Scottie Scheffler is back on top, even if it never felt like he went anywhere.
The World No. 1 and FedEx Cup points leader grabbed his first win since January when he ran away with the FedEx St. Jude Championship by eight strokes Sunday.
Near the end of a highly consistent season, Scheffler is the heavy favorite once again at the BMW Championship, although he won last year at a different course.
The second leg of the PGA Tour’s three-week playoffs begins Thursday at Bellerive Country Cub in St. Louis.
“I talk a lot about how hard it is and difficult it is to win out here on tour,” said Scheffler, who now has 21 career PGA Tour victories and was runner-up five times this year.
“The best way to win tournaments is to give yourself as many opportunities as you can. So that is nice for me to have some numbers where I’m giving myself opportunities to win. I think that’s most important. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue to do that going forward. But I think the consistency of putting myself in contention — week in, week out — is something that I’m very proud of.”
At just 30 years old, Scheffler is $1 million and change away from surpassing Tiger Woods ($120,999,166) as the tour’s all-time money leader. Woods owns 82 official PGA Tour victories.
“What, am I like a fourth of the way there? Something like that,” Scheffler said with a laugh. “No, I mean, Tiger did a lot for the game of golf and he put us in a position where we’re able to earn some pretty good stuff financially, so that’s something we’re very grateful for. Tiger’s contributions to the game, when you look at where the purses were at before he came out on tour to where they’re at now, is a pretty stark difference and we’re very thankful for his contributions to the game and, hopefully, we’ll see him back out here competing again soon.”
Speaking of big purses, the 50 players who qualified for the BMW Championship are guaranteed access to all Signature events in 2027.
What’s on the line now is simple: 30 berths in next week’s Tour Championship for a chance to win the season-long FedEx Cup.
Rickie Fowler enters the week in the 30th and final spot, and Gary Woodland is a mere two points behind him in 31st. Other notable players trying to push their way in include PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai of England (No. 37), Ben Griffin (No. 38), Patrick Cantlay (No. 43) and Justin Thomas (No. 44).
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (No. 13) is safely in the Tour Championship field but hopes to use this week to turn his game around after he placed 66th of 68 finishers at the St. Jude.
“If I somehow am able to put myself in a position to win this week, that would be amazing. But I think just seeing some progress this week from where I was last week would be a win for me,” McIlroy said. “It’s a process, it’s a journey.”
The last time professional golf came to Bellerive was the 2018 PGA Championship, and before that the 2008 BMW Championship. The only player in this week’s field who played both those events was Australia’s Adam Scott, who happened to finish third behind Brooks Koepka and Woods in the 2018 major.
Scott is on that top-30 bubble at No. 27, not guaranteed to advance to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta unless he performs well this week.
“The course feels pretty familiar to me,” Scott said of the par-70, 7,448-yard Bellerive. “Actually, I remember a few or quite a few of the good shots I hit that week. It was fun to be in the mix at a major championship. So try and carry those positive vibes in my mind into play this week and a lot for me to play for here as well going into trying to make the Tour Championship next week.”
