Scottie Scheffler leads by 5 points going into final round of Tour Championship

ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler birdied four of his last five holes for a 5-under 66 at East Lake on Saturday to hold off Collin Morikawa and move the world’s No. 1 golfer one round shy of the season’s $25 million FedEx Cup crown.

Scheffler had extended his lead over Morikawa to five strokes before the final round of the Tour Championship, and no one else was closer than nine strokes.

Sahith Theegala might have been two shots closer, had he not been given a two-stroke penalty on the third hole for lightly hitting the sand with his club from a bunker. The video wasn’t entirely clear, but Theegala informed the officials and his par was changed to a double bogey.

“I’m pretty sure I broke the rules, so I’m paying the price for it, and I feel good about it,” Theegala said. “I’m not 100 percent sure. But I would say I’m 98, 99 percent sure that some sand was moved.”

He responded with seven birdies on the back nine to shoot a 66 that left him nine strokes behind. The last player to win a PGA Tour event after trailing by nine or more strokes going into the final round was Stewart Cink at the 2004 MCI Heritage (to Ted Purdy by nine strokes after 54 holes).

Morikawa, who started the tournament six strokes behind seventh-seeded Scheffler, moved within two shots of the leader when he made a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on the par-5 sixth hole.

But he got no closer. On the next hole, Scheffler made a 15-foot birdie putt, while Morikawa missed the green, dropped a putt just outside 3 feet and missed it. A two-stroke swing that cut Scheffler’s lead to four.

Morikawa made three putts for par from 60 feet on the par-5 15th hole and then birdied three of his last four holes for a 67. He eventually lost some ground to Scheffler.

“Not exactly the moving day I needed, but I knew all week that I was going to need something special to get me through this and I need something really special,” Morikawa said. “But I believe in myself and hopefully that comes tomorrow.”

Scheffler was at 26-under par. The five-stroke lead isn’t the largest since the format began in 2019. Scheffler held a six-stroke lead two years ago, closed with a 73 and finished one stroke behind a hard-charging Rory McIlroy. In the past 60 years, only one player has squandered multiple leads of five or more entering a final round: Gay Brewer at the 1966 Tournament of Champions (5 strokes) and the 1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic (6 strokes), both times losing to Arnold Palmer.

A year ago, Scheffler started as number 1 and had only one round under par.

“I feel like I did a lot of things right and played solidly, so I’m looking forward to the challenge tomorrow to finish the tournament,” he said.

British Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele never got back on track. He started the day five shots behind, bogeyed twice in the first four holes and failed to birdie the three par 5s in his round of 71. He was 10 shots behind.

He has never hit more than seven fairways in all three rounds, and that has cost him dearly at times when he has had to go low to stay in the match.

“I just didn’t play well enough to shoot consecutive 7-under pars,” Schauffele said. “You have to hit at least 12 fairways to give yourself a serious chance and then obviously do a lot of good, but it starts with your ball on the short course.”

For everyone else, it’s a race for money.

The winner of the FedEx Cup will receive $25 million, second place will receive $12.5 million and third place will pay $7.5 million.

This report used information from The Associated Press.