‘Staying in the moment,’ Scottie Scheffler leads Tour Championship by 5
ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler is 18 holes away from his first FedEx Cup championship.
Scheffler leads Collin Morikawa by five strokes following the third round of the Tour Championship on Saturday at East Lake Golf Club. The winner Sunday will take home the FedEx Cup and a $25 million prize.
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After a slow start to his day, Scheffler rolled in birdies at Nos. 14, 16, 17 and 18 to card a 5-under 66 and increase his cushion over Morikawa (67). Scheffler is 26 under entering Sunday and has no reason to change what has been working for him.
“Keep doing what I’ve been doing, staying in the moment, staying patient out there,” Scheffler said. “I’ve bogeyed the first hole two of the last three days, and both times when I bogeyed the first hole I didn’t make any bogeys after that, so that’s kind of good momentum for me.”
The World No. 1 entered the Tour Championship leading the FedEx Cup race for the third consecutive year. Scheffler was overtaken for the title by Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland in 2022 and Viktor Hovland of Norway in 2023.
But now, he is putting the finishing touches on one of the best seasons in recent PGA Tour history. If Scheffler finishes the job Sunday, he’ll be the first player to win seven times in a season since Tiger Woods in 2007.
The tournament isn’t over just yet. Scheffler blew a six-shot lead to McIlroy on the final day of the 2022 Tour Championship.
“It’s disappointing anytime I don’t win,” Scheffler said. “I felt like two years ago I had a really good chance to win, wasn’t able to get it done. Last year I was close and I think I had a couple bad last rounds.”
At 21 under, Morikawa remains his closest pursuer.
“Not exactly the moving day that I needed, but I knew this entire week I was going to need something special to come out on top and I’m going to need something very special,” the two-time major champion said. “But I believe in myself, and hopefully that comes out (Sunday).”
Scheffler bogeyed the first hole and didn’t make a putt longer than 5 feet over his first six holes. Morikawa, who started the day four back, drew within two when he birdied the par-5 sixth.
But the seventh hole represented a key two-shot swing. Scheffler finally holed a birdie putt, a slow-rolling, left-to-righter from 15 feet, and Morikawa’s 3 1/2-foot par tap lipped out.
Both playing partners birdied No. 8 and went quiet until the home stretch. After Scheffler birdied No. 14, Morikawa hit the best tee shot of the day at the par-3 15th, leaving himself 3 feet, 3 inches for birdie while Scheffler parred.
But Scheffler escaped a fairway bunker at No. 16 and drained a 24-foot putt, center cup, to grow the margin to five. He and Morikawa went on to birdie each of the final two holes.
“Some of these holes … if we’re both in the fairway and you have a wedge, you’re going to see some good shots,” Morikawa said. “It’s nice that if he hits one, that I stick one close and vice versa.
“I just hope to have some swings (Sunday). I’ve got to start making putts. I’ve got to make everything (Sunday). It is what it is.”
Xander Schauffele began the day in third place at 16 under and only managed an even-par 71. Sahith Theegala surpassed him for third, birdieing his last five holes and seven of his last eight for a 66 to leap to 17 under.
Theegala’s score could have been even lower. On his third hole, he self-reported an infraction after moving sand on his backswing in a bunker, turning a par into a double bogey. Rules officials reviewed the incident with Theegala after the round, and there was not conclusive evidence to overturn the penalty.
“I’ve just played so much golf,” Theegala said. “You spend so much time of your life staring down at the lie you have, the ball you have, and it just did not feel like a normal fairway bunker shot. It felt like some of the sand moved. At the end of the day I’m good with the ruling, and I think it’s very fair that I was assessed two shots.”
Wyndham Clark (68) and Adam Scott (68) of Australia are tied for fifth at 15 under, while Sam Burns (68) moved to 14 under.
Shane Lowry of Ireland fired a 6-under 65 with seven birdies to rise to 13 under, matching Hovland (10 under) for the low round of the day. Lowry made birdie putts from 45 and 25 feet away.
“I worked a lot out here in this big putting green on my speed drills,” said Lowry, playing in his first Tour Championship. “It’s been going pretty well. I felt I putted quite nicely the back half of the season. It’s nice to see a couple of long ones drop.”
