It won’t be the best year of his career, but 2026 will now surely result in a fifth-straight Player of the Year award for Scottie Scheffler as the No. 1 player in the world polished off his season in clinical fashion Sunday.
Scheffler began his day three back of Viktor Hovland, but by the time he stood on the 5th tee box, he had already tied the lead. Making just two bogeys on the weekend, Scheffler hit 14 greens Saturday and 15 on Sunday, leading the field in ball-striking the classic Scheffler way.
After a late bogey from Hovland, suddenly the once-packed Tour Championship leaderboard mimicked what it has felt like in pro golf for years now: Scheffler is alone up top, then there’s a significant gap, then everyone else. He won his second career FedEx Cup, taking Sunday’s title by three shots.
In totality, Scheffler’s season won’t rank any better than his previous three campaigns, but his floor remained high as ever despite a few less victories. He won his season-opening event in Palm Springs in January, then went victory-free for more than five months. Throughout the spring and summer, he tallied 10 top-4 finishes, including a stunning five runner-ups.
“I think that’s something I’m very proud of, I think when you look over the course of the season,” Scheffler said. “Especially some of the tough starts. Shooting over par to start a tournament on the PGA Tour is never a good spot to be in. I’m very proud of fighting back and having some good finishes, and even giving myself some chances to win with some of those poor starts. Overall it’s just continuing to battle, day-in and day-out, is something I’m very proud of.”
He was only slightly worse as a ball-striker his year, but buoyed that with a better season-long putting performance and consistently elite short game. But because this sport cares far more about trophies than feel-good finishes — not to mention his habit of visible frustration — it always felt like something was just the slightest bit off all year. (It was underlined a week ago when Scheffler battled Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease during the BMW Championship. He still tied for 12th.)
In the end, he finished in the top 3 just as many times (10) as he finished outside the top 3. It’s a slightly convoluted stat that really says it all. When he’s in the field, it’s a coin-flip whether or not a couple guys can beat him.
It was all those non-wins that allowed Scheffler’s hold on the PGA Tour Player of the Year to ever appear in doubt. His Sunday playing partner, Chris Gotterup, won three separate times this season. Matt Fitzpatrick did the same in the spring alone. Wyndham Clark won three times, adding in a major championship at the U.S. Open. Scheffler didn’t get his major, but he held the respect of his peers throughout. Just 10 days ago, following his FedEx St. Jude Championship win, most had resigned to the fact that Scheffler would win their votes again. Clark did his best, winning a week ago in St. Louis, but all it did was clear the stage for one final, important showing at East Lake. The votes won’t officially be tallied for months, but the Scheffler resume for 2026 is officially complete, and the numbers will no doubt speak for themselves.
