Scottie Scheffler confirmed his status as the world’s number one golfer with a dominant victory at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.
It caps a remarkable 2024 for the American who has won the Masters, six other PGA Tour events and an Olympic gold medal.
He is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to win seven events in a PGA Tour season and the first player to earn more than $50m in a single season.
Scheffler, who started the final round at East Lake with a five-shot lead over nearest challenger Collin Morikawa, shot a four-under 67 to win on 30 under and collect the $25m first prize, which took his season’s earnings haul to a staggering $54m.
He finished four clear of Morikawa, who hit a 66, with another American, Sahith Theegala, in third on 24 under after a 64.
For a third successive year, Scheffler began the Tour Championship on 10 under par as the leader of the FedEx Cup standings, two clear of Xander Schauffele in second, with Morikawa among a group on four under in the staggered start – a format which Scheffler himself called ‘silly’ at the start of the week.
And he stayed ahead through the first three rounds to set up what looked like a straightforward final round.
Uncharacteristic errors
His five-shot lead was six after Morikawa bogeyed the first hole. However, Scheffler made uncharacteristic errors as he recorded successive bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes that allowed Morikawa, who birdied 4, 6 and 8, to close to within two.
A wayward drive left Scheffler hacking out from under a tree down the left of the seventh, while he plain shanked a greenside bunker shot on the eighth that squirted out right and ended up further away from the hole.
In typical Scheffler style, he immediately bounced back making birdies at nine, 10 and 11 to reestablish his four-shot lead. Morikawa responded with a birdie on the 13th, but Scheffler drained a 15-foot eagle putt on the 14th to move five clear, and he parred his way home to secure his first FedEx Cup title.
“It’s been a wild year”
“I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year, Scheffler said, reflecting on a season that has also seen him become a father for the first time and seen him being arrested – wrongly – on his way to competing in the second round of the PGA Championship. “It’s been nuts. I’m just proud of the work that we put in. It’s hard to put into words what this year has been like for me. It’s been wild at times, and it’s been emotional.”
For the final leaderboard from the Tour Championship, click here.