Scottie Scheffler didn’t just win the Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake; he likely tilted the odds in his favor for a fifth straight PGA Tour player of the year award.
While Scheffler and his peers will still have the final say via voting, it will be hard to deny Scheffler after the world No. 1 closed in 4-under 66 to capture his third tournament of the season – and second of the FedExCup Playoffs.
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Entering East Lake, Scheffler was arguably in a virtual tie with Wyndham Clark, who had won three times, including last week’s BMW Championship, and boasted the only glaring omission from Scheffler’s resumé: a major title.
Scheffler had the upper hand over the reigning U.S. Open champion Clark and fringe candidates Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup and Rory McIlroy in basically everything else. Scheffler led the PGA Tour in the following categories: Wins, runners-up, top-5s, top-10s, top-25s, scoring average, final-round scoring average, strokes gained: total, strokes gained: tee to green, birdie average, greens in regulation, cumulative score to par in majors, FedExCup points (by over 1,400), on-course earnings, and much more.
Now, Scheffler just did something he’d never done before by winning twice in the postseason. In the four previous years, which also culminated in POY honors, Scheffler had only won two playoff events total, including the 2024 Tour Championship, which still employed starting strokes and where Scheffler didn’t even shoot the lowest gross score for the week.
“I don’t know if it changes my outlook as much as it will change y’all’s,” Scheffler said of Sunday’s win. “I felt like my thought process going into the postseason this year was I felt like maybe I’ve underperformed in some of the postseasons in the past. I think of years like ’22 and ’23, where I had a lead at this tournament and wasn’t able to win the FedExCup or a playoff event those years. To come in this year maybe not winning the tournaments that I could have won throughout the regular season, to come in and win two out of three playoff events is definitely a nice way to finish off the season.
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“That was definitely my motto going into the playoffs: Maybe in years past I’ve underperformed in the postseason, and maybe this is a year I’ll perform better in the postseason than I have in the regular season.”
Prior to East Lake, it seemed other top Tour pros were split between Scheffler and Clark.
“No, I’m not the player of the year. No chance. Scottie is,” McIlroy said after Scheffler’s blowout win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. “Well, sorry, there’s two weeks to go, but I firsthand watched him for the first two days last week, and he if he keeps playing like that… if he gains nine strokes on the greens every week, we’re all effed.”
Argued Justin Thomas: “I think the best way to really debate it is which season would the players themselves actually rather have. Would they rather have more top-5’s, better scoring average, consistency, wins, etc.? Who has played better? Scottie has played better than anybody on the planet this season. No doubt. But I find it hard to believe he would rather have his season (right now, pre-Tour Championship) than Wyndham’s which includes a major and one more win.”
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Tiger Woods chimed in on Sunday, though not necessarily on the POY race, calling Scheffler’s season “historic.”
“Three wins, five runners-up and finishing the season No. 1; those are some numbers to be proud of,” Woods wrote. “Incredible consistency all season long. Congrats on a historic season, Scottie.”
Viktor Hovland found himself on the wrong end of Scheffler’s bookend title.
“He’s just good, and he played good every day,” Hovland said. “… I think he knows that he’s got an edge on most guys out here, so he doesn’t have to do anything crazy. He can play smart and just kind of pick his spots, stay in it constantly. Today it wasn’t like anybody else really played all that great in contention, and that’s what you see, a lot of guys just gagging and throwing up, and that’s where he just kind of stays in it and shoots a nice score. That gets the job done.”
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Somewhat surprisingly, Scheffler wasn’t asked about a potential fifth straight POY award, though he surely would’ve brushed it off.
He didn’t seem like a guy, however, who was wanting to trade his year for anybody else’s.
“I feel like I hold myself to a high standard, which I think sometimes can be good and bad,” Scheffler said. “I feel like at times I probably could be a bit of a pain to be around when things aren’t going the way they should. I don’t feel like I take days off. I’m highly competitive, and I’m very proud of being able to have the consistent results I’ve had over the years.
“I feel like it’s something that’s very difficult to do, and it’s something that I’m very proud of. I don’t take tournaments off. I don’t take days off during tournaments. I try to give it my all each and every day. I feel like it’s a gift to play out here on the PGA Tour, and don’t want to take it for granted.
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“I don’t want to look back at the end of my career and feel like I could have done more in order to play well. I want to be able to tell myself when I hang it up that I did everything I could. I feel like years like this kind of show that to myself, how important that is.”
2026 Tour Championship prize money: Full payout at East Lake
Scottie Scheffler is taking home an eight-figure check for his work in Atlanta this week. See how the rest of the $40 million purse was paid out.
