PGA Tour
Xander Schauffele perfectly sums up what it will take to win next year's PGA Tour Player of the Year Award
Jared C. Tilton
When Xander Schauffele won his second major of the year at the Open Championship, there was legitimate debate over whether he could overtake Scottie Scheffler in the PGA Tour Player of the Year race. Then Scheffler won the gold medal at the Olympics and the Tour Championship to go with his second Masters title, his second consecutive Players Championship and his four other victories on the year. And that was that.
Of course, the winner of the award has not been announced just yet, but we all know it's going to Scheffler, even if you believe two majors is better than one. Still, that takes nothing away from the year Schauffele had. A "career year" as he described it on Tuesday at the Zozo Championship.
After having the year he had, Schauffele had to wonder what it would take to unseat Scheffler. As player of the year, as World No. 1, etc. Well he was asked that exact question in Japan and he summed it up perfectly.
"I mean, it seems I need to have the best career ever," said Schauffele. "I just had my best career ever and wasn't really close."
As Schauffele points out, he literally had a career most players would dream of in 2024 alone. And you could argue that he had it in a three-month span, too. If that's not good enough, we're not sure what is.
"I'm pretty content with how I played and where my game is at," he added. "If I can keep on doing what I'm doing, I'd be very pleased."