Scottie Scheffler has unfinished business at the Tour Championship

Scheffler will be looking to hold onto the $18m (€16.5m) winner’s take that Rory McIlroy swooped in from behind to claim last season.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler speak after their round on the 18th green after last year's final round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The temperature is set on broil in the American South, and the heat is turning up on what looks like a familiar showdown at East Lake Golf Club.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is back at the Tour Championship sporting a 10-under-par starting score and two-shot lead given to the leader of the PGA Tour’s season-long FedEx Cup points race.

He has some unfinished business regarding the $18m (€16.5m) winner’s take that Rory McIlroy swooped in from behind to claim last season.

McIlroy is lurking again even closer behind in third place just three shots back at 7-under — his best starting position since the tour adopted the staggered scoring start in 2019. The Holywood man has come from further behind twice to claim the FedEx Cup title, including as many as 11 strokes back early on last year.

“If I can come back from 11 shots, I feel like everyone in this field should feel like they have a chance to win,” said McIlroy of the 30-player finale field.

Most of the world’s best players are gathered already at the front of the pack in East Lake along with Nos 1 and 2 Scheffler and McIlroy: World No 5 Viktor Hovland in second at 8-under after a torrid finish to win last week’s BMW Championship; No 3 and reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm in fourth at 6-under; Nos 4, 7, and 8 Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, and Matt Fitzpatrick are starting tied sixth at 4-under; and No 6 Xander Schauffele, an East Lake specialist, among the T11 starting crowd at 3-under.

The 72-hole handicapped shootout might not be the best method to determine a season-long champion, but it makes for a good spectacle.

“I do like it this way. I think it gives the guys that have had the better years an advantage going into the week, which I think they should have,” said McIlroy, who has won two of his record three FedEx Cups since the staggered scoring start was implemented in 2019.

“If anything, like, Scottie this year, he probably should have more of an advantage than a two-shot lead. But it makes it an exciting week if guys feel like they have a chance to win.

"Of all the iterations of the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs, I think this is the best one yet. I can’t sit here and say that I’ve thought of something better at this point.”

McIlroy rallied from as many as six strokes behind early in Sunday’s final round last year to overtake Scheffler. It was a tough pill for Scheffler to swallow considering the season he’d put together.

“I definitely wanted to end the season on a better note than I did last year, for sure,” he said.

But he says he learned from the experience, just as he did in enduring a similar fate last week in the BMW Championship when Hovland tore past him with a furious closing 28 and course-record 61 at Olympia Fields.

“Last week I think is a great example,” Scheffler said, “going into Sunday tied for the lead, and I think I was 5-under on 17 tee for the day on a golf course that’s hosted the US Open and I got bypassed.”

The quality of the challengers lined up behind him will certainly keep Scheffler on his toes. His putting has let him down too often this year or he would be the landslide No 1 player considering the consistency with which he’s contended all season. McIlroy marvels at Scheffler’s game.

“He could end up with the best ball-striking season of all time. He’s hit the ball as good, if not better, than Tiger [Woods] hit it in 2000, which is the benchmark for all of us,” McIlroy said.

“I feel like once he gets on the golf course, he’s able to just let it all go and just become so reactive and instinctive and just a pure athlete on the course.”

The high temperatures and humidity will have an impact on the outcome, especially at the end of a long and crowded summer schedule of majors, designated events, and playoffs.

“I think at this time of the year you just get a little bit fatigued, to be honest with you,” Scheffler admitted.

“It’s been a long season and to get to this point now… this is our third week in a row, and we’re going to get some pretty high temperatures this week, so it’s going to be a gruelling week as far as the actual tournament goes.”

McIlroy concurs but feels everybody should be ready for it after soaring temps two weeks ago at the FedEx St Jude Championship when winner Lucas Glover sweated through his trousers and had to plunge his hands in ice water on tee boxes to bring his body temps down.

“When the heat index is going to be over a hundred for three of the four days that we’re playing, it’s a lot.

"So just staying as hydrated as possible and just keep reminding yourself to drink. Even if it’s uncomfortable drinking that much, just try to keep sipping on water and electrolytes and keeping yourself going.

“But, yeah, again, we have played in a lot of heat here before in Atlanta and I’m sure we’ll be ok.”

The PGA Tour hopes it’s a hot finish at East Lake — figuratively as well as literally.