Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy paired again at Tour Championship
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Scottie Scheffler poses with the J. K. Wadley Trophy and The Keeper after winning the BMW Championship.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – The top two players in the world will play at least one more round together this PGA Tour season, as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will make up the final pair of the first round of the Tour Championship.
World No. 1 Scheffler tops the FedExCup standings, with McIlroy in second place, following the former’s victory at the BMW Championship on Aug 17 at Caves Valley Golf Club.
The American and Northern Irishman also played together in the first two rounds in Maryland.
The Tour Championship had used a staggered start based on “starting strokes” since 2019, in which No. 1 in the season-long standings would begin the tournament at 10 under, No. 2 would be eight under and so on.
But that was eliminated in 2025 – all 30 players in the field will begin at even par and the top player after 72 holes will win both the tournament and the FedExCup.
Despite that change, the PGA Tour opted to pair golfers up for the first round based on the points standings.
Scheffler, 29, and McIlroy, 36, will tee off at 2pm local time on Aug 21 at East Lake Golf Club, with the American vying to win back-to-back FedExCups and McIlroy aiming for the fourth of his career.
Just before them are another duo who have seen plenty of each other recently. US Open champion J.J. Spaun and Englishman Justin Rose are third and fourth in the points standings and will tee off together at 1.49pm.
Spaun and Rose went to a play-off at the St Jude Championship two weeks ago, with Rose winning on the third extra hole. Then they were paired to start the BMW.
Other notable pairings for the Tour Championship are No. 5 Tommy Fleetwood of England and No. 6 Ben Griffin; Harris English (11) and Justin Thomas (12); Cameron Young (13) and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (14); Collin Morikawa (21) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (22); and Hideki Matsuyama (23) of Japan and Irishman Shane Lowry (24).
In other golf-related news, the second season of TGL will begin on Dec 28, with a rematch of the inaugural championship series.
The simulator golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and McIlroy announced on Aug 18 that the defending champions Atlanta Drive GC and the New York Golf Club will face off in the season-opening match.
Atlanta Drive GC feature Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Lucas Glover.
New York’s team are made up of Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.
Atlanta swept New York in the best-of-three championship series last March to wrap up the first season of the league, which plays 15-hole matches in a purpose-built arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
TGL announced that the full schedule will be published in September. The TGL season will run through March 2026.
The other teams are Boston Common Golf, Jupiter Links, Los Angeles Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club.
Motor City Golf Club, representing Detroit, are set to join the tournament in the third season as the seventh team. REUTERS
