Scottie Scheffler hits out at ‘silly’ PGA rules as he bids to avoid Rory McIlroy repeat

Scottie Scheffler has voiced his concerns over the PGA Tour’s playoff structure, despite having an impressive six-win season. Despite being the dominant force in 2024 with victories at The Masters and the Olympics, along with more than $30 million in on-course earnings, there is no guarantee that he will clinch the FedEx Cup.

Scheffler’s relentless performance on the PGA Tour has given him a significant lead in the season-long FedEx Cup standings as the playoffs kick off at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee with the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday
Despite all his hard work, Scheffler’s efforts may not pay off when he tees off at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship in two weeks. The PGA Tour altered the format of the season-ending tournament five years ago to make it more appealing for TV audiences, rather than fairly rewarding players for their performances throughout the season.

As the final tournament approaches, Scheffler is set to top the standings and will start the event at 10-under-par. Currently, Xander Schauffele is set to start at eight-under, while third-placed Rory McIlroy will be at seven-under.

Scheffler was a victim of this structure in 2022 when he held a substantial lead in the FedEx Cup heading to East Lake. However, his head start was wiped out by McIlroy, who went on to win the title and claim the $18m top prize.

He was leading the FedEx Cup before the final showdown last season, but a less-than-stellar performance saw him fall behind Viktor Hovland by a whopping 16 shots. Scheffler didn’t mince words about the competition’s format during his press conference on Wednesday.

I think it’s silly,” he expressed. “You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament. Hypothetically we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No. It is what it is.

It’s a fun tournament. I don’t really consider it the season-long race like I think the way it’s called. But you’ve got to figure out a way to strike a balance between it being a good TV product and it still being a season-long race. Right now, I don’t know exactly how the ratings are or anything like that, but I know for a fact you can’t really quite call it the season-long race when it comes down to one stroke play tournament on the same golf course each year.”

Scheffler has opened up about his laid-back approach to the Tour Championship, expressing that he doesn’t dwell much on the outcomes. Speaking about the prestigious event, he explained: “At the end of the day, I try not to think too much about the results at tournaments, and I’m not going to look back on my season really any differently if I don’t win East Lake. I’m going to show up there, do my best.

“I think I’ve been No. 1 the last two years going into the tournament. Went in 2022 having a really great chance to win and wasn’t able to pull it off, and last year really just playing poorly pretty much the entire week.

• “I’ve had close calls there, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of going back there and playing with the lead again. We’ll see what happens. Those guys could catch me in these next couple of weeks. But I’m looking forward to hopefully fending them off and going into East Lake with a lead.”