What are the odds of Scottie Scheffler winning the Tour Championship? Bookmakers say it’s +110. But if you look at past records, FedEx Cup leaders have rarely maintained their best form at the Tour Championship. Golf Channel pundit Brandel Chamblee dug up some interesting statistics to put the Tour Championship into perspective.
Per Chamblee, Tiger Woods is the only FedEx Cup leader who has shot the lowest score in the Tour Championship. That too in its first edition in 2007, when he carded 23-under. Indeed, two years later, Woods came up three strokes short of Tour Championship winner, Phil Mickelson. Although Woods bagged the FedEx Cup trophy thanks to an insurmountable lead, Mickelson was the champion at East Lake.
Chamblee wrote, “In fact the average “raw” finish of the FedExCup leader at the Tour Championship is just a shade under 12th in the 30 man (sic) field. In “raw” score Scheffler finished 21st last year and 13th the year before.” By ‘raw’ score, Chamblee meant excluding the number of strokes a player gets at the start of the Tour Championship.
In the 17 year history of the FedExCup playoffs the leader going into the Tour Championship has only once shot the lowest score at East Lake. (Tiger Woods 2007 shot 23 under to win by 8) In fact the average “raw” finish of the FedExCup leader at the Tour Championship is just a… pic.twitter.com/HjjNSVsLg7
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) August 26, 2024
In 2022, Scottie Scheffler started at 10-under and carded 10-under through four rounds. Whereas, Rory McIlroy started at 4-under but carded 17-under to edge past Scheffler by one stroke. Last year, too, the World No. 1 started at 10-under but could only finish at 1-under in raw score. Viktor Hovland, meanwhile, started at 8-under and posted a raw score of 19-under through four days.
So, effectively, Scottie Scheffler finished 18 strokes behind the leader but thanks to the 10-shot advantage, he tied for sixth. So, the former Texas Longhorn hasn’t been in his best form at East Lake. Not that he cares too much about it. Scheffler, actually, considers the format ‘silly’.
Why Scottie Scheffler thinks the FedEx Cup format is silly
Scottie Scheffler has never hidden his distaste for the current FedEx Cup format. The fact that the FedEx Cup is dubbed the season-long race but effectively boils down to one tournament doesn’t sit well with him. Last year, too, Scottie Scheffler called out the format given how it discriminates against the ones who won a handful of times in the season but have lagged behind in the playoff stretch.
This year, too, when asked on the matter, Scheffler said, “Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at the Players [where he battled a neck injury the first few rounds]. 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.”
That doesn’t mean Scottie Scheffler doesn’t want to win the Tour Championship. He wants to win every tournament he takes part in. Nevertheless, his past records at the par-70 layout are not exactly glittering.
