Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 performance will be one for the history books, a dominant effort the golf world hasn’t witnessed since Tiger Woods turned pro.
And last weekend, as the calendar turned to September, it continued.
Scheffler once again walked away with a trophy on Sunday, winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, a feat that topped off his unreal season with a $25 million bonus.
“I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year,” Scheffler said in his victorious press conference Sunday in Atlanta. “It’s been nuts.”
The FedEx Cup is conducted with a different format than any other tournament throughout the year. In this championship, players do not start out at a level playing field. Because of Scheffler’s extraordinary performance throughout the season and points ranking heading into the event, he began the week at 10 under par.
Xander Schauffele, second on the points list, had a starting score of 8 under, Hideki Matsuyama at 7 under, and so on. This obviously gives Scheffler a lead heading into the event, which most would agree he did not need. However, there have only been two instances of the No. 1 seed winning this event in the past. So, starting the week in the leading position doesn’t always guarantee success, and it can put that player under more pressure to win.
If he was feeling that pressure, he didn’t play like it.
“(To) be able to finish it off,” he said, “is definitely pretty sweet.”
In that press conference, Scheffler discussed his 7-shot lead after the first round, illustrating it as “unusual,” and less than likely to happen in any other tournament. He also told reporters that he was exhausted.
The bottom line is that anyone who has ever played competitive golf knows how exhausting it is, in good times and bad. Even the No. 1 player in the world can shank a shot, especially after playing a fully packed season. It takes quite a toll on your body, and even more of a toll on your mind. And that was not lost on his competition.
“I feel like he just sort of brings the same demeanor to the course every single day, no matter what position on the leaderboard he’s in,” Rory McIlroy said in his press conference after finishing in ninth place in Atlanta. “He’s just amazing to just watch the way he manages himself around the golf course. Yeah, we’ll look back on 2024 and it’s obviously one of the best individual years that a player has had for a long time.”
Everyone is aware of how easily the game of golf can break the best players in the world. There’s no doubt that it’s frustrating. And from Scheffler’s perspective, he has set the bar so high for that the world expects him to constantly win, which is an impossible standard to meet, though, at times, he makes it look attainable.
The numbers bear that out. Over the course of the 2024 season, Scheffler earned a total of $62.2 million. This year’s wins included the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, The Masters, the RBC Heritage, The Memorial Tournament, the Travelers Championship, and of course, the Tour Championship on Sunday.
Along with those victories, Scheffler also extended a memorable streak that includes not missing a cut since the FedEx St. Jude Championship all the way back in 2022. He also added his first Olympic gold medal to his list of accomplishments, last month in Paris, a feat that doesn’t even add any prize money to his total for the year.
“If you can describe it in words, more power to you,” Scheffler said. “Because I don’t think I can.”
In addition to his on-course milestones this year, Scheffler was also wrongfully arrested on his way to the course for the second round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. He was jailed for not following police orders during a pedestrian fatality investigation, an incident that resulted in charges being dropped.
He also became a father, and has his wife, Meredith Scheffler, and son, Bennett, with him for his win in Atlanta on Sunday.
When it was all said and done Sunday, Scheffler labeled it a “long and fun” year, but added that he was “emotionally drained.”
But after some rest and recovery, he will start preparing to give the golf world another show at the President’s Cup, beginning Sept. 24th at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada.
