Live leaderboard: Final round of Deere Classic

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR today announced nominees for the 2021-22 PGA TOUR Season Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Award) and Rookie of the Year (Arnold Palmer Award), as finalized by the PGA TOUR Player Directors and members of the Player Advisory Council (PAC). The nominees for the Jack Nicklaus Award as the 2022 PGA TOUR Player of the Year are (alphabetically) Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith. The nominees for the 2022 Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year are Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young. The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with PGA TOUR members who played in at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2021-22 season eligible to vote. The voting will close on Friday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced at a later date. Player of the Year nominees (alphabetical) Rory McIlroy, 33 Holywood, Northern Ireland • Entered 16 events with victories (3) at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT, RBC Canadian Open and TOUR Championship • 2022 FedExCup Champion; First player to win the FedExCup three times (others: 2016, 2019) • Led the PGA TOUR in Scoring Average (68.670), the lowest on TOUR since Tiger Woods in 2009 (68.670) • Recorded a total of 10 top-10s and made 14 cuts Scottie Scheffler, 26 Dallas, Texas • Entered 25 events with victories (4) at the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and Masters Tournament • Finished No. 2 in the FedExCup • Finished fourth in Scoring Average (69.293) • Recorded a total of 11 top-10s and made 21 cuts Cameron Smith, 29 Brisbane, Australia • Entered 18 events with victories (3) at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open Championship • Finished No. 20 in the FedExCup • Finished second in Scoring Average (69.203) • Recorded a total of seven top-10s and made 15 cuts Rookie of the Year nominees (alphabetical) Tom Kim, 20 Seoul, South Korea • Entered 11 events with a victory at the Wyndham Championship and additional top-10s at the Genesis Scottish Open (3rd) and Rocket Mortgage Classic (7th) • Finished No. 35 in the FedExCup • Recorded a total of six top-25s and made 10 cuts • Joined the PGA TOUR as a Special Temporary Member after The Open Championship Sahith Theegala, 24 Chino Hills, California • Entered 32 events with five top-10s, highlighted by a T2 at the Travelers Championship and T3 at the WM Phoenix Open • Qualified for the TOUR Championship and finished No. 28 in the FedExCup • Recorded a total of 11 top-25s and made 26 cuts Cameron Young, 25 Scarborough, New York • Entered 25 events with seven top-10s, including five runner-up finishes • Finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship, The Genesis Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship, The Open Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic • Qualified for the TOUR Championship and finished No. 19 in the FedExCup • Recorded a total of 12 top-25s and made 18 cuts

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ORLANDO, Fla. - Rickie Fowler and Viktor Hovland have been sharing the same longitude and latitude this week, each competing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. However, as recent journeys go, they have been on different trains bound for different places. Hovland, 23, is the red-hot wunderkind not far removed from Oklahoma State. He is riding one of those sizzling golf tears where nearly every bounce seems to go right, and he finds himself in contention once again as the API moves into the weekend at Bay Hill Club and Lodge. (At 7-under 137, Hovland trails leader Corey Conners by two shots.) Hovland has been a rocket ship in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was ranked 100th just more than a year ago, and now he is 13th. He smiles a lot, and for good reason. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Day's tee shot gets stuck in tree, takes one-shot penalty Certainly Fowler, now 32 and a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR, can relate to Hovland's success. Fowler is one of a long line of Cowboys standouts paving a path to the PGA TOUR for Oklahoma State players such as Hovland and Matthew Wolff. Fowler has been struggling. Searching. Tinkering. He and swing coach John Tillery have been making changes. Fowler knows exactly where he wants to be - contending in majors (four top-5 finishes in 2014), making U.S. cup teams, winning big titles (such as THE PLAYERS Championship six years ago) … because he has been there. He is working as doggedly at home as he ever has, long hours, sacrificing, waiting and hoping to see results. And still waiting. Hovland and Fowler were in the same group along with Aussie Jason Day the last two days at Arnie's Place. Hovland made seven birdies and shot 4-under 68. Hovland is riding a stretch of six top-6 or better finishes in his last seven starts. Fowler needed a chip-in for birdie at his final hole on Thursday just to shoot 76. Friday's goal to sneak back inside the cutline never was going to be easy. But he'd do what Arnold Palmer would do. His head was down Friday, and he got after it. When Fowler rinsed a tee shot at the dogleg par-4 third hole (his 12th) on Friday, he ballooned to 5 over for the tournament. He appeared destined for another disheartening week in a frustrating stretch of them. Coming in, Fowler had missed three cuts in his last six starts. But he is a fighter, and birdies coming home at Nos. 4 (28 feet), 5 (42 feet) and 6 (2 feet) at least gave him a chance. Fowler, who sports shirts and hats and shoes honoring Palmer when he plays here, had missed the cut only once in nine starts at the API; he made 118 feet of putts in a round of 70. At 2-over 146, he headed to lunch not knowing if he'd be working this weekend. He longed for two more rounds at Bay Hill to find some traction, some momentum. Something positive. "Things are definitely moving the right way," said Fowler, once No. 4 in the world, now ranked 65th. "Just had a couple swings that cost me. But I’m happy with it. It’s getting closer and closer, so we'll see if we get a tee time tomorrow. If we do, we’ll go play like hell this weekend. If not, we’ll go get ready for our tee time next Thursday (at THE PLAYERS)." Peter Malnati had a chance to knock out all the players at plus-2 late Friday, but made double-bogey at 18 and missed the cut himself. Fowler was in on the number. A needed break. More than a year removed from his last top 10 (2020 American Express), Fowler doesn't hide the fact that golf these days is more work than fun. He made five consecutive West Coast starts, something he hadn't done since he was a rookie. When he is home, he stays dedicated to his craft. The days he takes off are only to give his 5 foot 9, 150-pound body a rest. "It’s definitely been a grind," Fowler said. "I think more so it’s just a mental challenge, because playing and competing against the best players in the world for a decent amount of time now, and being up there at one point in the top 10 for quite some time, and being one of the top guys in the world, it’s just hard. You know what you’re capable of, and where you should be - or what you expect out of yourself. "So that’s been more of the struggle, not beating myself up too much, and kind of taking a step back, let everything happen, be patient. But, yeah, it’s been frustrating at times, been a grind. But we’re still grinding it out." Funny how life works sometimes. As he was grinding just to make a cut, Fowler didn't need to look very far to see the level of play to which he wants to return. Hovland isn't "walking" around Bay Hill this week; he is floating across the grounds at Arnie's Place, his game honed and sharp. Sure, he could hit a few more fairways (8 of 14 Friday), but most everything is working. It doesn't matter if you are 23 or 32; Hovland and Fowler know that golf is cyclical, and hot golf can be fleeting. So when you have it going, you make the most of it. Good golf exists on razor-thin margins. Fowler was greenside in a bunker in two shots at the par-5 12th and walked away with bogey; Hovland came up short on the par- 3 seventh and holed his bunker shot from 10 yards. Birdie. "Yeah, it’s been very fun," Hovland said. "Obviously playing very good and I don’t feel like I have that many holes in my game anymore, which is cool, because I missed plenty of greens out there today (seven) and I still shot 68, even made a bunker shot and got some really cool up-and-downs. Walking from the fairway over to the rough wherever I was hitting from, after missing the green, I would have been anxious the whole way … But now it’s like, ‘All right, I’ll be all right. Even if I make a bogey here I can birdie the next.' So it’s just a very relaxed kind of attitude. It’s a lot easier when you’re playing well. You just kind of let it all happen." Therein lies the difference. One guy is just kind of letting it happen right now. The other is trying to make something happen. Fowler has viewed it from both sides. At Bay Hill on Friday, you needed to watch only one grouping to see the contrast. Rickie Fowler is working hard, and said he is starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. No, he isn't there yet. That's the magical journey of golf.

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