Scottie Scheffler voted PGA Tour player of the year over Jon Rahm - ESPN

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler won two official PGA Tour tournaments in 2023, while Spain's Jon Rahm won four times, including his second major championship at the Masters in April.

While Scheffler is still a member of the PGA Tour, Rahm became the latest star to jump to the rival LIV Golf League on Dec. 7, accepting a multiyear contract worth more than $300 million.

That might be one of the explanations for why PGA Tour members on Wednesday voted Scheffler as player of the year for 2022-23. He became the first back-to-back winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award since Tiger Woods was player of the year three straight times from 2005 to 2007.

«I've never been one to boast about my accomplishments, so sitting in front of a microphone, I'm not going to sit there and tell you how great I am,» Scheffler said. «That's not really my thing. But at the end of the day, like I said, I'm proud of the year I had. The consistency was something that I'm very proud of.»

Scheffler's honor was announced Wednesday at the season-opening event, the Sentry at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii. The PGA Tour said Scheffler received 38% of the vote and was selected over four other finalists: U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Rahm.

«I think it was a close race,» Scheffler said. «It could have gone either way. Yeah, like I said, I'm very grateful for the players voting for me, and it's extremely special to be able to win this award again.»

The tour said golfers who competed in at least 15 official FedEx Cup tournaments were eligible to vote for the award. The voting period was Dec. 1-15.

The previous season, Scheffler received 89% of the vote after capturing four tournaments, including his first major at