Scheffler’s 2024 season includes an Olympic gold medal and wins at Players Championship, Masters and Tour Championship.
ATLANTA — For a brief moment in the final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler looked like one of us.
With the FedEx Cup and a whopping $25 million bonus on the line, Scheffler had just carded a bogey on the par-4 seventh hole. He badly hooked his tee shot to the left, and his ball nearly went out of bounds before settling in pine straw.
Scheffler had to stand in a tree to hit his second shot, then his 4½-foot par putt lipped out — his only miss inside 8 feet in 72 holes. Collin Morikawa made par, cutting Scheffler’s lead to four shots.
It would get even smaller on the next hole.
On the driveable par-4 eighth, Scheffler’s tee shot came up short, landing in a front greenside bunker, about 80 feet from the hole.
Somehow, the best golfer in the world shanked his bunker shot — his ball went dead right and stopped about 36 yards below the hole. Scheffler chipped to 24 feet and needed two putts from there for another bogey — his third in four holes.
Morikawa made an 8-foot birdie, trimming Scheffler’s lead to only two. It had been seven after two holes.
“Yeah, honestly, very surprising”, Morikawa said of Scheffler’s shank. “Look, I made the putt and was two back, but he’s not going to just start making bogeys after that. He’s going to do the opposite and he’s going to start hitting golf shots. It almost brought his focus back in for a half second, and that’s something you can’t teach. You just either have it or you don’t.”
After one of the worst shots of his career, Scheffler did what he has done so often the past three years — he closed the door on Morikawa and everyone else.
He made birdies on each of the next three holes. On the par-3 ninth, he smacked a 4-iron shot to 5 feet, 2 inches. His approach on the par-4 10th stopped at 3 feet, then he drained a 15-footer for birdie on the par-3 11th.
Just like that, Scheffler’s lead was five shots again. He added an eagle on the par-5 14th.
Scheffler captured his first FedEx Cup with a total score of 30 under (he started at 10 under as the season-long points leader in the staggered-scoring format), beating Morikawa by four strokes and Sahith Theegala by six.
It was the third straight year in which Scheffler started with a 2-stroke lead over everyone else in the Tour Championship. Two years ago, he squandered a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost to Rory McIlroy by one. Last year, he was 1 under over 72 holes (not including starting strokes) and tied for sixth.
“I try not to think too much about the past or think too much about the future, but I think two years ago was pretty tough, having a good lead going into the last round and not playing my best and then losing, and then last year I just had a pretty off week so was fairly disappointing”, Scheffler said.
