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Mark SchlabachAug 20, 2025, 12:22 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Senior college football writer ATLANTA — World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler<\/a> won’t start this week’s Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead on the field, like he did last season before winning his first FedEx Cup.<\/p>\n With the PGA Tour doing away with starting strokes for its season-ending championship, Scheffler will start at even par like the other 29 golfers in the field.<\/p>\n “I guess no more sandbagging for me at the end of the year,” Scheffler joked Wednesday.<\/p>\n “I was not a fan of it,” he added. “I didn’t think it was a good way to end the year, for a variety of reasons. I’m much more happy with this format. I think having a good golf tournament on a really good golf course to finish off our season is extremely important.”<\/p>\n Last year, Scheffler started the Tour Championship at 10-under. He was 20-under on his own over 72 holes and beat two-time major champion Collin Morikawa<\/a> by four strokes — even though Morikawa was 22-under without starting strokes.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Scheffler suggested having a lead on the field before the tournament started made winning even more difficult.<\/p>\n Before last season’s Tour Championship, Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, told him that he’d been sleeping on a lead since February because he’d led the FedEx Cup points standings the entire season after winning six times before East Lake.<\/p>\n “I was leading the entire year in the FedEx Cup, and it all comes down to a four-day tournament on a golf course that I hadn’t really played great on,” Scheffler said. “It was a challenging week. It was stressful.”<\/p>\n Two years earlier, Scheffler squandered a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost to Rory McIlroy<\/a> by one stroke at East Lake.<\/p>\n “It just frustrated me,” Scheffler said. “I think it was [former NBA coach] Phil Jackson [who] said, ‘You’re only a success at the time you’re performing a successful act.’ It just irked me so bad finishing off the year where guys were like, ‘Hey, great playing. I’m sorry about how it ended.’<\/p>\n “It’s like, ‘You know what, man? I won the Masters this year, won a few other tournaments. It was a pretty good year.'”<\/p>\n Scheffler has already collected $23 million in bonuses this season. Another $40 million is at stake at East Lake, including $10 million to the winner.<\/p>\n The four-time major champion has won five times in his past 10 starts, including last week’s BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland.<\/p>\n What keeps him motivated to keep winning? Scheffler said showing up every week was something he took away from the only round he ever played with 15-time major champion Tiger Woods<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nAuthor of seven books on college football
\nGraduate of the University of Georgia<\/p>\n