So can we call Xander Schauffele “The Peoples Champ”?
In real golf match, Schauffele was low man at the Tour Championship but thanks to those 10 shots “awarded” to Dustin Johnson at the start of the week, D.J. walked away with the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup for 2020.
When the PGA Tour went to this wacky format for the Tour Championship last year, the biggest concern was having someone win the event and FedExCup who didn’t shoot the week’s lowest score. Rory McIlroy got ’em off the hook last year by claiming both the “Low Net” and “Low Gross” scores. But simple math showed that Dustin Johnson, who began the week with at 10-under total as the playoff points leader, may have won the event at 21 under but he would have finished third – and four strokes behind Xander Schauffele – in actual four-round scoring.
But Schauffele was a good sportsman about it all.
“He (Johnson) deserves to win,” said Schauffele, who also finished runner-up last year at East Lake. “He won the first event, tied first in the second, and I don’t know where he finished here, but he obviously is playing great golf, and I think that’s what the playoffs are all about.”
Schauffele’s “consolation” prize was a nice check for $4.5 million, more than a lot of professional athletes earn in a year.
Here’s how the top 30 were compensated at East Lake:
1: Dustin Johnson, -21, $15,000,000
T-2: Justin Thomas, -18, $4,500,000
T-2: Xander Schauffele, -18, $4,500,000
4: Jon Rahm, -17, $3,000,000
5: Scottie Scheffler, -14, $2,500,000
6: Collin Morikawa, -13, $1,900,000
7: Tyrrell Hatton, -12, $1,300,000
T-8: Patrick Reed, -11, $960,000
T-8: Sebastian Munoz, -11, $960,000
T-8: Rory McIlroy, -11, $960,000
11: Sungjae Im, -10, $750,000
T-12: Harris English, -9, $682,500
T-12: Webb Simpson, -9, $682,500
14: Mackenzie Hughes, -8, $620,000
T-15: Hideki Matsuyama, -7, $582,500
T-15: Daniel Berger, -7, $582,500
17: Tony Finau, -6 $550,000
T-18: Abraham Ancer, -5, $527,500
T-18: Lanto Griffin, -5, $527,500
T-20: Viktor Hovland, -4, $497,500
T-20: Brendon Todd, -4, $497,500
22: Bryson DeChambeau, -3, $478,000
23: Kevin Kisner, -1, $466,000
T-24: Cameron Smith, E, $445,333
T-24: Ryan Palmer, E, $445,333
T-24: Cameron Champ, E, $445,333
T-27: Kevin Na, +1, $420,000
T-27: Joaquin Niemann, +1, $420,000
29: Marc Leishman, +2, $405,000
30: Billy Horschel, +4, $395,000
Justin Thomas Is PGA Of America’s Player Of Year:
The PGA and the PGA Tour, don’t confuse the two. The “PGA” is the PGA Of America, the organization of hard-working club professionals and teachers who go to work every day to help promote and better the game. The “PGA Tour” are the highly-compensated traveling guys who are overseen by The Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka Tour Commish Jay Monahan) and his Sinister Band Of Henchmen.
Both organizations name a Player Of The Year. The PGA Of America uses a points system, the PGA Tour has its players vote on their POY.
On Tuesday, the PGA Of America named Justin Thomas as its Player of the Year.
Thomas collected 66 points to capture the PGA’s top annual award for the second time. Jon Rahm was second, with 56 points, while Collin Morikawa (54), Webb Simpson (52) and Dustin Johnson (42) rounded out the top 5.
The points-based scoring system takes into account tournament wins, official money standings and scoring averages for the pandemic-affected season that began at the Greenbrier and concluded Monday at the Tour Championship.
Webb Simpson won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest adjusted scoring average, at 68.978.
In the PGA’s scoring system, the low 72-hole finisher at the Tour Championship receives the 10 victory points, so Xander Schauffele (who was 15 under for the week at East Lake) was credited with the win.