There isn’t anything Scottie Scheffler can do about the Tour Championship’s format, at least not for this year.
For all the times Scheffler has been asked if he thinks the season finale’s “staggered scoring start” is a fair method to help decide the FedEx Cup winner, he has remained consistent in his response: It may be imperfect, but it shouldn’t matter if you’re playing your best at the end of the season.
Scheffler will be gunning for his first FedEx Cup title this week in Atlanta, where he begins the Tour Championship with a two-stroke advantage on the field.
“At the end of the day, if you play good enough golf, it will take care of itself,” Scheffler said Tuesday.
Many have questioned if a two-shot head start fully rewards a player who had the kind of season Scheffler had. The World No. 1 won six tournaments, including the Masters and the Players Championship, and added an Olympic gold medal for good measure, though that isn’t a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
Scheffler starts at 10 under par Thursday and Xander Schauffele at 8 under, even though Scheffler garnered more than 1,000 more FedEx Cup points than Schauffele. Since the format changed in 2019, nobody to start the Tour Championship atop the leaderboard went on to win the cup.
But Scheffler, a Texas native, drew parallels to how playoffs work in other American sports.
“It’s like the Cowboys have had great regular seasons the last few years and left me heartbroken in the playoffs,” Scheffler said. “But golf is a different sport. There’s so many different voices and ways that you can do it. I’m not sitting here saying I have the crystal ball and I know what’s best.
“Golden State Warriors, best regular season ever and they lose in the Finals. It happens.”
Scheffler was asked if he would be on board if one of the PGA Tour’s new sponsors from the Strategic Sports Group offered a radical idea to change the playoff format.
“Golf is a funny game,” Scheffler said as part of a lengthy answer. “You’re not always going to — there’s no perfect system in order to play a golf tournament that’s the most entertaining product and also the product that gets the best player each time.
“A lot of times in golf the guy that plays the best may not even win that week. In terms of little bounces, it’s a fickle game. It’s a challenging sport. I’m open to suggestions. I do still think that 72 holes of stroke play is the best format for a golf tournament, but if a sponsor wants to come in and change it up a little bit, I love competing.”
Scheffler is coming off a tough week where he tied for 33rd at the BMW Championship, just his second finish outside the top 10 since January. He’ll try to reset at East Lake Golf Club and treat it like a normal golf tournament.
“At the end of the day, I want to win the golf tournament we’re playing,” Scheffler said, “and right now I have a two-stroke lead, and that’s pretty cool.”
