ATLANTA—If Collin Morikawa is getting a bit tired of seeing Scottie Scheffler on a golf course, it is certainly understandable.
The two-time major champion saw his path to the Masters stymied a few hours down I-20 back in April at the Masters, where Scheffler won a second green jacket on his way to what is turning out to be a historic year.
Now he gets him for the third straight day at East Lake Golf Club, with one more day in a PGA Tour season that has been virtually owned by Scheffler.
Morikawa has an opportunity to put a tiny dent in that narrative, but he’s got a tall task during the final round of the Tour Championship, where he trails Scheffler by five strokes at the tournament that determines the FedEx Cup champion.
“I know I've got to go out from hole 1 and have a lot of energy and be ready to play golf and make something happen,’’ said Morikawa, whose third-round 67 left him in second place. “It's going to be very hard, but I believe in myself that I can do it. Five shots is a lot, but two-shot swings happen. I think I've seen a couple over the past few days.
“Look, I've just got to play my game. I've got to go low. I know that. Hopefully I've got that in me. I've got 18 holes left to the season. I keep talking about that, but I'm going to put everything I have into these next 24 hours.’’
There are monetary reasons for wanting to prevail on Sunday, as the winner banks a $25 million bonus with “only’’ $12.5 million going to the runner-up.
But Morikawa would also like to post a victory, his first in nearly a year. The winner of the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship has undergone swing changes, coach chances and some frustrations to get back to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
His year has included seven top-10 finishes including a tie for third at the Masters won by Scheffler and a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship won by Xander Schauffle, who enters the final round in fourth place.
Making matters a bit more frustrating for Morikawa is the fact that he’s actually a shot ahead of Scheffler in raw score, having gone 66-63-67 to Scheffler’s 65-66-66.
But due to the starting strokes format used only at the Tour Championship, Scheffler entered the event with a two-shot lead on Schauffele and six shots over Morikawa, who was in a group of players given a 4-under starting position based on FedEx Cup points.
Given the format, Morikawa could shoot the low score for the week and not come away with a trophy.
And he can look to two years ago, when Rory McIlroy made up a six-stroke difference in the Tour Championship to overtake Scheffler.
“Just knowing that where I was at the beginning of the year and where I am now, it's the same me but different,’’ Morikawa said. “Look, like I said, I've got 24 hours to just put everything I have, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we're prepped and ready to go. It is what it is, whatever happens tomorrow.’’
For Scheffler, a victory would cap what is already an amazing year. It would be his seventh win, the first time any player has won that many times in a season since Tiger Woods in 2007.
Scheffler, who is a solid No. 1 in the world, won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship. He was also the Olympic gold medalist earlier this month in Paris, although that victory does not count in his PGA Tour total.
“Keep doing what I've been doing, staying in the moment, staying patient out there,’’ said Scheffler, who birdied his last three holes. “I've bogeyed the first hole two of the last three days, and both times when I bogeyed the first hole, I didn't make any bogeys after that, so that's kind of good momentum for me.
“I feel like I've done a lot of stuff well and played solid, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish off the tournament tomorrow and continuing to do that.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Looks to Cap Historic Season With PGA Tour Championship Win.
