Scottie Scheffler prefers new Tour Championship format

ATLANTA — World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler will not begin this week’s Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead on the sphere, like he did final season earlier than profitable his first FedEx Cup.

With the PGA Tour removing beginning strokes for its season-ending championship, Scheffler will begin at even par like the opposite 29 golfers within the area.

“I guess no more sandbagging for me at the end of the year,” Scheffler joked Wednesday.

“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.”

Last 12 months, Scheffler began the Tour Championship at 10-under. He was 20-under on his personal over 72 holes and beat two-time main champion Collin Morikawa by 4 strokes — despite the fact that Morikawa was 22-under with out beginning strokes.

Scheffler recommended having a lead on the sphere earlier than the match began made profitable much more tough.

Before final season’s Tour Championship, Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, advised him that he’d been sleeping on a lead since February as a result of he’d led the FedEx Cup factors standings all the season after profitable six instances earlier than East Lake.

“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 mentioned. “It was a challenging week. It was stressful.”

Two years earlier, Scheffler squandered a six-stroke lead within the last spherical and misplaced to Rory McIlroy by one stroke at East Lake.

“It just frustrated me,” Scheffler mentioned. “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.’

“It’s like, ‘You know what, man? I received the Masters this 12 months, received a number of different tournaments. It was a reasonably good 12 months.'”

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.

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.

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.

In the final round of the 2020 Masters, Scheffler played with Woods and Ireland’s Shane Lowry. Woods famously made a 10 on the par-3 12th. He responded with birdies on five of the last six holes to card a 4-over 76.

“It was like, ‘What’s this man nonetheless taking part in for? He’s received the Masters 4 or 5 instances,'” Scheffler said. “Best end he’ll have is like twentieth place at this level.”

Woods ended up tying for 38th at 1-under. Scheffler tied for 19th at 6-under in his Masters debut.

“I simply admired the depth that he introduced to every spherical, and that is one thing that I attempt to emulate,” Scheffler said. “It’s not a straightforward factor to play a golf match. If I’m going to take per week off, I would as effectively simply keep dwelling. I’m not going to come back out right here to take per week off. If I’m taking part in in a match, I’m going to present it my all. That’s actually all it boils right down to.”