 12th despite winning the Masters earlier in the season.
The FedExCup standings, however, do not decide the PGA Tour Player of the Year. The Player Advisory Council and Player Directors first select the nominees, after which eligible Tour members vote for the award. Only members who have competed in at least 15 official-money events during the season can vote, and the player with the most votes receives the Jack Nicklaus Award.
That format leaves room for players to weigh different achievements, including total wins, majors, signature victories, and season-long consistency, rather than simply rewarding the FedExCup leader or the TOUR Championship winner.
On the contrary, Scheffler started his week with an opening round of two-under 68. He then followed it with a record-tying round of nine-under 61. The four-time major champion then carded rounds of 68 and 66 to win the first playoff event with a significant margin of eight strokes.
As Rory McIlroy pointed out, Scheffler’s SG: Putting was 8.917 across the four rounds, while his SG: Total was 16.360.
It’s not just the St. Jude Championship either. In the 18 starts he had this season so far, Scheffler finished runner-up five times, including at the Masters and the Travelers Championship. This shows that the American professional is usually always in contention. So if he continues the momentum he gained at the St. Jude Championship, there’s no stopping him from becoming the Player of the Year yet again.
It only took Scheffler one event to change McIlroy’s stance on the award. Speaking ahead of the St. Jude Championship, Rory McIlroy had said that answering that question is difficult. While he did praise the World No. 1 for his consistency, he also shared a few other names, including Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, and Matt Fitzpatrick.
“Oh, geez, it’s a hard one because I think right now it’s objectively there’s no one that really stands out, but subjectively it depends what you value,” Rory McIlroy had said last week.
However, it all changed after witnessing Scottie Scheffler playing in his dominant form for only two days.
But unless the American pro carries that form and wins at least one more event, it would still be a difficult choice, especially with Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup both winning three events on the PGA Tour. Will Scottie Scheffler be able to dominate again and prove McIlroy right? Only time will tell.