Wyndham Clark restarts Player of the Year race ... again

Golf Digest

Hey everyone, it’s me, the guy who just wrote last week that the Player of the Year race was basically done and dusted, that Scottie Scheffler had been too dominant statistically, and that his second win of the year in Memphis had sealed the deal. The only caveat? Wyndham Clark. As I wrote: “To Clark's credit, he belongs to me in the category of ‘if he wins one of these last two events, he leapfrogs Scheffler.'"

Well, guess what, folks? Wyndham Clark won! And now, at least to me, the fact that he has three wins, a major and a playoff win puts him back in the driver’s seat. Is it over? Still no! Because if Scottie wins the Tour Championship, the debate returns to its red-hot status. Dave Shedloski agrees with me, and in an excellent piece following the BMW Championship this weekend, he laid out Clark’s case, along with a blow-by-blow of exactly how he got it done at Bellerive. Check it out below—it was an exciting day, and this weekend figures to bring more of the same.

Not so fast! Wyndham Clark’s BMW victory means Scottie Scheffler has company in Player of the Year race

The U.S. Open champ now has three victories in 2026, giving him a chance at an even grander prize.

By Dave Shedloski

What You Need to Know

Ryan Herrington

Tiger Woods can (likely) thank a case of hand, foot and mouth disease for holding on to his title as all-time leading PGA Tour money leader, at least for one more week. The illness that hit Scottie Scheffler at last week’s BMW Championship caused him to post a T-12 finish. With the $425K he earned, Scheffler is still $608,505 short of Tiger’s $120,999,166. As Scheffler comes to the Tour Championship, however, there’s $40 million in prize money payouts available. That means a solo 13th finish or better at East Lake will earn him enough to knock off Woods at No. 1 for the first time since February 2000. How likely is that to happen? Well, a year ago, when all players started at even par at East Lake, Scheffler finished T-4. Meanwhile, in his other five starts, he has four top-six finishes.

Christopher Powers

The internet is coming for Wyndham Clark (again). On the 14th hole of the BMW Championship on Sunday, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Wyndham Clark, who had spoiled a five-shot 54-hole lead at Bellerive, was taking an awful long time to hit his second shot out of the rough. Clark, with multiple different clubs, tamped down the grass behind the ball to gauge his lie at least seven times. Even CBS announcer Frank Nobilo made a comment about it. After lead analyst Trevor Immelman said, "he's taking a long look at this thing; this is like the third club he's placed down behind the ball," Nobilo quickly responded with "so the lie might be better." Hmm...

Alex Myers

This Tiger-Phil video never gets old. It's Tour Championship week, which means two things: A LOT of money is on the line at East Lake and you'll probably see this old clip of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson there. The year was 2002 and while the first-tee announcer rattled off an intro for Tiger highlighting many of his recent accomplishments, Phil finally had enough, interrupting with an "Alright, alright," which sent the crowd—and Tiger—into laughter. Here it is in case you've never seen it, or just want to watch it again.