It's Moving Day at the Tour Championship: Can Anyone Chase Down Scottie Scheffler?

By: Brooks Latta | 08/31/2024

There have only been two players in golf history who have won seven or more tournaments in a single season: Tiger Woods, who accomplished this feat four times, and Vijay Singh, who did it once. Let that sink in for a moment—TIGER WOODS.

Scottie Scheffler is now entering that rarified air, and having your name mentioned alongside Tiger Woods in a statistic like this speaks volumes. It’s been that kind of year for Scheffler, who has put together an incredible stretch, winning six PGA Tour events, including his second Masters title. He followed that up by clinching gold at the Paris Olympics. A Tour Championship win, a title he’s yet to secure in his career, would be the perfect capstone to this remarkable season.

If it weren’t for the bizarre "free Scottie" arrest for a traffic violation at the PGA Championship, he might have added that title to his collection as well.

Heading into this week’s Tour Championship, Scheffler led the FedExCup playoff points, earning him a starting score of 10 under par. It’s tough to beat the best golfer in the world, especially when he’s given a head start like that.

Scheffler hasn’t let up, racing to a 21-under total score with rounds of 65-66 through the first two days. Two players seem to have a legitimate shot at catching him: Collin Morikawa, at 17 under after rounds of 66-63, and Xander Schauffele, at 16 under after shooting 70-64.

Morikawa has been on fire, posting the lowest round of the week with an 8-under 63 to reach 17 under.

Schauffele was right behind, with a second-round 64 bringing him to 16 under.

Can Anyone Catch Scottie?

Sam Burns, currently tied for eighth and sitting 11 shots back at the time of this writing, acknowledged the challenge ahead: “He’s the best golfer on the planet. He’s really good with leads,” Burns said after the second round at East Lake. “It’s not a great thing for us.”

Burns was candid about the field’s chances of catching Scheffler. “I am not expecting him to come back in the slightest. Somebody is going to have to go chase him down,” he added on Friday.

It’s Not All Bad News

The winner of the Tour Championship will take home a cool $25 million. That’s a tough pill to swallow if you’re not in first place, missing out on that kind of money. However, the Tour Championship features a $100 million bonus pool, meaning there’s still $75 million to be distributed among the rest of the field, so there’s plenty to play for over the weekend. Performing well could also be a springboard, building momentum heading into the 2025 season.

One more thing to keep in mind: this is the third consecutive year Scheffler has entered the Tour Championship at No. 1, and the first two times didn’t go as planned. Scheffler faltered down the stretch, finishing T2 in 2022 and T6 in 2023, not taking home the title. This offers hope for the field, especially Morikawa and Schauffele, who are within five strokes of the top spot.

Moving Day is living up to its name, and with a potential historic season on the line, all eyes will be on Scottie Scheffler as he looks to finish what he started.