Scottie Scheffler goes low, leaves Tour Championship field in dust
The culmination of the 2024 PGA Tour season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs is upon us. The Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia kicked off Thursday morning. To no one’s surprise, world number one Scottie Scheffler entered play with the two-stroke lead. The Tour Championship uses a staggered starting score system that allowed Scheffler to begin play at 10-under par.
Scheffler has publicly voiced displeasure for the current system. Nevertheless, he kept his foot on the gas this year and opened up a massive lead after the first round.
Scheffler posted the lowest score of the day, carding a 6-under 65. That moves him to 16-under for the tournament. Xander Schauffele, who entered in second place at 8-under, only picked up one stroke Thursday. He is still in second place, seven shots off the pace.
Following his round, the Ridgewood, New Jersey native kept from getting ahead of himself.
“I wasn’t thinking about the lead out there today. There’s no reason to. It’s the first day of the tournament. It’s 72 holes. It’s a long time out there to be playing with a lead or whatever it is,” Scheffler said.
“I was just focused on staying in my own world and continuing to just try to execute.”
Execute he did. Following a bogey on the first, Scheffler played beautifully from there. He picked up birdies on three and seven to go out in 34. But it was the tricky back nine where he began to separate from the field.
Scheffler birdied three straight on 12 through 14, then closed with back to back par-breakers on 17 and 18 to close out the day. Barring something unforeseen, this tournament might be over before it really got started.
Scottie Scheffler looks to cap historic season with Tour Championship title
© John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
The world’s top ranked player entered the week looking to finish off one of the more impressive seasons in PGA Tour history with his first Tour Championship trophy.
The 28-year-old already has six wins this year. That includes Scheffler’s triumph at the Masters in April. That was his second Green Jacket in the last three years.
He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players Championship, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial and the Travelers Championship, respectively. Of those wins, four of them were Signature Events. That means only the highest ranked players in the world were admitted. It was the stiffest of competition and Scheffler made things look easy.
If that wasn’t enough, Scheffler went on to win Olympic Gold in Paris, doing so with a dramatic comeback. The only thing missing at this point is the Tour Championship.
But do not expect him to rest on his laurels with the sizable lead. Scottie Scheffler led the Tour Championship and the two-stroke lead to begin play in each of the last two years. Neither time did he walk away with the trophy.
The post Scottie Scheffler goes low, leaves Tour Championship field in dust appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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