Jon Rahm is the No. 1 golfer in the world and barely beat out Patrick Cantlay for the No. 1 spot on the 2021 PGA Tour money list. However, it's Cantlay who has been voted PGA Tour Player of the Year by the Tour's membership after his FedExCup victory.
Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Collin Morikawa were also up for the Jack Nicklaus Award.
Cantlay finished the PGA Tour season strong with back-to-back victories in the FedExCup Playoffs. He won four tournaments on the season: Zozo Championship, Memorial Tournament, BMW Championship, Tour Championship.
Cantlay beat out DeChambeau in the BMW Championship after a thrilling six-hole playoff. He then defeated Rahm by one stroke at the Tour Championship, which was almost certainly the deciding factor in this award.
No other golfer won more than two tournaments during this PGA Tour season. Cantlay became the first player to win four or more tournaments in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17.
As for Rahm, he won just a single tournament, but it was a big one in the form of the U.S. Open. Ironically enough, Rahm was also in position to win the Memorial, which Cantlay wound up winning, but the Spaniard was disqualified due to a positive COVID-19 test. At the time of his disqualification, he held a six-stroke lead after three rounds, so it would have taken a major collapse for him to lose.
Recently, Rahm was voted Player of the Year by the PGA of America. However, the Tour membership felt it was Cantlay who deserved the Jack Nicklaus Award thanks to his strong finish to the season. Perhaps this could be viewed as something of an upset given Cantlay didn't win a major and didn't win the money title, but earning four total wins and winning the FedExCup is nothing to scoff at. The 29-year-old is certainly deserving.
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