EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsATLANTA -- After Scottie Scheffler won only one tournament during the regular season, there were questions about whether the world No. 1 golfer deserved to win PGA Tour Player of the Year for the fifth consecutive season.With five runner-up and 11 top-five finishes in his first 17 starts, Scheffler might have been the most consistent golfer this season but maybe not the best.Perhaps other golfers who won more often this season, like U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick or Chris Gotterup, were more deserving.Scheffler settled the debate for good Sunday when he held off Norway's Viktor Hovland in a back-nine duel to win his second FedEx Cup in three years with a three-stroke victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.After starting the final round three strokes behind Hovland, Scheffler carded a 4-under 66 over the final 18 holes to capture the 22nd PGA Tour victory of his career.Ryan Gerard came in third place.Leading Hovland by one stroke with three holes to play, Scheffler hit his 317-yard drive on the par-4 16th into a left fairway bunker. His approach stopped 11 feet from the hole, and then he made the birdie putt to stretch his lead to two.Scheffler carded a par on the par-4 17th. Minutes later, Hovland barely missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 16th that would have cut his deficit in half. On the 17th, Hovland sailed his approach from 103 yards over the green and into the deep rough. A bogey dropped him to 13 under and all but ended his chances.It was Scheffler's second victory in the FedEx Cup playoffs; he won the opening leg by a whopping eight strokes at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, two weeks ago.The only thing that cooled the 30-year-old down during the playoffs was hand, foot and mouth disease. He battled the viral illness and blisters on his hands during last week's BMW Championship in St. Louis but still tied for 12th.By collecting the $10 million winner's purse, Scheffler became the PGA Tour's all-time leader in career on-course earnings with about $130.4 million, ending Tiger Woods' 26-year reign. Woods collected about $121 million during his historic career.Scheffler should also join Woods as the only golfers to be named PGA Tour Player of the Year five consecutive times when the winner is announced in December. Woods won it every season from 1999 to 2003.With a second victory at East Lake, Scheffler joined Woods (three), McIlroy (three) and Phil Mickelson (two) as multiple winners of the Tour Championship since its inception in 1987.Scheffler won the 2024 Tour Championship at East Lake by four strokes over Collin Morikawa after beginning the tournament with a two-shot lead over the field because of starting strokes.Scheffler picked up two birdies in his first four holes on Sunday -- he nearly aced the par-3 second -- and tied Hovland for the lead at 14 under.After making the turn at 2-under in his round, Scheffler caught Hovland again with an 8 -foot birdie on the 10th. Another birdie on the 13th put him one stroke in front, but then his only mistake of the back nine, a bogey on the long par-4 14th, moved him back into a tie with Hovland, setting up the dramatic four-hole finish.
