Scottie Scheffler, world number one, won for the first time the Tour Championship, the tournament that crowns the PGA Tour season, and thus pocketed the largest prize in the history of golf: 25 million dollars. In his triumphant season, the American has pocketed a record prize money of more than 62 million dollars.
Winner of the Paris Olympic Games and the Augusta Masters, Scheffler capped the best season of his career with victory in the Tour Championship, the last of the three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments.
The American started the final round in Atlanta with a five-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa. He struggled to make two bogeys, on holes seven and eight, before recovering to record his seventh PGA Tour victory of the season.
The current world ranking leader is the first player to win seven PGA Tour events, including the Augusta Masters, in one year since Tiger Woods did it in 2007.
In the previous two years, Scheffler had started the Tour Championship as number one in the standings, but had failed to win the FedEx Cup.
“Two years ago it was pretty tough; having a good lead going into the last round and not playing my best and then losing. And last year I had a pretty weak week,” he noted.
“So to come in with a lead for the third time and to be able to realize it is a very nice thing,” he added.
Morikawa, who pocketed more than 11 million for his second place finish, was satisfied with his effort and acknowledged that the winner closed the tournament with perfection.
Sahith Theegala finished third, six strokes behind the leader, while Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Australian Adam Scott finished tied for fourth place at 19 under par.
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