Scottie Scheffler has amassed a significant number of the game’s most prestigious awards rather fast for a player who did not have a PGA TOUR victory at the beginning of last year.
But there is still one he has missed, and this week he gets a chance to make amends.
Scheffler, the undisputed best player in 2022, was without a peer the previous year. He won four times, including the Masters, and kept up his excellent play through the first three rounds of the TOUR Championship. After birdieing four of the six holes he played early on Sunday to finish the rain-delayed third round, Scheffler built a six-shot lead going into the season’s final round.
Despite having the lead in the FedExCup since March, Scheffler struggled with his ball-striking in the final round and shot 73, which allowed Rory McIlroy to pass him and win the FedExCup for a record-breaking third time. Scheffler still won the PGA TOUR Player of the Year Award, but it was a sad finale to an outstanding campaign.
“At the end of last year, it was difficult for me to even manage East Lake. It was obviously really sad and difficult, and I didn’t anticipate the way things would end. I was exhausted when I arrived home. I was exhausted; mentally, physically, and emotionally.” Scheffler said earlier in the year.
Scheffler is currently back in first place in the TOUR Championship standings. Scheffler will start the tournament with a two-stroke advantage over Viktor Hovland in second place in the FedExCup rankings. Currently, Scheffler is the only player to enter East Lake at the top of the FedExCup standings for two straight years.
More victories this year have gone to Jon Rahm. Rahm has four in 2022, including the Masters. Despite Scheffler’s two victories in 2023, the FedExCup leader’s unrivaled consistency is what keeps him there. With 15 top-10 finishes, he leads the TOUR by 4. He will have 16 by the end of the week, which would be the highest since Vijay Singh had 16 in 2005. This season, Scheffler made 18 straight starts and never finished worse than 12th.
Scheffler’s success is a result of his season, which was the best ball-striking season by a player other than Tiger Woods. He now has the TOUR’s lead in four Strokes Gained categories and may become the first player in ShotLink statistics’ 20-year history to have the TOUR’s lead in both Strokes Gained: Approaching the Green and Off the Tee. He has the best performance among golfers other than Tiger Woods in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
“He has hit the ball at least as well as Tiger did in 2000, which serves as the standard for all of us,” McIlroy said.
Scheffler’s good success this season, according to McIlroy, has been largely attributed to his ingenuity and athleticism.
“He doesn’t hesitate to make shots. Like when he uses the driver to make tiny bunt cuts. He’ll make powerful high pulls. He engages in extensive play with the golf ball. He has incredible hands. On the range, I observe him working incredibly hard as he performs his exercises and does all of this. However, I believe that once he is on the golf course, he is able to just let all of it go and transform into a pure athlete who is so instinctive and reactive.” McIlroy said.
Scheffler would join a select group of athletes who have won the PLAYERS, major, World Golf Championship, and FedExCup Playoffs tournament if he were to win his first FedExCup. Only Woods, McIlroy, and Henrik Stenson have succeeded in that endeavor.
After failing to win on the PGA TOUR to begin 2022, Scheffler has triumphed in every one of them. He reached No. 1 in the world for the first time after winning the World Golf Championships Dell Technologies Match Play last year. It was swiftly followed by his fourth victory in six contests, which came at Augusta National.
With his victory at THE PLAYERS in March, Scheffler joined Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to hold the Masters and PLAYERS championships simultaneously. Scheffler successfully defended his title in this year’s WM Phoenix Open.
His third victory of the year, which would come at the TOUR Championship, would put him in a great position to earn the PGA TOUR Player of the Year award for a second straight year. Since Nick Price in 1993 and 1994, he would be the first player other than Tiger Woods to win the prize in back-to-back years.
A FedExCup victory is always significant, but after losing the previous year, Scheffler finds it even more meaningful.
“What I discovered the previous year was how much fun it is to be there as well as how much I enjoy fighting and trying to compete to win,” Scheffler said.
This week, he has one more chance to end an outstanding year with a triumph.
