Scottie Scheffler cruises to Tour Championship win

Scottie Scheffler hits his second shot from the fairway on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

There was a brief moment on Sunday when Scottie Scheffler did not look like the best player in the world. 

He made as many birdies in four holes from 5 to 8 (three) than he had in three previous rounds. His last even included a cold shank from a greenside bunker on the drivable par-4 eighth. The seven-shot lead he owned just five holes earlier was down to a skinny two with 11 holes to play.

Then Scottie did what Scottie does. He birdied the next three holes and added an eagle at 14 – a 5-under outburst in six holes – to push his cushion back to five shots over Collin Morikawa and banish thoughts of a collapse similar to two years ago when Rory McIlroy ran him down from seven behind. 

Scheffler cruised home to a four-shot win and crown his 2024 season in the only proper way it could have ended – with his seventh victory of the season in the Tour Championship and his first FedEx Cup title as the best PGA Tour player of the year.

“I saw after eight holes, he looked like he was in a bit of, not trouble, but I was like Collin could catch him,” said Shane Lowry, who finished tied for ninth at 16-under along with Rory McIlroy. 

“Then he birdies five of the next six and right there the tournament is over again. I mean, he deserves to win this tournament. He deserves to win the FedEx Cup. He’s been the best player the last few years and he’s not won it yet. Yeah, it’s just incredible the golf he’s played.” 

Said McIlroy after his final-round 66: “Hopefully Scottie goes on and finishes this thing off because he deserves it off what a year that he’s had.” 

With his Tour Championship victory, Scheffler is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to win seven PGA tour events in a season. He didn’t do anything small winning a major (Masters), near major (Players), gold medal (Olympics), four signature events (Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship) and a season-long race (Tour Championship/FedEx Cup).

Morikawa shot the low 72-hole score (22-under), two shots better than Scheffler but not enough to cover the six shots he spotted the world No. 1 at the start. Scheffler’s Tour Championship tally of 30-under pushes his on-course earnings (including bonuses) to more than US $62 million. Morikawa collected US $12.5 for his runner-up despite never having won a tournament all season.

Sahith Theegala finished alone in third at 24-under despite the two-stroke penalty he called on himself in the third round, taking home $7.5 million instead of $10M had he tied Morikawa. 

Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott and Russell Henley (who finished birdie-eagle) tied for fourth at 19-under. Sungjae Im (18-under) and Wyndham Clark (17-under) finished seventh and eighth ahead of McIlroy, Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama rounding out the top 10 on 16-under for T9.