The stats that defined the PGA Tour in August

Golf

The stats that defined the PGA Tour in August

Published: 08 Sep. 2024, 10:33 Updated: 08 Sep. 2024, 10:35

Scottie Scheffler hits his shot from the 15th tee during the final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia on Sept. 1. [GETTY IMAGES]

Scottie Scheffler caps glorious season with FedExCup triumph

The third time proved to be the charm for Scottie Scheffler, who completed a magical 2024 season drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods in his prime by winning the FedExCup and the Tour Championship.

The victory at East Lake Golf Club was the seventh of the season for Scheffler, who also won the Olympic gold medal in Paris. Among those wins were the Masters, The Players Championship and FedExCup – making him the first player to ever notch that trifecta. He’s also the first player since Woods in 2007 to post a seven-win season on the PGA Tour.

Scheffler had held the lead in the FedExCup for the final 25 weeks of the season – 21 more than the next longest streak to end the year (4 by Vijay Singh in 2008). He’s topped the standings for 50 weeks during his career, second only to Woods at 85.

Each of the last two years, Scheffler ranked first in the FedExCup when he came to East Lake although the results were very different. He tied for sixth last year and finished one stroke in arrears to Rory McIlroy in 2022. Scheffler also arrived in Atlanta as the world No. 1, a spot he has held for 68 straight weeks and 103rd overall. He joins Dustin Johnson (2020), Justin Rose (2018) and Woods (2009 and 2007) as No. 1 players going on to win the FedExCup.

Keegan Bradley drives home with BMW Championship title

Keegan Bradley needed a big week, and he got it at Castle Pines Golf Club in mile-high Castle Rock, Colorado. The final qualifier for the top-50 BMW Championship, he made the most of the opportunity, winning the tournament for the second time. No other player in the FedExCup Playoffs era had won a Playoffs event as the last man in.

The 2025 Ryder Cup captain also has another interesting distinction. He’s the sixth champion to bogey the 72nd hole when he won his Playoffs event– and Bradley now has done it twice at the BMW Championship. On two different courses, to boot. (He won in 2018 at Aronimink Golf Club.)

Contrast that with the way he played the 17th hole, though. Bradley was 2 under on the par 5 for the week, including Strokes Gained totals of +.75 in Tee-to-Green and +.58 in Approach-the-Green as well as 16 feet, 2 inches in Proximity to the Hole when going for the green. (All of those totals led the field.) The 17th was also the site of what Bradley called a “shot I’ll remember forever” - a 5-iron from 222 yards (adjusted by 10 percent for altitude) that set up a two-putt birdie and two-shot cushion in the final hole.

On the way to this year’s victory on a course that measured 8,130 yards, Bradley gained 5.36 strokes on the field tee-to-green, which was the third-best total of his Playoffs career. But he also was in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Putting at -2.53 during the final round which is the worst of any FedExCup Playoff event champ.

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan lines up a putt on the seventh green during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind on Aug. 17 in Memphis, Tennessee. [GETTY IMAGES]

Hideki Matsuyama putts his way to FedEx St. Jude Championship win

Hideki Matsuyama was his own worst enemy on the back nine Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but he birdied the final two holes to hold off a pair of former FedExCup champions in Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele by two strokes.

After seeing a 5-stroke lead at the start of the day evaporate, the 32-year-old from Japan gained 2.36 strokes on the field with those two closing birdies to earn his 10th PGA Tour victory. But his Strokes Gained: Total tally of -1.36 was the worst by a winner in the FedExCup Playoffs since 2007.

Overall, though, there were many positives, particularly on the greens after Matsuyama put a Scotty Cameron Craftsman Squareback Tour Prototype into action for the first time. The Olympic bronze medalist made 435 feet, 5 inches of putts – including that 24-footer for birdie at the 71st hole and another from 6 feet on the 72nd after the second closest approach shot in the final round.

The total distance of putts made was the second best in his Tour career and tops among the 70 players who made the field at TPC Southwind. He also was +8.20 in Strokes Gained: Putting – quite the turnaround for the consummate ball-striker who came in ranked 133rd in that category.

Aaron Rai picks up maiden title at Wyndham Championship

Sedgefield Country Club, a Donald Ross gem, is known as a shot-maker’s golf course, and that played to Aaron Rai’s strengths during the Wyndham Championship.

The Englishman led the field in distance to the pin with his approach shots and tied for third in greens in regulation (hitting all 18 in the first round) and eighth in fairways hit. He gained 8.75 strokes in Approach-the-Green, which was the highest margin of his career, and was a season-best +4.128 in that category during the fourth round.

Rai was clutch on a grueling Sunday which saw the finish of the second, third and fourth rounds after Hurricane Debby forced the first 18 holes to be delayed until Friday. He closed with a bogey-free 64 that included a birdie as darkness settled on the 72nd hole and enabled him to come from three strokes off the pace to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.

Interestingly, though, he didn’t make a birdie or eagle in the final round on the par-5 15th hole that he had played in 5 under over the first 54 holes.

BY HELEN ROSS [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]