Should Xander Schauffele Beat Scottie Scheffler to Player of The Year

After winning the Travelers Championship for his sixth victory of 2024, most of us would have closed the book on Scottie Scheffler being named PGA Tour player of the year at the end of the season. And quite right too.

However, it may be time for a rethink. In fact, it is definitely time for a rethink.

When Xander Schauffele holed his final putt to win The Open in such magnificent fashion at Royal Troon he claimed his second major of the year, the first man to do so since Brooks Koepka in 2018. He was also the first golfer since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season.

That statistic is impressive enough. But there is more.

In this season’s four majors, just 13 players made the cut on all four. And Schauffele, Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry were the only four players to have a cumulative total under par.

Of those, Schauffele was the only player to finish under par in every major. His 32-under total in the four majors was in a league of his own - although winning the PGA Championship at 21 under par definitely helped. 

Schauffele was 15 strokes better than Scheffler, who was 17 under in the four majors. Morikawa was 15 under and Lowry six under.

Patrick Cantlay, who is still without a major title, finished the year even par in major championship golf, which ranked fifth on this list.

There are some surprising names on the list of golfers who played all four rounds in all of the majors - they include Nicolai Hojgaard, Ryan Fox and Harris English.

Schauffele has another impressive statistic to his name. After winning The Open he had made a scarcely believable 52 successive cuts - his nearest rival is Corey Conners on 20. The Canadian is another who played all four rounds in each of the majors in 2024.

His overall statistics are hugely impressive.

In 180 starts on the PGA Tour, Schauffele has missed just 23 cuts. He has won nine times, been runner-up 14 times, third nine times and enjoyed 44 top-five finishes and 62 top 10s. Oh, and he has collected nearly $55m in official prize money. He also won the Olympic title in 2021.

He is a thoroughly likeable individual. While many of his fellow players were caught cursing and swearing by on-course microphones at Troon, Schauffele took everything in his stride. He seems to understand that youngsters are watching him and he always sets the right example.

Winning two majors in a year is an astonishing achievement and for sure there will be more. But first, he will surely be named player of the year by his peers. Schauffele could put the argument to bed with success at the Olympic Games and the forthcoming FedEx Cup Playoffs. He is the defending Olympic champion and has played Le Golf National, albeit in a losing Ryder Cup cause. He said that winning the gold medal in Tokyo three years ago was his proudest and best moment in golf - obviously, that was before his achievements at Valhalla and Troon. But he would love nothing more than to successfully defend that title.

Then come the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where he will be expected to go head to head with Scheffler. 

I suspect that if he is named player of the year then Scheffler will not begrudge it.