ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler capped off golf’s biggest year in nearly two decades by winning the game’s biggest prize.
Scheffler struggled at one point in the Tour Championship on Sunday, but fought back with three straight birdies to make his win look as certain as it had all year. He finished with a 4-under 67 to beat Collin Morikawa by four strokes and claim the FedEx Cup and golf’s biggest prize of $25 million.
That brings his season earnings, including bonuses, to just under $62.3 million.
It was his best year since Tiger Woods in 2006, when he won six straight titles and eight championships, including two majors, while overcoming the death of his father. Scheffler’s eight wins included victories at the Masters, the Players Championship, an Olympic gold medal and the TOUR Championship, where he finally won the FedExCup.
His seven PGA Tour wins are the most since Woods in 2007.
“When we look back at 2024, it’s clear that it was one of the best years for a player in a long time.” Rory McIlroy said.
Scheffler ended the drama in the final hour. Four of his wins this year have been by three strokes or more. And finally, “Wow!!” He went inside to sign cards, and he held up two big trophies: the silver FedEx Cup and his 4-month-old son, Bennett.
The birth of his first child, a bizarre arrest in Louisville, Kentucky before the second round of the PGA Championship, another green jacket at the Masters, an Olympic gold medal — it was a season that Scheffler, or any other golf fan, won’t soon forget.
“This is a challenging week.” Schaeffler said at the trophy ceremony: “I’m tired right now.”
Scheffler entered East Lake as the No. 1 seed for the third straight year and started the tournament with a two-stroke lead at 10 under par, after losing a six-stroke lead to McIlroy in the final round two years ago.
Scheffler led by at least five strokes after each round, but then came a scary moment as storm clouds began to close in. Scheffler made two consecutive bogeys, the second of which he completely shanked from a bunker on the par-4 eighth hole. Morikawa made a birdie to trail by seven strokes after two holes, but was down to just two with 10 holes to go.
And it was over.
Scheffler hit a 4-iron to 5 feet for birdie on the par-3 ninth hole, hit a wedge to 3 feet for birdie on the 10th hole and then made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th hole.
“He’s not going to start hitting bogeys after that.” Morikawa said the following about the Scheffler shank: “He’ll do the opposite and start hitting golf shots. It’s like he regains focus for about half a second, and that’s something you can’t teach.”
His lead was again down to five strokes, and when he made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 14th hole, he just had to reach the finish line.
Scheffler called the FedEx Cup a season-long race. “That’s stupid.” It all came down to the final week at East Lake, and there was no doubt that the most deserving FedExCup champion had been crowned.
Scheffler has finished outside the top 10 just three times in 19 starts, has two runner-up finishes and won seven times on the PGA Tour.
“He’s the guy who loses every week.” Justin Thomas said. “I don’t think people understand how hard it is when you’re expected to win, when you’re the favorite, when everything you do on the golf course is being watched, good and bad, and to just get into your own little zone, your own little world and really quiet the noise.”
Morikawa, the seventh seed who started the tournament six strokes behind, finished with a 66 for a score of 22-under 262, the worst score in the Tour Championship, and won $12.5 million for finishing second in the FedEx Cup.
“Six strokes behind the best player in the world was tough.” Morikawa said. “I tried.”
Sahith Teegala was penalized two strokes Saturday for possibly nibbling some sand on a bunker shot, but he still managed to finish in third place with a final-round 64. He finished two strokes behind Morikawa and won the $7.5 million third-place bonus.
Adam Scott, who tied for fourth place, turned professional in 2000 when Woods was at the peak of his career and was not afraid to draw comparisons with Scheffler with his consistently competitive nature.
“I think it’s on par with Tiger’s great era.” Scott said. “I think it’s very hard for anyone now to stand out as much as Scottie does. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that in a long time. I think it’s a lot harder now.”
Scheffler was asked about his putting just over five months ago, nearly a full year since his last PGA Tour win (he won the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas).
His season winnings of $29,228,356 represents about 9.2% of the total prize money from the tournaments he played in. Woods won about 11.6% of the total prize money from the tournaments he played in in 2000, a year that is still considered one of the greatest seasons of all time.
The $25 million in FedExCup prize money is unofficial, as is the $8 million he received. “Comcast Business Top 10” led the regular season.
Get the latest news from the day and more delivered to your inbox