The PGA Tour announced the winners of its 2023 Player of Year and 2023 Rookie of Year awards on Wednesday, three days after the start of the new year. This week’s first event in 2024 will be held in Hawaii.
Scottie Scheffler was named Player of the year for the second straight season, while Eric Cole received the Arnold Palmer Award. They both had great seasons, and they were deserving of the award. But should they have won?
Below are two tables with blind resumes. Let’s look at the numbers for both awards.
Player of the year
|
Player |
Wins |
Major Finishes |
Runner-up |
Top 10 |
Top 25 |
Missed Cuts |
Total Events |
|
Player 1 |
4 | 1-T50-T10-T2 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 20 |
|
Player 2. |
2 | T10-T2-3-T23 | 2 | 17 | 21 | 0 | 23 |
|
Player 3. |
3 | T7-T2-19-T13 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 0 | 23 |
Two stellar seasons. The players 2 and 3 did not miss a single cut, and they were consistently in the top 10 or top 25, despite having three more starts. Player 2 was consistent, but did not win as many major championships as either Players 3 or 1.
Nine out of ten players would choose the season of Player 1 over that Players 2 or 3. These guys are more concerned with winning than anything else. These guys don’t just compete to get into contention. They tee up for the win. This extra win by Player 3 could even surpass the more consistent year of player 2.
Scheffler was the player 2, Jon Rahm was the player 1, and Viktor Hovland was the FedEx Cup champion, victor Hovland won the two last playoff events in the season.
Rahm’s apparent insult will be criticized by the players, especially since the Spaniard has recently moved his talents to LIV Golf, a rival. The FedEx Cup winner is not the Player of Year for the second year in a row.
Rookie of the year
|
Player |
Wins |
Runner-up |
Top 10 |
Top 25 |
Missed Cuts |
Total Events |
|
Player 1 |
1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 11 |
|
Player 2. |
0 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 37 |
The seasons of these two competitors were very different. The player with the smaller work has an advantage when he wins. In 36 percent of starts, he finished in the top 10, and in 73 percent he was among the top 25. Player 2 finished in the top 10 19% of the time and 38% of his starts resulted in top 25 finishes. Again, Player 1 is the winner (despite the fact that Player 2 had three times as many appearances).
You might not have guessed it from the stats alone, but the Player 1 is rising star Ludvig berg and the Player 2 is award-winning Cole. Aberg spent more than half of the Tour season in college, so his lack of appearances could have hurt him in the eyes his peers. He played as much as he could, and he was more competitive than his rival.
The numbers indicate that the outcomes of all five players are different.
