Alex Miceli writes that Cameron Smith (center) has the better resume for Player of the Year than Rory McIlroy (left) and Scottie Scheffler (right), but his current home tour will likely work against him.
USA Today
The Golf Writers of America Association ballot came out recently and the three nominees for Male Player of the Year were Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith.
Unfortunately, with professional golf in such flux, Smith will not get the nod. The award will go to McIlroy or Scheffler, even though Smith should get it.
When someone wins five times in a single year and those wins include a major, the British Open at St. Andrews (which in my mind counts double) and the Players Championship (which is not a major, but as close as one can get considering the strength of the field), they should not be on the outside looking in for POY.
Smith didn’t just go on a run and then take the rest of the year off. The Aussie won over an 11-month span while Scheffler had his four wins in a two-month period.
Granted, Scheffler was not asleep at the switch the rest of the year, with three runner-up finishes that included a T2 at the US Open at The Country Club.
But when discussing POY, certain things pop out.
One prerequisite is a major win. Let’s be honest, the four majors are above anything else in golf and if you don’t win one you are not worthy of being considered for POY.
Since majors matter more than anything, McIlroy, who won three times on the PGA Tour and claimed season-long points titles on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, didn’t have a POY season without a major win.
Next is the number of wins, no matter where they are.
Winning at any level is hard. It doesn’t matter if its 54 holes or match play.
For Smith, he won the 54-hole LIV event in Chicago, which could be discounted because of the field and the limited rounds.
Scheffler’s title at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was not a 72-hole stroke-play win, but using the premise of “winning is just hard,” both the LIV win for Smith and match play win for Scheffler should be considered wins for the purpose of POY.
When the nominees are so close, missed cuts in majors can be a factor for POY. But Scheffler missed the cut in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills and Smith missed the cut at the US Open, so that is pretty much a wash.
In September, Scheffler was named PGA Tour Player of the Year, with 89% of the first-place vote over McIlroy and Smith, the other two nominees.
Since that vote, Smith won for a fifth time in 2022 in late November at the Australian PGA Championship. That gives him more wins over a longer duration (his first win was the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January) and arguably more significant events given the Players Championship.
But joining LIV in August has not only cost Smith reputationally, but also discounts his season.
In the end, more wins (five to four), more significant wins, a major and the Players Championship versus just a major and then the span of time for victories, 11 months to two months, argues for Smith over Scheffler.
But this is an emotional year and with LIV throwing a monkey wrench into the normalcy of professional golf, you have to believe that Smith will be on the outside looking in.
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