Jon Rahm tipped his hat to Scottie Scheffler for winning the PGA Tour Player of the Year award but hinted he was surprised that his victory-laden year didn't see him claim the trophy.
Rahm enjoyed a stellar year on the PGA Tour last year, winning four times, including his second Major championship at The Masters. Despite that, the Spaniard was pipped to the post by Scheffler who became the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Woods won a hat-trick between 2005-07.
The American was statistically the best player of the year, with his ball-striking statistics far exceeding that of any other person. However, the World No.1 won two fewer times than Rahm, with his biggest win at the Players.
For that reason, there had been some surprise that Rahm lost out on the award - as voted for by PGA Tour players - and the 29-year-old has now had his say.
Appearing on the Jim Rome Show, he said: "Oh man, listen, Scottie had a fantastic year. I don’t want to take away anything from what he did, but historically, hardware is what’s won basically the player of the year.
“The year Patrick Cantlay won, I was basically the more consistent player, in 2021, had a major, I think I had 16 top-10s that year and I fully understood why Patrick won it.
"It’s just maybe this year because of his high level of ball-striking, [the voters] decided to go in a different direction, but at the end of the day, it’s well earned.”
Rahm, who made his high-profile switch to LIV shortly before the award, is yet to tee it up in competition this year. Details of his new team have also yet to be publically confirmed, with LIV's first tournament of its third season taking place next month at Mayakoba, Mexico, starting February 2.
Alongside his Player of the Year accolade, Scheffler also won the Byron Nelson Award for the best scoring average of the season - with his mark of 68.63 being the lowest ever recorded by a player not named Tiger Woods, who owns the top six averages in the record books.
"Obviously an honor to receive the award," Scheffler said when he picked up the trophies at The Sentry in Hawaii.
"Anything that you receive voted on by your peers is very special to me and being able to go home with this trophy two years in a row now is very special. I think the body of work I put in last year with the consistency and finishing top most of the weeks that I played I was very proud of that consistency."
