Rahm, Vu, Stricker named GWAA players of the year

Although the results are still pending for the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award, Jon Rahm did get the nod from the Golf Writers Association of America for his play in 2023.

Rahm leads the list of GWAA players of the year, along with Lilia Vu (female) and Steve Stricker (senior), after earning 48.9 percent of the first-place votes for Male Player of the Year. Vu (72.9 percent) and Stricker (79.9 percent) were even more dominate winning their respective awards.

“I am very grateful to have received this award,” Rahm said in a statement. “Our writers carefully follow every event and shot throughout the year, so being chosen as the Player of the Year by them is something I am going to cherish.”

Rahm, who joined LIV Golf and was suspended by the PGA Tour last month, won the Masters for his second major victory and added three other victories (The Sentry, The American Express and the Genesis Invitational). The Spaniard finished inside the top 10 in half his Tour starts (10) in ’23 and helped lead Europe to victory at the Ryder Cup.

Viktor Hovland finished second in the Male Player of the Year voting with 33 percent and last year’s GWAA winner Scottie Scheffler was third (18 percent).

Vu won four times on the LPGA in 2023 including two majors (the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open) while Stricker won six events on the PGA Tour Champions including three majors: Regions Tradition, Kaulig Companies Championship (formerly The Senior Players) and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

“It’s always special to be recognized by the GWAA, and especially since the award is about the whole year and what I was able to accomplish this year,” Stricker said.

The players of the year will be honored during the GWAA dinner in April at the Masters.