ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler bogeyed his first two holes. Then he misread a couple of putts. Burned a few edges. Missed a handful of opportunities. Four hours later, the world No. 1 stood up and described his round as “another frustrating day.”
Scheffler shot 66. With six birdies.
“After the start, I did a good job bouncing back and getting back into it,” Scheffler said. “Overall, I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament.”
The best player on the PGA Tour is four shots off the lead at the season-ending Tour Championship. Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay sit at 16 under, tied on top. Russell Henley is two back at 14 under, and Keegan Bradley is three behind at 13 under.
Then there’s Scheffler, at 12 under, who headed directly to the practice putting green to figure out his green-reading after a series of post-round obligations. It isn’t difficult to deduce that he couldn’t wait for them to end.
This leaderboard ensures plenty of drama in Sunday’s final round. pic.twitter.com/uLDsMVC6TD
— TOUR Championship (@TOURChamp) August 23, 2025
This year, the Tour Championship decides the FedEx Cup champion without a head start for season-long points leaders. The “starting strokes” model was eliminated in favor of a regular stroke-play tournament, so $10 million and the FedEx Cup trophy are now awarded to the man who ends up with the lowest score at the end of the weekend. Simple enough.
But do a little bit of math, and Scheffler would be leading the event by one shot if he had started at 10 under par, like he did here last year. Scheffler earned his No. 1 spot on the FedEx Cup rankings with his five individual wins in 2025, 15 top-10s and 18 top-25s; he has played 18 events this season. The Texan also has an active streak of 20 consecutive rounds in the 60s. He prolonged it Friday by hitting his approach shot on the 18th hole to 11 inches. He tapped in for a 1-under 69.
The modern-era mark for most consecutive rounds in the 60s: Patrick Cantlay with 21.
Scottie Scheffler needed to finish par-birdie Friday @TOURChamp to extend his current streak to 19.
In dramatic fashion, he got there. pic.twitter.com/df4vI8XZk9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 22, 2025
Of the two players who are tied for the lead in Atlanta and the closest to seizing that FedEx Cup title — Cantlay and Fleetwood — neither has won a tournament this year. Fleetwood has never won on the PGA Tour.
So now, Fleetwood is poised to make a run at it again, for the third time this summer. First, there was Hartford. Then, there was Memphis. Now it’s Atlanta, where Fleetwood can have another go at the accolade that’s long been missing from his otherwise world-class resume. It would feel particularly fitting for it to happen here.
“I love that I’m up there again, and it’s just another chance. It’s another opportunity,” Fleetwood said Saturday.
Cantlay has won this tournament before. He’s reminded of it all week, as first-tee announcers feature his 2021 FedEx Cup prominently in his daily introduction. However, Cantlay is playing for more than just another title — he’s vying for a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Cantlay insists his mind is here, at East Lake. He can’t help but be satisfied that his game is rounding into shape just in time for the weeks leading up to Bethpage Black.
Henley is always lurking, but at two back, in his home state, he’ll eye a low round on Sunday to round out a career season, which already earned him a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, automatically. With one win on his record this year already, at a signature event, Henley will seek to snag the biggest win of his career.
For Bradley, there’s been one story at the Tour Championship, and it’s also been the story of his entire season. As the 39-year-old continues to play the type of golf that has kept him floating in and around the top 15 in the world, the question continues to be asked: Will Bradley pick himself for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, becoming the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963? Bradley’s play this week, highlighted by a blistering third-round 63, has made his upcoming decision even more awkward than it already was. Especially because he vowed, at the beginning of his captaincy, that he’d only make the team if he qualified automatically, via the top six in the points. He’s currently No. 11 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings but could win the FedEx Cup.
The 1963 Ryder Cup that Palmer played in and captained was held at East Lake, but there were no at-large picks then. Palmer’s bag from that week is in a display case in the clubhouse. Bradley wishes he could call him up and ask for advice.
“We’re going to find out tomorrow,” Bradley said. “I’m either going to win or I’m not, and we’re going to know the picks.”
Bradley’s future is a question mark. Cantlay could revive his season. Henley could put an exclamation point on his. Fleetwood could silence the narratives about his perpetual inability to close. It wouldn’t be surprising to see another chaser — like Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Sam Burns, for instance — make a charge.
Scheffler, and the Tour Championship by its nature, opened the door for all of this. But only four shots back, feeling like he’s centimeters off from a tournament-shifting round, Scheffler is still right there. And despite the frustrations, he knows it.
“Overall, I did some good stuff,” Scheffler said. “I just need to capitalize on it.”
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
