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PGA TOUR Player of the Year 2019: Breaking down the four candidates

By Brandon Raper

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland look on from the eighth tee during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland look on from the eighth tee during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Xander Schauffele PGA TOUR Player of the Year 2019
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 25: Xander Schauffele of the United States plays a shot on the eighth hole during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Xander Schauffele started the season off hot, with a pair of victories before the second week of January. In fact, he kept it going for most of the year, racking up six top-ten finishes and 14 top-25’s in his 21 starts. That’s top-notch efficiency, no matter how you slice it.

Unfortunately, Schauffele has a couple of pretty major factors working against him in this year’s PGA TOUR Player of the Year race. The biggest one is what we just touched on – the fact that both of his wins came before the “real” season even started. I mean, people shouldn’t forget that he won a World Golf Championship and a winners-only invitational tournament, but they will. It’s just reality.

But Brandon, you say, he finished second at the Masters! You’re right, and as much as I loved seeing it, you know what the rest of the world remembers? Tiger fist-pumping on the 18th green, hugging his son and donning the green jacket before disappearing for the rest of the year. Schauffele’s run at Augusta (and Pebble Beach, too, where he finished T-3 at the U.S. Open) was magnificent, but it wasn’t quite enough.

This is in no way meant to diminish what Schauffele accomplished in 2019. I firmly believe that he’s a talent built to thrive on the highest levels of the game for years and years to come. We’ve already seen enough to know that. But the air gets pretty thin at the top of the PGA TOUR these days, and it takes some really, really special stuff to be “the man” in any given year.

Xander Schauffele is that special talent. This was his third full season on Tour. It won’t be much longer before he becomes undeniable, and even a relative popularity contest won’t slow that down.

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