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08/26 14:22 CDT Scheffler winning big at home and on the PGA Tour as season comes to an end at Tour Championship Scheffler winning big at home and on the PGA Tour as season comes to an end at Tour Championship By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer ATLANTA (AP) --- Scottie Scheffler is having another big season going into the final tournament of the year at the Tour Championship. He picked up a $23 million bonus last week as the leading player in the FedEx Cup. His PGA Tour earnings are over $20 million for the fourth consecutive year. And that's not the full measure. Scheffler loves to play when he's at home in Dallas, whether that's at Royal Oaks or any other course in town. That often involves Si Woo Kim, who said earlier this year of their one-sided money matches, "He calls me ATM." Kim isn't alone. "Si Woo's getting a lot of hard grief losing to Scottie. I've never beaten Scottie in Dallas," Gary Woodland said Wednesday. "He asked me if I hand him money every time he sees me. Fortunately, that's been the case." Woodland now lives in South Florida but has returned to working with Randy Smith, the Hall of Fame teacher who has taught Scheffler since he was a boy. He occasionally goes to Dallas for what Woodland calls "training camp." The last such trip was right before Scheffler ended a seven-month drought by winning the FedEx Cup playoffs opener by eight shots. "I was giving him a hard time that he couldn't handle the pressure," Woodland said. "He parred the last three holes and shot 60 one day. That didn't work out for Si Woo and I. He's hard to beat out here. He's really hard to beat in Dallas."

What's at stake at the Tour Championship Now the "out here" is East Lake for the Tour Championship, the most lucrative event of the season. The winner of the 30-man field claims a $10 million prize in official money from a $40 million purse. That will change in two years when the PGA Tour overhauls its schedule and ends with a two-week Tour Championship of match play on two courses. For now, it's up for grabs. Tommy Fleetwood had not won on the PGA Tour all year in 2025 until capturing his first title on U.S. soil at just the right time --- the Tour Championship, making him the FedEx Cup champion. That could fall to someone like Patrick Cantlay, whose runner-up finish got him into East Lake, or a dozen others yet to win this week. It's a 72-hole shootout for a big prize. But there's more at stake for Scheffler this week than just more money, and it's not his chance to end the 26-year reign of Tiger Woods atop the PGA Tour's career earnings list. He is in a tight race with U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark for PGA Tour player of the year. Scheffler has won the award the last four years, and while his consistency is the standard in today's game --- five runner-up finishes to go with two victories --- Clark already has three wins, including the major and last week's BMW Championship. Scheffler said he is 95% healed from hand, foot and mouth disease that caused blisters on his hands, feet and throat last week in St. Louis. He had a hard time gripping the club. He tied for 12th. East Lake has not been a course where he can show up and perform well, not like the TPC Scottsdale or Augusta National or Muirfield Village. He finished out of the top 12 the first three times he was at East Lake, and the year he left with the trophy (2024), it was only because he started the tournament with a lead under the old "starting strokes" format.

Scheffler's success starts on the range But he's rarely out of the mix on any course, a credit to how he practices with purpose. Scheffler loves practice almost as much as competition. He jokingly said earlier this year that his ashes should be spread on the range at Royal Oaks "because that's where I spend all my time." "One thing I've learned over the course of my career is just bringing a certain type of intensity to each round," Scheffler said. "I was born being competitive, and I love being able to compete and play out here, and it's something I don't take for granted. "That's why I say if I show up at a tournament, I'm not showing up for any other reason," he said. "It's not a warmup. It's not an obligation. I'm showing up to try to compete and do my best." Woodland has seen it in his trips to Dallas. He says he has learned more watching Scheffler than "probably anybody out here in a long time." "It's amazing being with Randy, but it's amazing for me to practice with Scottie, as well, and watch how he goes about his business and watch what he does," Woodland said. "I spend as much time with him as I can for sure." And then they usually head out to the course for a money game, $100 a hole. "I've had to go to the ATM a couple times playing him in Dallas," Woodland said. ___ See AP's full golf coverage here

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