{"id":868639,"date":"2026-08-23T14:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868639\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T14:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:50:34","slug":"rory-mcilroy-admits-if-wyndham-clark-should-now-win-player-of-the-year-ahead-of-scottie-scheffler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868639\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy admits if Wyndham Clark should now win Player of the Year ahead of Scottie Scheffler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWcxajNfc2h3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>Rory McIlroy is always an open book when it comes to answering questions about his fellow players.<\/p>\n<p>That was no different on Saturday when McIlroy fielded questions about Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark battling it out for the PGA Tour Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n<p>The two Americans have been the standout performers on the PGA Tour this year, but it is fair to say that other players also have a chance of winning Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/topic\/wyndham-clark\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"98649\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wyndham Clark<\/a> has two wins to his name this year, including the US Open, and he has a great chance of recording his third victory of the year on Sunday at the BMW Championship.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2282654069-1024x699.jpg\" alt=\"Wyndham Clark and Scottie Scheffler line up their putts on the third green during the final round of the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club\" class=\"wp-image-2582911\" \/>Photo by Cliff Hawkins\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/topic\/scottie-scheffler\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"98399\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scottie Scheffler<\/a> has also recorded two wins in 2026, and he has 12 top-5 finishes to his name as well.<\/p>\n<p>It must be said, Cam Young and Matt Fitzpatrick are in the race as well, but they will probably need to win the Tour Championship to have a genuine chance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/topic\/rory-mcilroy\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"98400\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rory McIlroy<\/a> isn\u2019t out of the running either, but he will probably need to win the final two events of the season to even stand a chance.<\/p>\n<p>Rory McIlroy on Player of the Year race between Wyndham Clark and Scottie Scheffler<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/rory-mcilroy-names-his-current-pga-tour-player-of-the-year-and-admits-he-shouldnt-be-winning-it\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">McIlroy has suggested that Scheffler has been the PGA Tour\u2019s best player<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n<p>The Northern Irishman responded when asked whether he still thinks Scheffler leads the Player of the Year race, regardless of what Clark does this week.<\/p>\n<p>MORE WYNDHAM CLARK STORIES<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, I mean, I think I said what I said earlier in the week a little bit in jest, but at the same time, Scottie was coming off the win last week,\u201c McIlroy admitted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut what Wyndham is doing this week, you know, if he keeps playing the way he is, it\u2019s a conversation to be had.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2282677108-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Wyndham Clark and Scottie Scheffler shake hands after the final round of the US Open\" class=\"wp-image-2584111\" \/>Photo by Warren Little\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, in 2019, Brooks had won a major, but I had won The Players and the FedEx Cup. So it\u2019s like, it\u2019s really what your peers value more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat year, you know, they seemed to value what I did over what he did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, if you look at Scottie\u2019s statistical profile, it\u2019s just like he\u2019s number one in strokes gained, he\u2019s number one in scoring average. He\u2019s number one in so many statistical categories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I think you have to put that into it as well. He\u2019s had an unbelievably consistent year. He hasn\u2019t had the wins that he\u2019s had in previous years, but yeah, if Wyndham goes on and wins this week, it\u2019s, you know, I think we\u2019re going to all have to think about it a little bit harder.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Player of the Year race heats up<\/p>\n<p>Much will depend on who wins the final two events of the season.<\/p>\n<p>If Wyndham Clark wins the BMW Championship on Sunday, and anyone but Scottie Scheffler triumphs at the Tour Championship next week, it will be very hard not to vote for the two-time US Open champion as Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Clark\u2019s struggles over the past 12-18 months prior to the start of the 2026 season must surely play a role in the voting as well.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old must be very strong mentally to have bounced back from some of the lows he endured in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Now he may well be just one win away from winning the PGA Tour Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler definitely cannot be ruled out, though.<\/p>\n<p>Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Rory McIlroy is always an open book when it comes to answering questions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,3747,1976,1974,82,33240],"class_list":["post-868639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sports","tag-wyndham-clark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}