Xander Schauffele has major motivating factor amid $25 million Scottie Scheffler battle

Xander Schauffele is gearing up to face Scottie Scheffler at the upcoming Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup and its $25million prize, with an added incentive .

Just a fortnight after his joint-second finish in the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, Schauffele is aiming to cap off his fantastic year by achieving a milestone that has so far escaped him .

The 30-year-old celebrated his first two major wins this year clinching the PGA Championship in May and The Open in July.

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Schauffele's victories have positioned him as the only player who can mathematically overtake Scheffler in the rankings and snatch away his No. 1 spot in the season-long race at the BMW Championship before the top 30 are seeded by Starting Strokes into the TOUR Championship.

"Becoming No. 1 in the world? It's a very big goal of mine, yes," Schauffele admitted to journalists, "and I've been told, yes, that Scottie is an outlier in several years, and I would be (No. 1). But it's not really good enough, is it? That doesn't take away from what I've done or how I feel. I'm proud with the work that I've put in and with the people that are around me and that have helped me.... I'm just going to keep knocking. That's what I do."

When questioned about his on-course rivalry with the man who has held the No. 1 rank for 101 weeks, Schauffele responded: "I feel like we kind of look at it in a similar fashion. We're really just playing against ourselves and the golf course."

"The score - I've said this several times in the media - the score really is just a result. Some days you play really well and shoot 69 and some days you kind of play crappy and shoot 66...so I think sticking to your process, what's gotten us this far, is going to be important and not really getting too emotional about what's happening around us."

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Following a spectacular series of six PGA Tour wins this season and a Masters triumph, Scheffler has sailed into the FedEx Cup Playoffs boasting a 1,936 point advantage over Schauffele. With the Playoffs offering four times the regular points for a full-field event a whopping 2,000 on the table for the top spot.

Schauffele upped his game with a dynamic closing 63, while the ultimate winner, Hideki Matsuyama, clinched the victory with two consecutive birdies to conclude the event. The Olympic gold medallist Schauffele managed to narrow Scheffler's lead down to 1,495 points before the forthcoming championship.

Schauffele needs an outright win at Castle Pines to leapfrog to the pinnacle of the FedEx Cup before the TOUR Championship at East Lake, where being the frontrunner is crucial as the leader tees off at 10 under-par, compared to eight-under for the second spot.

Scheffler, aiming for the number one position for the TOUR Championship, will secure it with at least a solo fourth-place finish at the BMW Championship. On the flip side, if Scheffler falls short of achieving more than a tie for fourth, Schauffele would snag the coveted number one rank with a victory.

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