Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler on the charge as Rory McIlroy suffers horror moment
World number one Scottie Scheffler moved into contention at the halfway stage of the PGA Tour's season finale at East Lake Golf Club.
World number one Scottie Scheffler moved into contention at the halfway stage of the Tour Championship as Rory McIlroy once again endured a frustrating afternoon at East Lake GC in Atlanta.
Scheffler arrived at the PGA Tour's season finale after suffering a bout of hand, foot and mouth disease but appears to have shrugged off the illness and has put himself in a strong position heading into the weekend.
A birdie at the 18th saw the four-time major champion card a 3-under 67 to reach 8-under, two behind leaders Viktor Hovland and Ryan Gerard.
Masters champion McIlroy, 37, looks as though he will not be winning the FedEx Cup title for a fourth time in his career after a 1-under 69 left him well adrift on 3-under overall.
Position | Player | Score |
1 | Viktor Hovland | -10 |
1 | Ryan Gerard | -10 |
3 | Collin Morikawa | -9 |
3 | Chris Gotterup | -9 |
5 | Cameron Young | -8 |
5 | Scottie Scheffler | -8 |
7 | Adam Scott | -7 |
7 | Justin Rose | -7 |
7 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | -7 |
7 | Ludvig Åberg | -7 |
11 | Gary Woodland | -6 |
11 | Ryan Fox | -6 |
11 | Sam Burns | -6 |
11 | Akshay Bhatia | -6 |
15 | Alex Smalley | -5 |
15 | Min-Woo Lee | -5 |
15 | Joo-Hyung Kim | -5 |
15 | Russell Henley | -5 |
15 | Jacob Bridgeman | -5 |
20 | Tommy Fleetwood | -4 |
20 | Alex Fitzpatrick | -4 |
20 | Wyndham Clark | -4 |
23 | Rory McIlroy | -3 |
23 | Si-Woo Kim | -3 |
25 | Xander Schauffele | -2 |
25 | Patrick Cantlay | -2 |
27 | Kristoffer Reitan | -1 |
27 | Hideki Matsuyama | -1 |
29 | Robert MacIntyre | +3 |
McIlroy's round included two bogeys, one double bogey and five birdies.
His frustrating afternoon was summed up on the par-4 4th when his poor approach from 115 yards landed short of the green.
From there, McIlroy compounded the error by missing the green on two more consecutive chips that came up short of the putting surface and rolled all the way back to his feet.
Elsewhere, reigning Players champion Cameron Young began the day at the bottom of the leaderboard but made an incredible surge with an 8-under 62.
Young had to play by himself after J.J. Spaun was forced to withdraw in round one with a shoulder injury.
The 2026 Open Championship runner-up shook hands with himself after holing a 41-foot eagle putt at the last.
"I think I can pat myself on the back for shooting 8-under, but that doesn't change how much work there is left to even give yourself a chance," said Young.
Early pacesetter Min Woo Lee also recorded a 62 in round one after playing 12 holes by himself.
"It seems to be a strong pattern," said Young. "It's a bit strange. I've never done it before.
"Once you kind of get over the fact that they just announced one person on the 1st hole, it's kind of more like a practice round.
"[I] play a lot of practice rounds just on my own. Yeah, I felt like, especially with it going well, it was really easy to keep going.
"You don't have to wait. You don't have to wait for anybody else.
"Nothing weird happens. Just got in a really nice rhythm and kept going."
The winner on Sunday will take home the Fedex Cup and a $10m (£7.4m) prize.
Tommy Fleetwood is the defending champion.
Ben Smith joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
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