ATLANTA – Tony Finau took a deep breath.
He had to give it some serious thought. He was asked to vote for the PGA Tour player of the year. It’s easy to predict the winner of a major championship, such as when Tiger Woods wins 3 out of 4 majors, or 10 titles. But not this year.
Finau replied, “Man, that seems really difficult.” This year, will it be Scottie or Jon Rahm?
Finau’s face was perplexed and it was obvious that his brain was working overtime to decipher it.
“Scottie has been incredible.” Finau said that he has never finished outside of the top 12, and this is an incredible accomplishment. Finau said that because Rahm had won a major, and given how Rahm’s season was so hot, with four wins in the calendar year, and four in the first four month, it has to be Rahmbo this year.
Finau is not the only one who has a hard time deciding who should receive the Jack Nicklaus award, which is decided by the players. The PGA of America awards its Player of the year award based on a point system and the Golf Writers Association of America selects their own winner at end of calendar year.
Rory McIlroy told reporters at his pre-tournament conference on Wednesday, ahead of the Tour Championship in East Lake: “It all depends on what you value.” “I believe Scottie has won twice this season, Jon has won four times, Jon won the Masters and Scottie won the Players. It’s difficult to count total wins because you can’t. But it will be very hard, because Scottie could have the greatest ball-striking year of all time. He has hit the ball at least as well, if not even better than Tiger did in 2000. That is our benchmark. Jon has probably had a better year than I do. It could be decided by this week’s performance. It’s a race between Jon and Scottie.”
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Brian Harman, Champion Golfer of The Year, agreed and said that it would be down to the wire, and depended on who won the FedEx Cup. Rahm could find himself in deja vu. Rahm narrowly lost out on the Player of the year award in 2021, losing to Patrick Cantlay who won the FedEx Cup that year by one stroke. Rahm however had won the U.S. Open.
Harman replied, “Oh, yes, it is so close.” “Scottie has had one of golf’s most amazing stretches in terms of ball striking. Jon Rahm was almost unbeatable at the start of the year. Both players are incredible and I can’t imagine a better choice for Player of Year. No, I do not have an opinion. Both are really, really good. “I don’t want to upset either of them before I play against them next week. So I won’t.”
Xander Schauffele also played in Switzerland.
He said, “I believe this week will be very important in determining the winner.”
Finau came up with this logic when he was asked to make a decision on a tough issue: “I believe that the most difficult thing to achieve on Tour is to win. The second hardest is to be consistent,” he said. “I have to choose the player who wins more than the one who is consistent.”
Finau did not give up in the event that he changes his mind.
He said that if Scottie won the FedEx Cup this Sunday, he might vote differently.
