2024-09-02 06:10:02
As his win at East Lake confirms, Scottie Scheffler was clearly the player of the year in golf. Sure, others had similar or better claims as having had the best year in majors. Xander Schauffele won two, which ordinarily would put a player firmly in command of any year-end recounting.
An unforgettable season for Scottie Scheffler! 🏆
He is the only player to win @THEPLAYERS, @TheMasters and the @TOURChamp in the same season. pic.twitter.com/q8bH1vdKmp
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 1, 2024
But Scheffler’s year wasn’t just a win at the Masters. It wasn’t even just the pair of top-ten finishes at the U.S. Open and Open Championship, nor even the crazy PGA that is only getting more surreal in retrospect. It wasn’t even just the Olympic gold medal. No, it was also a year of pretty solid dominance on the PGA Tour, which makes his FedEx Cup victory even more fitting. Scheffler won five PGA Tour events in addition to his Masters win, and they were all impressive in their own way. The Players speaks for itself at this point. The Travelers, the Arnold Palmer, the Memorial, and the RBC Heritage were all signature events, wins over the strongest non-major fields the sport has left anymore.
And then there was today’s win at the Tour Championship, Scheffler’s seventh official PGA Tour win of the year, a feat not achieved since 2007. While we’ll never know how the tournament would have played out without the staggered start, Scheffler’s week of scores would have put him at worst in a battle with Collin Morikawa on the gross side anyway. With the advantage, Scottie simply ran away with it.
The only close call came after an uncharacteristic shank from the sand on eight, which led to his second bogey in a row.
No one is immune to the shank.
Not even Scottie Scheffler. pic.twitter.com/RVlQfZyzjG
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 1, 2024
With Morikawa cutting the lead to two, it seemed as though we could have a real close race down the stretch. Instead, though, Scottie did what Scottie has done pretty much all year: played ridiculous golf while making it look pretty easy.
Scheffler bounced back with three straight birdies, then made an eagle three on the 14th.
5-under on his last 6 holes.
Scottie Scheffler leads by 5 with 4 to play! pic.twitter.com/p7nLiV2kRv
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 1, 2024
From there, he played quietly solid golf coming in, keeping Morikawa at arm’s length en route to capturing the tournament and the season-long purse that comes with it.
There are probably a lot of things worth tweaking about how the PGA Tour handles their points race, their playoff system, and the Tour Championship itself. But at least this year, even if the process remains flawed, the result is pretty indisputable. Scottie Scheffler is your FedEx Cup champion.
Yeah, that sounds right.
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