Kevin C. Cox
The Tour Championship provided a fitting climax to the season with 2023 champion Viktor Hovland and 2024 winner Scottie Scheffler trading blows on the back nine. Scheffler, however, delivered more of them and came away with the title, the FedEx Cup, a very healthy bank account and likely another PGA Tour Player of the Year award.
Scheffler started the day in arears but a 6-iron tee shot to two inches at the par-3 second sent a message. A 24-footer followed at the fourth and a big bounce-back birdie at No. 8 had the game fully on. Three more birdies on the incoming nine, including one from a fairway bunker on 16, was enough to keep Hovland at bay.
As usual Scheffler had all facets of his game working well, but none more so than his approach play. Scheffler ranked first in strokes gained/approach the green, more than seven shots better than the field average. He also ranked first in greens in regulation, hitting 57 of 72 on the week.
false TaylorMade Qi4D $650 | Golf Galaxy 5.0 GD SCORE GD HOT LIST SCORE Hot List Gold $650 The core model of the Qi4D family emphasizes stability on off-center hits and aerodynamic efficiency, a difficult combination made possible by the extensive use of lightweight carbon composite in the crown, sole and face. Four adjustable sole weights provide 26 grams of movable weight that can reduce spin, increase stability, change trajectory or mitigate left or right misses. An updated design of the slot in the sole (thinner in the middle and wider at the heel and toe) improves the way the lower portion of the face flexes compared to the Qi35. A new shaft-fitting algorithm, based on 11 million shots captured during the past two decades, analyzes the rate a golfer closes the face coming into impact and then matches that tendency to one of three shaft profiles to improve center-face contact. The composite face maximizes deflection thanks to a new variable-thickness pattern arranged through 60 layers of carbon composite. Part of that new face design includes added face curvature from the crown to the sole to produce more consistent speed, spin and launch on mis-hits. Thanks to softening the edge between the top of the face and the start of the crown, and the way the rear weight port is more tucked under the sole, the head moves through the air more efficiently to maximize swing speed. Top 5 in Sound/Feel, middle-handicaps MOI rating: High 8, 9, 10.5, 12 degrees (with a 12-way adjustable hosel) BUY NOW DETAILS
His TaylorMade P7TW irons with True Temper X100 shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips are based off Tiger Woods’ model. “I grew up playing Nike clubs like Tiger, so these had a special appeal to me,” Scheffler told Golf Digest after putting them in play. “I figured if he was using the irons they had to be pretty good. I found that I could adjust the flight a little bit more with these. I could hit these both lower and higher than my previous irons, so it gives me more options going into greens.”
Prior to the tournament, Scheffler was asked if he’d rather have the ultra-consistent year he’d had or more wins. “The hypothetical game is not something I really love playing,” he said. “I think over the course of my career, I feel like one thing I’m most proud of is my consistency week in and week out. I think that’s something that I take a lot of pride in. It’s not easy to show up every single week and play the way that I play and play the intensity that I play and that I bring to each and every tournament. That’s something I’m really very proud of. … I feel like in golf it’s a puzzle that you’re always trying to solve.”
With one final win of 2026, Scheffler not only made the hypothetical moot, but solved yet another puzzle.
What Scottie Scheffler had in the bag at the 2026 Tour Championship
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (Fujikura Ventus Black 7X), 8 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
7-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Srixon ZU85; (5-PW): TaylorMade P7TW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
