The Masters madness has begun, and Scottie Scheffler arrives carrying more than just his clubs. The world No. 1 heads into the year’s first major with everything in place. His family is there, his newborn son is making his Augusta debut, and he has just received another honor.

Grant Boone, a board member of the Golf Writers Association of America, gave Scheffler the GWAA Male Player of the Year Award just hours before the tournament started. Boone, who shares Abilene roots with Scheffler, kept it personal on X:

“Both of us have played golf in Abilene. Only one of us has won the Masters. (So far.) And tonight we again present him with the @gwaa1946 Player of the Year Award.”

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Scottie Scheffler’s 2025 season left very little room for argument.

He won six times, including two majors: the PGA Championship and The Open. He had 17 top-10 finishes in 20 starts, led the Tour in scoring average, never missed a cut, and never finished lower than 25th.

The 29-year-old got 62.7% of the vote, which was a lot more than Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy, who were also nominated. The golfer also won the Jack Nicklaus Award for 2025.

The GWAA award has previously gone to Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Tiger Woods. Not just that, all three mentioned have won it multiple times. Scheffler now joins that rare group, having taken it in 2022, 2024, and 2025, making him one of only a handful of players to win it multiple times.

“I am extremely honored to win the GWAA Player of the Year Award for the third time,” Scheffler said, having first won the honor back in 2022.

And getting it from Boone makes it even better because he has always said nice things about the golfer. Back in 2024, after Scheffler won Olympic gold in Paris and was visibly emotional during the national anthem, Boone wrote at length about the moment, noting that of over a million views of his post, almost no one had anything cynical to say.

“At a time when we see so much evidence to suggest people are mostly terrible,” Boone wrote, “I cling to the belief that we’re mostly good.”

That human side was on full display again this week at Augusta. On Wednesday, Scottie Scheffler competed in the Par 3 Contest with his wife, Meredith Scheffler, as his caddie. Their 23-month-old son Bennett stood by her side in a matching caddie uniform, holding a toy putter, while their newborn son Remy, just 12 days old, was strapped to Meredith’s chest in a baby carrier.

“This is what it’s all about!” Scheffler posted on Instagram alongside a family photo from Augusta National. “Remy made his big debut, and we are officially a family of four.”

He also shared a clip of Bennett attempting a putt, captioning it simply:

“Like father, like son.”

Now, with this season unfolding, can the 4x major champion win the Masters again after a roller-coaster season so far, especially since golf analysts are in doubt?

Awards aside, Scottie Scheffler’s form tells a different story

Scheffler’s form has raised real questions as he heads to Augusta. Brandel Chamblee, an analyst for Golf Channel, didn’t hold back when he told GolfWRX that Scheffler’s swing looks noticeably shorter than last season, the clubface is always open, and the rightward misses have quietly ruined what was once the best iron game on Tour.

The numbers back up that worry. For three years in a row, Scottie Scheffler was the best at Strokes Gained: Approach. He is now in 80th place. He has dropped from first to 119th place over distances greater than 100 yards, and from 6th to 116th over distances greater than 200 yards. For the world No. 1, those are not small changes.

The WM Phoenix Open was one of the first signs.

Scheffler shot a 73 in the first round, which was the first time since 2021 that he lost to his opponent by ten or more strokes in one round. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who would have strange patterns, bad drives, missed chips, and extra bogeys.

He finished tied for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which was his lowest approach ranking in four years for a 72-hole event. This Masters is really up in the air for a player whose best weapon has always been his ability to be consistent.