ATLANTA (AP) — Scottie Scheffler capped off the biggest year in golf in nearly two decades by winning the biggest prize in golf.
Challenged briefly Sunday in the Tour Championship, Scheffler responded with three straight birdies to make winning look as inevitable as it has seemed all year. He closed with a 4-under 67 for a four-shot victory over Collin Morikawa to capture the FedEx Cup and its $25 million prize.
That pushed his season earnings, including bonuses, to just over $62.3 million.
It was the greatest year since Tiger Woods won eight times in 2006, including six in a row and two majors. Scheffler’s eight wins included the Masters, The Players Championship, an Olympic gold medal and the Tour Championship that enabled him to finally claim the FedEx Cup.
His seven PGA Tour titles are the most since Woods in 2007.
This was the third straight year Scheffler came to East Lake as the top seed, meaning he started the tournament at 10-under par with a two-shot lead. Two years ago, he lost a six-shot lead in the final round to McIlroy.
Morikawa, the No. 7 seed who started the tournament six shots behind, closed with a 66 and had the lowest score of the Tour Championship at 22-under 262. He won $12.5 million for finishing second in the FedEx Cup.
LPGA Tour
NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Haeran Ryu rebounded from a third-round meltdown to win the FM Championship at the rainy TPC Boston.
Four strokes behind Jin Young Ko entering play Sunday after blowing a six-stroke lead Saturday, Ryu closed with an 8-under 64 to match Ko at 15-under 273, then beat the fellow South Korean player with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
On the extra hole in fading light, Ryu hit her 120-yard third shot to 12 feet on the par-5 18th, then watched Ko fire her 111-yard approach over the back of the green. Ko chipped to about 30 feet and made bogey, with Ryu then lagging her birdie putt to a foot and tapping in for her second LPGA Tour victory.
Ryu shot a career-best 62 on Friday to take the six-stroke lead into the weekend, then had a 78 on Saturday. On Sunday, the 23-year-old birdied the first four holes and six of the first eight. She added birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 15, dropped a stroke on the par-3 16th, then — after a rain delay of a little over two hours — parred the final two holes.
Ko, the former world No. 1 who hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since May 2023, missed an 8-foot birdie try for the victory on 18 in regulation. She shot 68.
European Tour
SUTTON COLDFIELD, England (AP) — Niklas Norgaard held his nerve after botching three chip shots for a double bogey, finishing birdie-par for an even-par 72 and a two-shot victory over Thriston Lawrence of South Africa in the British Masters.
It was the first European tour victory for the 32-year-old from Denmark, and Norgaard had to sweat it out more than expected.
Norgaard had a four-shot lead and was over the green in two at the par-5 15th until he shockingly took four chips to reach the green — two of them moving only a few feet — and made double bogey as his lead dropped to two shots.
He responded with a birdie from the bunker on the par-5 17th and avoided drama on the 18th.
Norgaard finished on 16-under 272. Lawrence closed with a 70, while Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark took third with a 65.
R&A and USGA
SUNNINGDALE, England (AP) — Mimi Rhodes rallied from a 3-down deficit and holed an 18-foot par putt that secured the half-point Great Britain and Ireland needed to win the Curtis Cup against the Americans on Sunday, its first time capturing the cup in eight years.
GB&I wound up with a 10 1/2-9 1/2 victory at Sunningdale and made Catriona Matthew the first winning captain of the Curtis Cup for amateurs and the Solheim Cup for professionals.
The Americans, trailing 7-5 going into the eight singles matches, led early in five of the opening six matches and picked up its first point when 15-year-old Asterisk Talley took down Lottie Woad, the No. 1 player in the women’s amateur ranking.
GB&I showed its resolve, particularly Rhodes. She rallied and was 1 up on the 17th when she drove into the trees, pitched out and hit an approach to 18 feet. The par putt assured GB&I the half-point it needed to win.
The Americans still lead, 33-9-3, in a series that dates to 1932.
Other tours
Yahui Zhang of China held on to win the Four Winds Invitational for her first Epson Tour title, closing with a 3-over 75 for a one-stroke victory. The 18-year-old Zhang jumped from ninth to first on the money list to wrap up an LPGA Tour card for next season. She finished at 6-under 210 at South Bend Country Club in Indiana. … Kensei Hirata was declared the 36-hole winner of the Fujisankei Classic on the Japan Golf Tour after rain washed out the final round. He had rounds of 68-63. Shaun Norris finished two behind. … Steve Lewton of England won his first Asian Tour title in 10 years when he recovered from a double bogey on the final hole to make birdie on the second playoff hole and win the Mandiri Indonesia Open over Aaron Wilkin and Sampson Zhang. … Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France rallied with an 8-under 65 and beat Annabel Dimmock in a playoff to win the KPMG Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour. … Angel Ayora of Spain closed with an even-par 70 for a three-shot victory in the Rosa Challenge Tour in Poland on the Challenge Tour. … Frederik Kjettrup of Denmark won the CRMC Championship by two strokes for his third PGA Tour Americas victory of the season and an immediate promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour. He closed with a 4-under 66 to finish at 24-under 256 at Cragun’s Legacy Course in Brainerd, Minnesota. … Daniel Von Tonder made eagle on the par-5 18th hole and then won a three-man playoff to capture the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa. … Rio Takeda closed witih a 6-under 66 for a one-shot victory in the Golf5 Ladies on the Japan LPGA. … Sohyung Bae closed with a 5-under 67 and then birdied the par-5 18th hole three times, winning on the third playoff hole in the KG Ladies Open on the Korea LPGA.
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