Even if he walks away from East Lake Golf Club in Atlantia in a few weeks without being the FedEx Cup champion, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler's 2024 season will be one for the record books.
The 28-year-old won the Masters for a second time, became the first player ever to defend his title at THE PLAYERS Championship successfully, earned a gold medal for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics, and won four (!) other tournaments — all Signature Events on the PGA Tour.
Given Scheffler's immaculate resume, it's likely the Dallas native is on track to take home his third consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year Award, even if Xander Schauffele won two major championships this summer. Scheffler's season was THAT good.
But despite Scheffler's dominant run stretching nearly three years now, the one title that's eluded him throughout has been the FedEx Cup.
After tearing up the regular season in 2022 and 2023, Scheffler entered the TOUR Championship at East Lake each year at 10-under, giving him (at least) a two-stroke advantage over the other 29 players before even hitting a shot. However, Scheffler hasn't been able to finish the job thus far in Atlanta, handing the trophy over to Rory McIlroy (2022) and Viktor Hovland (2023) instead.
With a shoddy history at East Lake, it's easy to understand why Scheffler wouldn't particularly love the system the PGA Tour has put into play to determine its season-long champion.
"I talked about it the last few years, I think it's silly," Scheffler said Wednesday ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. "You can't call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament."
While Scheffler's bias towards his situation certainly fuels his feelings on the matter, the two-time Masters champion brought up fair criticism over the current system in play. After all, he probably deserves to have at least one FedEx Cup trophy on his shelf, given how far he's separated himself from the pack.
"Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn't heal the way it did at the Players. I finish 30th in the FedEx Cup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No, it is what it is."
On the other hand, McIlroy, a record three-time FedEx Cup winner, spoke about his liking for the format because it allows the other players an opportunity to chase down Scheffler.
"I love this format because if it wasn't this format, then none of us would have a chance against Scottie because he's so far ahead," McIlroy said Wednesday. "So I really like this format."
McIlroy (2,545 points) currently sits third in the FedEx Cup Standings but has a sizeable gap to climb before reaching Scheffler (5,993 points), who's racked up twice as many points (and then some). Although it's a wide margin, FedEx Cup points are worth quadruple the standard amount in the three Playoff events, meaning Scheffler still has to perform well to maintain his enormous lead.
"I think it makes the Tour Championship more exciting from a consumer standpoint," McIlroy said. "Is it the fairest reflection of who's been the best player of the year? Probably not. But I think at this point we're not in for totally fair; we're in for entertainment and for trying to put on the best product we possibly can."
After the first leg of the postseason this week in Memphis, the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup Standings qualify for the 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado. From there, the top 30 advance to this year's TOUR Championship, where the FedEx Cup winner will be crowned.
The only question that remains: Will Scheffler finally end another remarkable campaign as the PGA Tour's end-of-season champion?
"It's a fun tournament," Scheffler said. "I don't really consider it the season-long race like I think the way it's called. But you've got to figure out a way to strike a balance between it being a good TV product and it still being a season-long race."
Related: 2024 FedEx St. Jude's Championship: Course & Field Preview, Key Stats, + Odds
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