Rivals concede Player of the Year to Scheffler with two weeks left

Rory McIlroy removed himself from the PGA Tour Player of the Year conversation on Wednesday in St. Louis, saying the Jack Nicklaus Award already belongs to Scottie Scheffler with two tournaments left in the season. Asked at his BMW Championship press conference whether winning the Masters and then the Tour Championship would amount to a case for the award, McIlroy did not entertain it.

“I'm not the Player of the Year. No chance. Scottie is,” he said.

He went further, saying he had watched Scheffler at close range over the first two rounds in Memphis and that if Scheffler keeps gaining nine strokes a week on the greens, the rest of the field has no answer. The remark drew laughter from the room.

A win in Atlanta next week would give McIlroy a record fourth FedEx Cup. He does not think it would move the vote, which is cast by Tour members.

The case for Scheffler

Scheffler, 30, is chasing a fifth straight Nicklaus Award. His argument rests less on victories than on the near-total absence of poor weeks: 17 top-25 finishes in 18 starts, including five runner-up results, a total that ties for the most in a season over the past 40 years.

He has two wins — The American Express in January and last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship, which he took by eight shots at 17 under, the only player in the field to reach double figures under par.

Why the vote once looked closer

Two wins is a thin haul by Scheffler's standards, given he recorded at least five in each of the two previous seasons. Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup both have three. Fitzpatrick's included a sudden-death win over Scheffler at the RBC Heritage, a signature event; Gotterup's came at the Sony Open, the WM Phoenix Open and the John Deere Classic, full-field weeks with lighter fields.

Cameron Young has two of the season's largest non-majors, the Players Championship, where he edged Fitzpatrick, and the Cadillac Championship. Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open and beat Scheffler at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. In most seasons the award is effectively decided once the last major is played. This year the FedEx Cup result may carry unusual weight.

Not everyone has settled on a name. Adam Scott, speaking before the St. Jude, said the answer depends entirely on whether a voter values consistency or trophies, and that no choice would be indefensible. Viktor Hovland put the same split as statistics against highlights. Ryan Gerard landed with McIlroy, saying Scheffler's closing round in Memphis ended the argument for him.

Golf in St. Louis while the tour is in town

The BMW Championship keeps the field in St. Louis through Sunday, and the city has public golf worth a tee time for anyone in for the week. Pevely Farms Golf Club is bookable through LoopGolf from $57, running up to $128, with open times on eight of the next 14 days. The Courses at Forest Park are listed but are not taking bookings through us at the moment.