Scottie Scheffler prefers new Tour Championship format - ESPN

ATLANTA — World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler won't start this week's Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead on the field, like he did last season before winning his first FedEx Cup.

With the PGA Tour doing away with starting strokes for its season-ending championship, Scheffler will start at even par like the other 29 golfers in the field.

«I guess no more sandbagging for me at the end of the year,» Scheffler joked Wednesday.

«I was not a fan of it,» he added. «I didn't think it was a good way to end the year, for a variety of reasons. I'm much more happy with this format. I think having a good golf tournament on a really good golf course to finish off our season is extremely important.»

Last year, Scheffler started the Tour Championship at 10-under. He was 20-under on his own over 72 holes and beat two-time major champion Collin Morikawa by four strokes — even though Morikawa was 22-under without starting strokes.

Scheffler suggested having a lead on the field before the tournament started made winning even more difficult.

Before last season's Tour Championship, Scheffler's caddie, Ted Scott, told him that he'd been sleeping on a lead since February because he'd led the FedEx Cup points standings the entire season after winning six times before East Lake.

«I was leading the entire year in the FedEx Cup, and it all comes down to a four-day tournament on a golf course that I hadn't really played great on,» Scheffler said. «It was a challenging week. It was stressful.»

Two years earlier, Scheffler squandered a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost to Rory McIlroy by one stroke at East Lake.

«It just frustrated me,» Scheffler said. «I think it was [former NBA coach] Phil Jackson [who] said, 'You're only a success