Paul McGinley has taken aim at the PGA Tour Player of the Year award on Golf Channel ahead of the Open Championship.

During an on-air debate, Jim Nantz brought up Matt Fitzpatrick's context, who arrived tied with Chris Gotterup as the tour's leading winner this season, and asked whether a Claret Jug would be enough to hand Fitzpatrick the Player of the Year trophy. McGinley didn't just answer the question; he went after the award itself.

“You know, I have an issue with all of this player stuff,” McGinley said, according to a video shared by CanGolf's Luke Elvy on X.  

“I think it's too PGA Tour-centric, and it's voted on by the players. Basically, what you do after the middle of August is not really important. Some huge events happen after the middle of August. The Ryder Cup was won last year, for Rory McIlroy's performance in the Ryder Cup last year. Player of the Year is a massive title, and it's been hijacked by the PGA Tour.”

McIlroy won the Masters in April 2025, finally completing the career Grand Slam. He also won the Players Championship, the Irish Open, and a seventh Race to Dubai title. In addition, he also played a key role in Europe’s Ryder Cup win on American soil.

And yet the PGA Tour named Scottie Scheffler its Player of the Year for 2025.

Scheffler's case wasn't thin, either. He won six times on the PGA Tour, including two majors — the PGA Championship and the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Nantz reminded McGinley of that.

But McGinley added during the same debate shared by Luke Elvy:

"Yeah, I know he did win two majors, but Rory won the Players' Championship. You call that a major. And also, Rory stood up at the Ryder Cup and led his team to victory. Scottie was nowhere to be seen at the Ryder Cup. Now, that, for me, is a massive thing. So if you want to call Player of the Year, it should be world-centric. What you did in the 12-month character period not during a small period of time."

Brandel Chamblee Isn't Buying the Doubt Around Scheffler

This season looks nothing like last year. Scheffler opened 2026 with a win at The American Express in January and hasn't been back to a winner's circle since.

McIlroy, for his part, hasn't won since his back-to-back Masters titles in April. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick and Gotterup have combined three wins, and Wyndham Clark has two wins, including one major.

Despite all that, Chamblee says Scheffler is still way ahead of everyone for the PGA Tour Player of the Year this season.

"Scheffler’s year thus far reminds me a little of Korda’s in 2025. Nelly played at a very high level and statistically was only negligibly off from 2024 when she won 7 times, and yet did not have a win," Chamblee posted on X.

"Scheffler has just one win this year, and some might argue that the POY year race is wide open, but he’s actually miles ahead. We are all biased by win totals, sometimes at the expense of consistency. For the past two years Scottie has been consistently brillant, this year he has been brilliantly consistent."

So, the debate isn't going away. And with Scheffler defending his Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale this week and both McIlroy and Fitzpatrick in the field, the Open Championship has effectively become the swing event in the Player of the Year race.

"If Rory or Fitz wins The Open the story changes but right now Scheffler, despite not being dominant in wins, dominates the POY," Chamblee added.

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Written by

Md Saife Fida