(Atlanta) Scottie Scheffler capped golf’s most prolific year in nearly two decades by winning the sport’s most lucrative purse.
Briefly threatened Sunday at the Tour Championship, Scheffler responded with three straight birdies to make victory as inevitable as it has seemed all year.
He finished the day with a 4-under-par 67 and edged Collin Morikawa by four shots to win the FedEx Cup and the US$25 million prize that goes with it.
The triumph brought his total earnings this season, including bonuses, to just over $62.3 million.
It’s the best year since 2006, when Tiger Woods won eight times, including six in a row and two in majors, while trying to recover from the death of his father.
Scheffler’s eight victories in 2024 include the Masters, Players Championship, Olympics and Tour Championship, the latter of which finally gave him the FedEx Cup.
No player has won seven PGA Tour titles in a single season since Woods in 2007.
“We’re going to look at 2024 and there’s no doubt it’s one of the best individual seasons by a golfer in a long time,” Rory McIlroy said.
“It’s a tough week,” Scheffler said at the trophy presentation ceremony. “I’m exhausted right now.”
For the third straight year, Scheffler entered the East Lake course as the top seed, meaning he entered the tournament with a 10-under-par record and a two-shot lead.
Two years ago, he blew a six-shot lead to McIlroy in the final round.
Scheffler led by at least five shots after every round. But there was a painful moment when potentially storm clouds began to threaten Sunday.
Scheffler made two consecutive bogeys, the second on the eighth hole from a bunker. Morikawa birdied the shot and the seven-shot deficit he faced after two holes was reduced to two with 10 holes to play.
On the ninth hole, Scheffler left his tee shot five feet from the target and he made birdie. On the 10thehis fairway wedge stopped three feet away for another birdie. He followed that up with a 15-foot putt for a third straight birdie on the 11th.e hole.
“He’s not going to start making bogeys after this,” Morikawa said, referring to Scheffler’s blunder on the eighth hole.
“He’ll do the opposite and start hitting golf shots. It’s like he’s got his focus back for half a second, and that’s something you can’t teach.”
Just like that, Scheffler had regained a five-shot lead. When he sank a 15-foot eagle putt on the 14the hole, all he had to do was get to the end of the course.
In 19 starts this season, he has finished outside the top 10 only three times. In addition to his seven titles, he has finished second on two other occasions.
“He’s the guy to beat every week,” Justin Thomas said.
“I don’t think people understand how hard it is to do, when you’re expected to win, when everyone’s watching everything you do – good or bad – on the course, and how hard it is to get into your own little zone and your own little world and really shut out the noise.”
With his second place finish, Morikawa was awarded a check for US$12.5 million. Sahith Theegala shot a final round 64 and finished third, earning him a bonus of US$7.5 million.
“Six shots behind, it was difficult against the best player in the world. I tried,” Morikawa said.
The only Canadian to participate in the competition, Taylor Pendrith finished tied for 14the ranks with Thomas, with a record of 14 under par.