It Was Rory Mcilroy Who Carded His Second Consecutive Three-under 67 At The Tour Championship On Friday But The Unshakeable Scottie Scheffler Remains The Man To Catch In Atlanta, Georgia At The End Of The Week.
Depending on where players rank in the FedEx Cup standings at the start of the event, their shot advantage was determined. The 22-year-old Scheffler began the day on 10-under-par and he hasn’t looked back since. Following Thursday’s 65 with a 66, Scheffler is now 19-under-par for the tournament.
It was a challenging day for McIlroy as he started the day eight shots behind Scheffler in a tie for sixth, hoping that going into the weekend he can make up some ground on that deficit. With three birdies and no bogeys, he kept his game going in the right direction, but he is now nine shots behind the leader.
With a birdie-birdie-eagle finish, Scheffler’s playing partner, Xander Schauffele, shot a seven-under 63 to jump to 17-under, two shots off the lead, assisted by his birdie-birdie-eagle finish. At 13-under par, Jon Rahm also shot a 63 to move into third place.
Scheffler, the world’s number one golfer, began Thursday’s FedEx Cup finale with a two-shot lead through the season-long points race, which he expanded to five shots after the first round.
As a result of a few wayward tee shots down the stretch on Friday, Woods left the door cracked open for Schauffele to make his charge.
Rory Mcilroy is falling behind Scottie Scheffler in the final round of the Tour Championship
In the early stages of Friday’s round, Scheffler led the field by as many as eight strokes. He birdied Nos 2, 3, and 6 on his way to 18-under while Schauffele took longer to get going.
On the other hand, Schauffele shot a six-under 29 on the back nine, whereas Scheffler birdied No 12 before slowing down with six straight pars. After missing the fairway at both 13 and 14, he then hit his tee shot at the par-three 15th short, barely avoiding the water hazard on the hole.
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Despite putting in birdie putts at the 16th and 17th holes, Schauffele’s most impactful swing was at the 18th hole when he made a devastating swing.
As Scheffler struggled to reach par on the 18th green, he found rough once again off the tee and struggled for par. On this hole, Schauffele struck a 350-yard drive from the edge of the fairway into the green, then carried both a water hazard and multiple greenside bunkers onto the green just five feet from the hole.
As a result, he was able to halve a four-shot deficit with a straight-ahead eagle putt.
After challenging eventual champion Patrick Cantlay at East Lake in 2021, Rahm, who started the tournament three-under and seven shots behind Scheffler, is chasing Scheffler for the second year in a row. As part of his 63-hole round, Rahm birdied five of his first eight holes.