Scottie Scheffler Enters Record Territory With Fourth Straight Player of Year Award

The world No. 1 won six times including two majors in 2025 and had the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour for the third straight year.

Scottie Scheffler let out a victory yell after winning the PGA Championship in May at Quail Hollow. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

For the fourth consecutive year, Scottie Scheffler has claimed the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour’s player of the year, joining Tiger Woods as the only players to receive the honor in four straight years or more.

Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, won six times in 2025 including two major championships at the PGA Championship and British Open.

Sign Up Now. SI Golf Newsletters. Sports Illustrated’s Free Golf Newsletters. dark

The Tour also announced Monday that Aldrich Potgieter has been named the Arnold Palmer Award winner as rookie of the year.

Scheffler has been on an amazing run since capturing his first PGA Tour title in 2022, winning a total of four major championships, two Players Championships and 19 PGA Tour titles overall. That puts him 40th all time and tied with the likes of Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Ernie Els and Hubert Green.

He has now won the player honor in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Woods captured the award 11 times overall, winning it five straight years from 1999 through 2003.

In addition to his major wins, Scheffler—who got off to a slow start due to a Christmas hand injury—won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, defended his title at the Memorial Tournament, won the second playoff event at the BMW Championship and the Procore Championship in the fall.

In 2026, he will have the opportunity to complete the career Grand Slam if he can win the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

A resident of Dallas, Scheffler also received the Byron Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour at 68.131. It was the third straight year he had the lowest stroke average.

In 20 starts, he was never outside of the top 25, with 17 top-10 finishes including 15 in a row and no missed cuts. He led the Tour in numerous statistical categories, including strokes-gained tee to green, approach to green and strokes-gained total.

The other nominees were Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Ben Griffin.

Aldrich Potgieter was the only rookie to qualify for the PGA Tour postseason. / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Potgieter, 21, who is from South Africa, won the Rocket Classic, one of five rookies to win on the PGA Tour in 2025 but the only one to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The other rookie nominees were Michael Brennan, Steven Fisk, William Mouw and Karl Vilips.

Both awards were determined by a vote of players who competed in a minimum of 15 PGA Tour events in 2025.

More Golf from Sports Illustrated

feed