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Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler caps historic season with dominant win at East Lake to win first FedEx Cup
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Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler caps historic season with dominant win at East Lake to win first FedEx Cup

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 1: Scottie Scheffler of the United States hits his shot from the 13th tee during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Scottie Scheffler is the first golfer to win seven times in a single season since Tiger Woods did it in 2007. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Providing some tension on Sunday afternoon, Scottie Scheffler closed out the 2024 season in dominant fashion in East Lake.

Scheffler won by four strokes at the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon with a final-round 67, officially earning Scheffler the FedEx Cup for the first time in his career and the enormous $25 million prize that comes with it. The victory, which will undoubtedly earn him a third consecutive Player of the Year award, capped a season the PGA Tour hasn’t seen since Tiger Woods was in his prime.

Thanks to his huge lead in the FedEx Cup standings, Scheffler began the week with a two-stroke advantage at 10-under. He quickly extended his lead to seven strokes after his 6-under 65 in the opening round, becoming the first player on record to hold a lead of seven strokes or more after 18 holes of a Tour event.

Scheffler then hit back-to-back 66s to give him a five-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa going into the final round. Morikawa was the only golfer with a real shot to overtake him on Sunday, as he was the only man closer than nine strokes.

It looked like Morikawa might do just that. Scheffler stumbled a bit on his front nine, including a four-hole stretch where he made three bogeys. Morikawa went 2-under on that same stretch, including a clutch birdie putt on the par-4 eighth that cut Scheffler’s lead to just two.

But Scheffler responded immediately, hitting three straight birdies to regain control of the tournament. He also made an easy downhill eagle putt on the par-5 14th to move to 30 under for the week.

Suddenly his lead was five men again and the tournament was effectively over.

Scheffler finished with a 4-under 67 on Sunday to claim victory. Morikawa finished second at 26-under on the week with his final-round 66. Sahith Theegala — who gave himself a two-shot penalty on Saturday — finished alone in third at 24-under.

Scheffler’s victory on Sunday capped an incredible season for the world’s top-ranked player, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Woods nearly two decades ago.

Scheffler has won seven times in 2024. His first victory came at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, which kicked off a truly historic run for him. Scheffler followed that win with victories at The Players Championship, the Masters and the RBC Heritage in his next four starts. He also finished T8 at the PGA Championship, which came after he was arrested before the second round for a wild incident outside the course gates.

In all, Scheffler finished outside the top 10 just once in his first 13 starts. He also won at the Memorial Tournament and in a playoff at the Travelers Championship, and he won a gold medal for the United States at the Olympic Games in Paris last month. His six Tour victories before July made him the first golfer to do so on Tour since Arnold Palmer in 1962.

Scheffler is the first golfer to win seven times in a single season, including one major championship victory, since Woods accomplished the feat in 2007. Scheffler is one of four golfers to do so since 1980. Only Woods and Vijay Singh have won more in a single season in the modern era of golf. They share the record with nine victories.

Scheffler has now won 13 times in his career, with more than half of those coming in 2024. He is the fastest golfer to reach 13 Tour victories since 1960. It took him just 931 days to do so, nearly 100 days faster than the previous record held by Jack Nicklaus.

He also broke the single-season earnings record in 2024, entering this week with just under $29 million, breaking his own record set during the 2022-23 season. His FedEx Cup win pushed him past the $50 million mark for the season. Scheffler has earned nearly $830,000 for every round he has played on Tour this season.

Scheffler remains at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the 68th consecutive week on Monday, a streak that will undoubtedly continue in the coming weeks and months as the golf world calms down.