Signature Scroll: Scottie Scheffler’s ‘down’ year ends with TOUR Championship win

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What a way to end …

The fitting champion

ATLANTA – Scottie Scheffler started and ended his year the same way – with a trophy in hand. If I told you that eight months ago, how many wins would you have guessed came in between?

You’re a liar if you said only one.

Scheffler described his season as a battle. It was for him, and it was for all of us. A battle of expectations. Scheffler has created an incredibly high standard, historically higher than all but a handful of golfers that we consider the all-time greats. He felt that in new ways this year and we began to hold him to it, analyzing every event he didn’t win and reacting to every minor outburst, wondering what was wrong.

If you measure Scheffler’s season strictly to those lofty expectations, you will leave disappointed. Yet it’s possible to depart from the TOUR Championship with multiple thoughts ringing true. Scheffler didn’t eclipse previous historic seasons. This won’t be counted as one of the historic years in golf history. That doesn’t make it a down year. Scheffler won three times, finished runner-up in another five. He led the FedExCup all year and won more than double the money of any other player.

The hope for the TOUR Championship is the most deserving champion emerges. And by the end, for all the hand wringing and dissecting, the best player undoubtedly did.

Scheffler tied for the low round of the day, a 4-under 66 that was good enough to lag his short birdie putt on the par-5 18th and win by three strokes. It was Scheffler’s second FedExCup victory and 22nd career win. All 22 have come in the last five seasons.

Let me smother you with some numbers. Here are the statistical categories Scheffler is No. 1 in this season:

• Wins: three, (tied with Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup)
• Scoring average: first
• Official money: first
• Strokes Gained: Total: first
• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green: first
• Top fives: first
• Top 10s: first
• Top 25s: first
• Scrambling: first
• Putting > 25 feet: first
• Birdie average: first
• Bogey avoidance: first
• Greens in regulation percentage: first
• Round 4 scoring average: first

There are more, but I’d love for you to finish this newsletter before the next PGA TOUR begins, so I won't list them. You get the point.

Is his season deserving of Player of the Year? That will be debated until the award is given out this winter. At worst, it’s a toss-up between Scheffler and Clark.

Not bad for a “down” year.

Playing through

• ▶️ Get caught up with the full highlights from Scheffler’s win …
• 💰 Here’s how much everyone took home from the TOUR Championship …
• 🏧 Scheffler also surpassed Tiger Woods on the all-time money list …
• 📺 Who should win Player of the Year? Scheffler and Clark have gone back and forth. Relive Clark’s BMW Championship win mic’d up in the latest edition of Chasing Sunday …

Behind the black wall

Behind the 18th green but before you reach East Lake’s clubhouse, a temporary black wall blocks the competitors from the madness. When players reach the scoring area, it provides a brief reprieve. A moment without thousands of eyes staring and hundreds of fans screaming for autographs and attention.

It’s behind that black wall that I found Ryan Gerard and Viktor Hovland. It shielded their eyes from the throngs of fans welcoming Scheffler back to the 18th green for a celebration that they envisioned themselves receiving. But the wall couldn’t block out the noise.

“Welcome onto the green, your FedExCup champion, Scottie Scheffler!” booms over the loudspeaker. Roars follow.

Gerard’s head was down, following only his next step. Hovland was staring at nothing in particular, ready to fulfill his last media obligations and escape anywhere but here.

They began the walk together. Hovland stopped first to speak to Norweigan media while Gerard had to answer my questions.

“Bit of a weird day,” Gerard said. “Just kind of felt a little off standing over the golf ball the majority of the day.”

That started at the first hole, when Gerard blocked an iron shot way right that led to a double bogey and immediately put him on his back foot. There were things to learn from the performance, he said. He needed to commit more to certain shots. Mostly, though, he just had to “play better.”

By then it was Hovland’s turn. He echoed similar sentiments. “If I just had my normal game, my normal ball striking from the previous years, I think I take away this tournament.”

As Hovland finished up and began the walk behind the black wall and back to the clubhouse, the loud speaker started again. “Welcome back again, the man of the hour, Scottie Scheffler!”

Next year, the black wall will come with a set of ear plugs.

Parting shots

• 💭 For years, Rory McIlroy tried to find a way to peak for the Masters. It took him a decade, but he finally did it. Now he must figure out how he can maintain that peak after it. McIlroy contended just once after winning his second green jacket. He finished T7-T32-T40 in the other three majors. He had a chance to start Sunday at East Lake but bogeyed three of the first five holes and couldn’t fight his way back.
• 👬 It was cool to look up at the leaderboard and see the Fitzpatrick brothers right next to each other early on Sunday morning. We narrowly missed out on them playing the final round of the year together. I think it’s just worth calling out how cool it is that two brothers are among the 30 best golfers in the world and now are living their dreams beside each other. Alex Fitzpatrick was a full-time player in Europe in March and made the TOUR Championship. Just incredibly cool for the Fitzpatrick family.
• 🏆 Clark’s season ended with a whimper. He shot 72 and finished tied for 21st.
• ❓ Was the ninth hole too predictable? It’s a take that Scheffler levied on Saturday night and the stats may support it. The hole was played 116 times this week. It yielded 98 pars (84% of the scores). Though we did get some magic on Sunday when Justin Rose aced it.
• ❌ We may see some of the stars play this fall, but as the FedExCup season wraps, the following golfers went winless: Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Sam Burns, Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay.
• 🇺🇲 Captain’s picks for the Presidents Cup will be announced in the coming days. Here’s who I think Brandt Snedeker will choose for the U.S. Team: Chris Gotterup, Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Cantlay, Gerard and J.J. Spaun.
• 🌏 And for Geoff Ogilvy and the International Team: Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Ryo Hisatsune, Nico Echavarria, Jason Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Reminder: These are just my personal predictions.