TOUR Championship - Final Round
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It must be a strange experience to win nearly $6 million after playing four days of golf and walk away feeling nothing but disappointment. That was the position Scottie Scheffler found himself Sunday after he shot a 73 to kick away a six-shot lead in the final round of the PGA Tour season, opening a door Rory McIlroy waltzed through and win both the 2022 Tour Championship and $18 million FedEx Cup grand prize.

Scheffler was bad on the final day; there's no other way to say it. He finished 28th out of 29 in strokes gained from tee to green. Only one golfer hit fewer greens in regulation than Scheffler's nine. Nobody in the field shot worse than his 3-over finish at East Lake Golf Club. In 10 rounds of scores during this year's FedEx Cup Playoffs, the 73 was Scheffler's worst -- by two strokes.

"For whatever reason, my swing wasn't where it had been the first few days this week," said Scheffler. "... I put myself in position to win this tournament when I wasn't playing my best today, and so I'm proud of how I fought."

While the No. 1 player in the world failed to cap his four-win season with a FedEx Cup title -- as Jordan Spieth did in 2015 or Justin Thomas did in 2017 -- it doesn't erase or even diminish his accomplishments over the last 12 months. Here is a brief summary of Scheffler's play. It's crucial to remember this is a golfer who, this time last year, had neither cracked the top 10 in the world nor won a PGA Tour tournament.

  • Ryder Cup: Beat Jon Rahm in singles
  • Phoenix Open: Defeated Patrick Cantlay (Win 1)
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational: Defeated Viktor Hovalnd, others (Win 2)
  • WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play: Third victory in seven weeks (Win 3)
  • OWGR: Became No. 1 after WGC win, reigning for 23 weeks (and counting)
  • Masters: First major championship, fourth victory in nine weeks  (Win 4)
  • U.S. Open: Finished one shot out of a playoff
  • Winnings: $20 million in combined on-course earnings
  • Close calls: Notched 10 top-four finishes in 24 individual events
  • Strokes gained: Second in the category since Jan. 1

The sting of playing as poorly as he did Sunday to lose that fifth trophy on the year will linger, but Scheffler was not unmoored by the cash on the table at East Lake. As such, I'm dubious that he will be undone by a single round in one tournament given there was so much good that came before it.

"The money is great, obviously," said Scheffler. "Playing professional golf for a living is such a gift. For me, I don't play golf for money. I play to win tournaments, and I play to have fun and do my best and see where the game can take me. Today, the money definitely didn't creep into my mind. I wanted to win the season-long title. I've had a really great year and I wanted to finish it off with a win here, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that. But at the end of the day, it's such a gift to be out here playing golf for money, and I'm just so thankful to be out here."

Scheffler's loss actually brought to mind the 2018 Tour Championship when McIlroy (coincidentally) was paired with eventual winner Tiger Woods in the final group. McIlroy shot 74, completely ejecting from contention. Despite Tiger's landmark win and Europe's rout in the Ryder Cup a week later, it undoubtedly left a bitter taste in Rory's mouth. The following year, though, he played some of the best golf of his entire life.

After finishing in the top five in the first five PGA Tour events of 2019 following his poor closing kick at East Lake at the end of 2018, McIlroy went on to win The Players Championship in March and the Canadian Open that summer. It was the second-best statistical season of his career, according to Data Golf.

Could Scheffler find the same motivation and trajectory after a loss like this one? 

"Scottie Scheffler is going to win the Player of the Year," said McIlroy. "There's no doubt about that. You know, it would have been fitting for him to end his breakout season with a FedEx Cup title. I think he deserves this maybe more than I deserve it. He played an unbelievable season. He didn't have his best stuff today, and I played well and took advantage of that. Scottie will have plenty more chances to win FedEx Cups. Hell of a player, hell of a competitor. Even better person. Love his family.

"Look, it's hard. You don't really know what to say on the 18th green because he's had such a great year, but he'll be back, and he's a great player, and I told him this certainly isn't the last time that we're going to have these battles on the golf course."

Three truths remain in the wake of Scheffler's slip on Sunday that he can cling to for the future.

The best players have a seeming preternatural ability to compartmentalize losses and put them in inaccessible places. If Scheffler was unable to do this, he likely never would have risen to No. 1 in the world. If this is not a prerequisite of becoming the top player in the world, it is damn close to one.

Who you are matters far more than what you do. The viral video of Scheffler's father and wife hugging McIlroy -- in the wake of their guy kicking away $11.5 million and a fifth win on national television -- is grace personified. It speaks to Scheffler's character. Maybe that doesn't matter when it comes to the world of sports, but conversely, maybe it's the only thing that matters.

The last truth is the hardest one for McIlroy to internalize. He told Scheffler after their duel that they're now even in the state of Georgia this year. Though the scoreboard confirms this -- the duo finished 1-2 at both the Masters and Tour Championship -- they both know they're not quite even.

This should be something that Scheffler carries into this fall and beyond. Because as delightful and celebratory a day as this was for McIlroy, he would still trade all the money he earned, all that he achieved in a 2022 capped by yet another massive win on Sunday for Scottie's even bigger win on that Sunday in Georgia just four months ago.