With apologies to Xander Schaufele, if the PGA Player of the Year award goes to anyone but Scottie Scheffler, there ought to be an investigation.

Bill Kennedy, Golf Columnist

Scheffler’s latest accomplishment, winning the FedEx Playoff Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia on Sept. 1, put an exclamation point on about as spectacular a golf season as a pro golfer ever had.

Consider this. In the 2024 season, in addition to the tour championship, Scheffler has won the Travelers, Memorial, RBC Heritage, The Players, Arnold Palmer Invitational and more prestigiously, The Masters and an Olympic gold medal.

Only Tiger Woods has won seven PGA Tour titles in a season, and he did not win a gold medal. It has been just an incredible performance by Scheffler, who, by the way, picked up $25 million for capturing the tour crown. He now has taken home more than $71 million in prize money since joining the tour in 2020.

Of note is the fact that Colin Morikawa, the runner-up at East Lake, had the best gross score (-23), with Sahith Theegala finishing second. Scheffler, who earned a 10-under handicap for his season-winning FedEx points total, was third in gross numbers.

Morikawa did not win a tournament this season, but please do not feel sorry for him. His runner-up status at East Lake sent him home with $12.5 million.

The only person to feel badly for is Schaufele, who won two majors, and it almost feels like he had a bad year. He did take home $4.8 million from East Lake, but you have to think that in almost any other year, two major championships would make him player of the year.

All that proves is that 2024 has been an especially interesting and good year for the PGA Tour.

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A portion of the golf media is upset with Jim Furyk for not selecting Justin Thomas for the United States team competing in the President’s Cup at The Royal Montreal (Canada) Club later this month.

New Englander Keegan Bradley was chosen over Thomas, something that should have been done for the last Ryder Cup team. Thomas’ golf game is nowhere near what has been in the past, and Bradley has had a very good year, as evidenced by his championship victory at the BMW in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

That’s how it is seen by “Par For the Course.”

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MaineGolf has scheduled its B&C Championship Sept. 10-11 at Fairlawn, and its Mixed Championship at Willowdale Sept. 14. A women’s play day will be Sept. 10 at Martindale.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 12th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.