By taking home the major prize in golf, Scottie Scheffler completed the greatest year in the sport’s history in over 20 years.
Scheffler, who was briefly challenged on Sunday in the TOUR Championship, answered with three consecutive birdies, making the victory appear as certain as it has appeared all season. He defeated Collin Morikawa by four shots in the final round, closing with a 4-under 67 to win the FedExCup and its $25 million reward, the highest in golf.
His season earnings (bonuses included) increased to just less than $62.3 million as a result.
Since Woods in 2007, he holds the record with 7 PGA TOUR victories.
“When we reflect on 2024, it will be clear that it was one of the greatest years a player has ever had.”Rory Mcilroy said.
In the last hour, Scheffler subdued the tension—four of his victories this year had come by a margin of three shots or more—and exclaimed, “WOOO!!” as he entered the room to sign his card. Bennett, his 4-month-old baby, and the silver FedExCup were the two large prizes he lifted.
Olympic gold, another Masters green jacket, the birth of his first kid, and his strange arrest in Louisville, Kentucky, just before the PGA Championship’s second round. Scheffler and all golf fans will remember this season for a very long time.
“This is a challenging week, I’m exhausted right now.” stated Scheffler during the trophy presentation.
Scheffler arrived at East Lake with the number one seed for the third consecutive year, which meant he had a two-shot advantage and began the competition at 10-under par. He fell to McIlroy by six shots in the last round two years ago.
After every round, Scheffler had a lead of at least five strokes. But when the storm clouds started to threaten, there came a terrifying moment. On the reachable eighth par-4 hole, he made two consecutive bogeys, the second coming from a sheer shank from a bunker. With ten holes remaining, Morikawa’s seven-shot deficit had dropped to only two when he made a birdie.
After that, it was finished.
On the par-3 ninth hole, Scheffler made a birdie with a 4-iron to 5 feet. On the par-3 11th hole, he swung in a 15-foot birdie putt after hitting a wedge to three feet on the 10th hole.
“After that, he won’t just start creating bogeys. The contrary will occur, and he will begin making golf shots. It almost brought his focus back in for a half second, and that’s something you can’t teach.” Morikawa remarked, regarding the Scheffler shank.
His lead had returned to five shots in an instant. It was also a matter of reaching the finish line when he made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 14th hole.
In his 19 starts this season, Scheffler only finished outside the top 10 three times. In addition to his 7 PGA TOUR victories, he also had 2 second-place results.
“Every single week, he is the opponent to defeat. People don’t realize how difficult it is to accomplish that when you’re the favorite and under pressure to win, when everything you do on the golf course is scrutinized, and when it’s difficult to enter your own little bubble and quiet the outside world.”said Justin Thomas.
With a closing 66 and the lowest score of the TOUR Championship at 22-under 262, Morikawa, the seventh seed who was six shots behind at the beginning of the tournament, emerged victorious. He took home $12.5 million as the FedExCup runner-up.
“It was difficult to trail the world’s greatest player by six shots.”Morikawa said.
After he may have accidentally brushed a tiny bit of sand on a bunker shot on Saturday, Sahith Theegala, who called a two-shot penalty on himself, closed with a 64 and finished third. He took third place and received a $7.5 million prize, finishing two strokes behind Morikawa.
Adam Scott, who tied for fourth, turned pro in 2000, amid the height of Woods’ popularity, and he did not back down from the comparisons Scheffler has sparked due to his steady caliber of play.
“I believe it to be comparable to Tiger’s best years ever.I believe that anyone today finds it quite difficult to set oneself out as much as Scottie has. That’s not anything we’ve seen in a while, I believe. I believe the task is more difficult now.”
And to think that Scheffler was being questioned about his putting just over five months ago, and that it had been a full year since he had won his last PGA TOUR championship (the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas).
At $29,228,356, he earned around 9.2% of the total purse from the tournaments he participated in during the season. In 2000, now recognized as one of the greatest seasons ever, Woods won almost 11.6 percent of the total prize money in the events he participated in.
Both the $25 million FedExCup award and the $8 million he won from the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 for finishing first in the regular season are deemed unofficial.
