GWAA, PGA Tour players in agreement: Scottie Scheffler was the top player in 2022

After differing twice in three years, the PGA Tour membership and the Golf Writers Association of America are in agreement this year on the top player of 2022.

Defending Masters champion Scottie Scheffler was named the PGA Tour player of the year by the GWAA but it was close and Scheffler didn't receive a plurality of the vote. He had 49 percent, beating out FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy and British Open and Players champion Cameron Smith. 

Scheffler won four times and has been the No. 1-ranked player in the world for most of the past year. McIlroy won three times and Smith won a total of five, four on the PGA Tour and one on the LIV Golf Series.

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Last year the GWAA voted for British Open champion Collin Morikawa as the player of the year, with the Tour membership going with FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay. It happened again in 2019, when the GWAA went with PGA champion Brooks Koepka and the players voted for FedEx Cup champion McIlroy.

The two bodies agreed on Dustin Johnson in 2020.

The GWAA also voted Lydia Ko as the LPGA player of the year and Stephen Alker the PGA Tour Champions player of the year. Ko won three times, was LPGA's player of the year and won the scoring title and Alker won four times, plus the Schwab Cup.

The trio will be honored at the GWAA annual dinner on April 5 in Augusta, Ga., the day before the first round of the Masters.

Money getting better on developmental tours

The PGA Tour's Korn Ferry Tour and the LPGA Tour's Epson Tour are offering record purses this season.

However, there is still a huge gap between the two. The Korn Ferry Tour opens on Sunday with the Bahamas Greater Exuma Classic and the Epson Tour gets its start March 3-5 with the Florida Natural Charity Classic in Winter Haven.

With 22 regular-season events and four Korn Ferry Finals, the tour will offer nearly $30 million per year. The minimum purses are $1 million, and the Finals events $1.5 million each.

The Epson Tour is offering nearly $5 million in prize money this year. Compared to the Korn Ferry Tour it's not much but the most in its 43-year history. And a decade ago, it had 15 tournaments and $1.6 million in prize money.

The Korn Ferry Tour will offer PGA Tour cards to the top-30 on the regular-season points list following the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Ten more cards will go to players off the DP World Tour and five for the final stage of the national qualifying tournament.

Spieth would chase the Cowboys

The final round of the WM Open at TPC Scottsdale is Feb. 12, with the final round timed to finish before the kickoff of the Super Bowl, which will be 31 miles away at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

Jordan Spieth is one player who doesn't hesitate to drop the last putt and make fast tracks for the Super Bowl. But someone in his camp needs to have a rooting interest to make it worth the while.

"I did it in 2015," Spieth said earlier this week at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, the site of this week's Sony Open. "It was the Seahawks-Patriots, and [his caddie] Michael [Greller] is a big Seahawks fan, and that's when they threw it instead of handing it to [MarShawn] Lynch on fourth down. I've been a Tom Brady guy, him being an Under Armour guy, and so I was on the good end and Michael was not."

Spieth made a point about the two events: the WM Open, considered the most fan-friendly PGA Tour event (and the rowdiest) and the Super Bowl.

"I've been to a lot of games I enjoyed more," he said. "It's just very corporate and there is not a ton of true fans of either team at the Super Bowl."

He said there's a better than 50 percent chance that he'd try to finish at the WM Open (if he made the cut) and went to the Super Bowl. But the Dallas native qualified that.

"If the Cowboys go, I would call that a 100 percent chance," he said.

Ford birdies last to win Jones Cup

University North Carolina sophomore David Ford made an 18-foot birdie putt at the final hole of the Ocean Forest Golf Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., to win the Jones Cup by one shot over Tennessee freshman Caleb Surratt.

Ford (69) finished at 12-under 204. It was his second amateur victory at Sea Island in six months. He won the Southern Amateur last July at the Sea Island Club Plantation Course, tying the tournament scoring record of 20-under 268.

He led wire-to-wire at Ocean Forest but couldn't shake Surratt until the end.

“I’m very thankful for both of them,” Ford said of winning the Southern Am and Jones Cup. “The experience here was just as good as the Southern Am. Both events were amazing.”

Information from golfweek.com and the Associated Press was used in this report.

ROAD TO THE PLAYERS

The Players Championship: March 9-12, Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Days until the first round: 56.

Tournaments until The Players: Nine.

Tickets: theplayers.com.

Players trivia: With last year’s champion Cameron Smith unable to play because of his Tour suspension, a player never defending his championship will continue for a 49^th year.

PGA TOUR

Event: Sony Open, Thursday-Sunday, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu.

At stake: $7.9 million purse ($1,442 million and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).

Defending champion: Hideki Matsuyama.

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 7-10:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 6-8 p.m.); NBC (Saturday-Sunday, 4-6 p.m.

Area players entered: Harris English, Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox, David Lingmerth, Keith Mitchell, J.T. Poston, Doc Redman, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson, Michael Thompson, Carl Yuan.

Notable: Matsuyama won his only 2022 event, hitting a 3-wood to within 3 feet of the hole and making an eagle putt at the par-5 18^th to beat Russell Henley on the first hole of sudden death. … Nineteen of the 38 players who finished the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui are in the field but no world top-10 players are entered. ... PGA Tour Champions member Jerry Kelly, who won the Sony Open in 2002, is playing on a sponsor exemption. … Charles Howell III’s streak of 22 starts in a row will end because he’s on suspension from the PGA Tour for joining the LIV Golf series.

KORN FERRY TOUR

Event: Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, Sunday-Wednesday, Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Club, Great Exuma, Bahamas.

At stake: $1 million purse ($152,272 to the winner).

Defending champion: Akshay Bhatia.

TV: None.

Area players entered: Chris Baker, Jonas Blixt, A.J. Crouch, Lanto Griffin, Rick Lamb, Jared Wolfe.

Notable: Bhatia shot 65 in the final round and beat Paul Haley II by two shots.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Scottie Scheffler adds GWAA player of the year award to PGA Tour honor