Golf fans hoping for The Tour Championship to prove to be a showdown between Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele would have been left extremely disappointed, with 11 shots ultimately separating the pair at East Lake.
Critics of the FedEx Cup finale format pointed to the fact that Scottie Scheffler had just a two-shot advantage for The Tour Championship as an obvious problem. But there was also a case to be made that Xander Schauffele deserved a bigger advantage over the rest of the pack too, after winning two major titles.
Heading into the play-offs, there was a genuine debate to be had about who had had the better year, with many players more envious of Schauffele’s season while believing Scheffler had been the best player on the tour.
But the 28-year-old has surely wrapped up the player of the year vote with his win at East Lake, while Schauffele finished in a tie for fourth. No one in the top eight posted a worse gross score than Schauffele.
Xander Schauffele asked which part of Scottie Scheffler’s game he would take
Schauffele was asked after his round if there was a part of Scheffler’s game he would love to take, and he suggested that there can be a gulf between the two off the tee.
“I’ve got to look at the stats – when I’m driving it well, I feel like I can get him, but overall I’d say he’s probably got me in driving. Just his accuracy is really good when he needs to pick it up or drop the speed a little bit just to hit more fairways,” he said.
“I think this is a week that was like that. If you could kind of take some speed off just to hit a couple more fairways, it was something you’re going to do. Kind of rock a fairway finder, whatever you need to do to keep the ball in the fairway. I mean, I was probably close to last place in fairways hit on a property that’s got brand new greens. I’m never going to sniff having a chance.”
The remarkable statistics which highlight world number one’s consistency
Unsurprisingly, Scheffler is first for total strokes gained on the PGA Tour this season while Schauffele is second. So The Open champion is potentially looking for the smallest marginal gains heading into 2025.
There is a bigger gap between the pair when it comes to strokes gained off the tee, with Scheffler third on tour this year while Schauffele is 10th.
Interestingly, Schauffele is 27th for driving distance while Scheffler is down in 57th. Schauffele has made huge gains to his clubhead speed this year. And he also has the advantage on the greens, despite Scheffler’s improvement with the flat stick.
That surely highlights that it is Scheffler’s consistency which many of his rivals, including Schauffele, are struggling to replicate right now.
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