Golfbet recap: Scottie Scheffler cruises to FedExCup, TOUR Championship title

The best player of 2024 left East Lake Golf Club with the hardware.

Scottie Scheffler wasn’t without a brief bobble in the final round of the TOUR Championship, but the world No. 1 ultimately steadied himself to remain ahead of Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala and the rest of the 30-man field. His 30-under total (including FedExCup Starting Strokes) ultimately gave him a four-shot margin of victory in the chase for the FedExCup.

Scheffler’s lead ballooned to seven shots early in the round, but things got tense after a bogey on No. 7 and a tee shot into a greenside bunker on the short par-4 eighth hole. Scheffler shanked his subsequent bunker shot, leading to a bogey, and his lead was trimmed to two shots after Morikawa drained a birdie. At that point, Scheffler dipped back down to -450 to win after starting the day at a whopping -1600 price.

Round-by-round odds for Scottie Scheffler to win TOUR Championship:

• Pre-tournament (led by two): +120
• After Round 1 (led by seven): -400
• After Round 2 (led by four): -350
• After Round 3 (led by five): -1600

But Scheffler shook off the unexpected error in short order. He stuffed his tee shot on the par-3 ninth to set up a birdie, one of three birdies in a row from Nos. 9-11. By that point he was back up by five shots, and Morikawa never got closer than four the rest of the way as Scheffler played the six-hole stretch from No. 9 to No. 14 in 5-under to eventually sign for a 4-under 67 in the final round.

Scheffler started the week with a two-shot lead at 10-under because of his achievements entering the TOUR Championship, listed at +120 to win the tournament before a shot was struck at East Lake, and he led by at least four shots after each of the first three rounds. His 30-under total is a record for this event since FedExCup Starting Strokes began in 2019, although the par at East Lake changed from 70 to 71 as part of Andrew Green’s recent restoration.

It’s a fitting capstone for Scheffler, who becomes the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to win seven times on TOUR in a single season. Scheffler’s 2024 haul included seven TOUR wins, highlighted by the Masters and a successful title defense at THE PLAYERS, plus an Olympic gold medal last month in Paris.

Results for outright picks from Golfbet Experts

• Will Gray: Collin Morikawa (+2800), second
• Ben Everill: Xander Schauffele (+225), T4
• Chris Breece: Xander Schauffele (+225), T4
• Matt DelVecchio: Hideki Matsuyama (+1100), T9
• Rob Bolton: Xander Schauffele (+225), T4
• Mike Glasscott: Sungjae Im (+8000), seventh

Morikawa wasn’t able to catch Scheffler for the FedExCup, but he did shoot the low-72 hole score for the week with a 22-under 262. That was one shot better than Theegala and two better than Scheffler. Morikawa entered the week at +1600 at BetMGM to shoot the low 72-hole score, the fourth-lowest odds in the field pre-tournament.

Scheffler earned a $25 million payday for claiming the FedExCup, while Morikawa earned $12.5 million in second. There were a pair of weekend moments that had seven-figure impacts on the full-field payouts. Sahith Theegala’s decision to call a two-shot penalty on himself during the third round ultimately meant he finished in solo third instead of tied for second with Morikawa, a difference of $2.5 million. Additionally, Russell Henley’s pitch-in for eagle on No. 18 closed out a course-record 62 and moved him into a tie for fourth on the final leaderboard for $4.833 million. Had he only made birdie, Henley would have finished T6 and made $1.7 million less.

Results from Rob Bolton Golfbet Insider

• Sungjae Im, Top Asian (+333), seventh
• Sungjae Im, Top 5 Finish (+333), seventh
• Sam Burns, Top 5 Finish (+275), T12
• Tony Finau, Top 10 Finish (+110), T23
• Xander Schauffele, Top American (+188), T4

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