Scottie Scheffler didn\u2019t own this PGA Tour season like he had the last few years, but once again he ended up defining it.<\/p>\n
For the second time in three years, Scheffler won the FedEx Cup title, rallying from a three-stroke deficit on Sunday to capture the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. With a closing four-under 66, Scheffler was able to overtake Viktor Hovland by three strokes to punctuate a season that began with a victory, became notable for his scratching and clawing from slow starts to a series of top-three finishes, and ended with two victories in the last 14 days.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Scheffler won what amounted to a season-long race for the FedEx Cup title when it was contested with starting strokes. This time, he emerged with the victory amid the free-for-all format instituted last year. In both instances, Scheffler seemed like the appropriate champion. With a 16-under 264 aggregate total, the undisputed World No. 1 player captured his third win of the year, his eighth top-two finish and his 13th in the top five.<\/p>\n
His FedEx Cup playoff run of win, T-12, win\u2014with the slip in last week\u2019s BMW Championship coming despite the painful effects of hand, foot and mouth disease<\/a>\u2014likely cements his status as the favorite for a fifth straight Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA Tour Player of the Year.<\/p>\n \u201cComing from behind and being able to win the tournament is a really cool feeling,\u201d said Scheffler, who notched his 22nd career victory on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n Scheffler tied for low round of the day and he was the only player in the final three pairings who broke par. East Lake was much less hospitable than in any of the first three rounds, playing over par to an average of 70.067 and turning the playoff finale into the Chore Championship.<\/p>\n Utterly appropriate in a $40 million tournament.<\/p>\n Utterly predictable that the man who met the moment, who had the execution and determination when the pressure ratcheted higher was the player whose year wasn\u2019t as satisfying as he\u2019d have preferred but still was in its own way fulfilling.<\/p>\n Scheffler is not simply No. 1 because of his talent (which is immense) or because a computer says so (by a wide margin); he\u2019s the game\u2019s best player because of his unparalleled consistency and he simply refuses to quit on any shot of any hole in each round. This he learned early in his career watching Woods closely when they were paired together, and for all the ways in which Scheffler is compared statistically to the 15-time major champion, it\u2019s Scheffler\u2019s tenacity that most reminds us of Tiger\u2019s most enduring quality.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very proud of fighting back and having some good finishes and even give myself chances to win with some of those poor starts I had,\u201d said Scheffler, 30, who had only one finish outside the top 25 in 20 starts, that coming when he missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. \u201cBut overall, I just continued to battle, day in and day out. You know, it\u2019s just a gift to be out here on tour, so everyday I\u2019m going to try and give it my best.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it can be hard when you wake up and you\u2019re close to last place and you know you have to bring the energy and the fight that I bring each week. This year as a whole was just a big battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Scheffler, who led the FedEx Cup points standings after last week\u2019s BMW Championship to earn a $23 million bonus, pocketed $10 million more<\/a>. He joined Woods (of course) as two-time winners of the FedEx Cup title, one behind Rory McIlroy. He has led the FedEx Cup standings each of the last five years, most in the playoff era. Second place? Um, yeah, Woods.<\/p>\n