Scottie Scheffler Makes Big Jump to $25 Million FedEx Cup Prize

ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler entered the Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead on the back of a dominant season. And then he looked as dominant as ever on Thursday, shooting a career-best round of 6-under 65 to open a seven-stroke lead and take a big step toward the FedEx Cup title.

Scheffler made five birdies in his last seven holes on a scorching afternoon at the renovated East Lake, leaving Xander Schauffele and everyone else behind.

He birdied the par-5 18th hole with an 8-foot putt from the bunker to earn his place in the PGA Tour record book with an asterisk. No one has ever led by seven after 18 holes in as long as the Tour has kept such records.

The asterisk is there because he was only one stroke better than Collin Morikawa, Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ontario, and three others who each had a 66.

This is the sixth year of the “starting strokes” format at the FedEx Cup Finals. Scheffler was the No. 1 seed based on his six PGA Tour victories, including the Masters and The Players Championship. He began the tournament at 10-under par and with a two-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele, the two-time major winner and No. 2 seed.

This is Scheffler’s third straight year in charge. He has yet to win the FedEx Cup and the $25 million bonus that comes with it. And it sounds like that wasn’t on his mind.

“I wasn’t thinking about the lead today. I didn’t need to. It’s the first day of the tournament. It’s 72 holes. It’s a long time to be playing with a lead,” Scheffler said. “I was just focused on my own world and just kept trying to execute.”

He got a quick reminder that a two-shot lead on Thursday — or even Sunday — is nothing to celebrate. Schauffele made up for that deficit on the first hole with an 8-foot birdie, while Scheffler made his only bogey by having to play behind a tree just short of the green.

Scheffler, who made a 35-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole, led by one point when they turned the corner and then left his fellow Olympic gold medalist in the dust.

Schauffele missed an 8-foot birdie chance on the 10th hole and a 5-foot par putt on the 11th. Scheffler birdied the next three holes as Schauffele couldn’t find a fairway, leaving him with no reasonable birdie chances.

“I think I got a decent score considering how bad I hit it,” said Schauffele, who headed to the range after his round was over. “Overall, it was kind of a ‘meh’ day. It wasn’t something I was proud of or something I hated.”

The difference between this year’s top two golfers was clear: Scheffler could control the distance to the fairway, while Schauffele was good at betting on shots from the rough.

“Scottie was on almost every fairway, it seemed,” Schauffele said. “It looked like he was doing wedge drills when he was out there.”

Indeed, Scheffler missed only two greens and putted for birdie or better on his last 14 holes. The world No. 1 putted it in again at the end and with the lead he was at 16-under par.

But this chase for the $25 million bonus is far from over, and Scheffler is proof of that. He was the top seed and led by five strokes after the first round of the 2022 Tour Championship. That was also the year he led by six strokes going into the final round, losing to Rory McIlroy.

Only one other top favorite led the first day since the format began in 2019. That was Patrick Cantlay, who won the FedEx Cup by a single stroke with a two-point lead.

Morikawa has a history of great starts. He overcame a nine-stroke deficit in one round last year with a 61. On this day, he made six straight birdies on the back nine, and his 66 puts him in the final group with Scheffler on Friday.

Morikawa and Schauffele (70) were at 9-under par. Another stroke behind was a large group including Adam Scott (66), Hideki Matsuyama (70) and Keegan Bradley, who moved from No. 50 to No. 4 by winning the BMW Championship last week.

Scoring wasn’t particularly low on the new East Lake, with its heavily contoured greens, closely mown area instead of thick rough and the absence of trees. But only one player was over par — Billy Horschel, with a 73.

At least Schauffele has extended his stunning streak at East Lake, even with the new design. He lost a lot of ground on the back nine, but his 70 was the 26th time in 29 rounds that he has been under par. He has never shot over par.

That wasn’t good enough to keep up with Scheffler.