The Punter's De-brief: Scheffler strolls to FedEx Cup success

• Scheffler cruises to victory at East Lake

• Norgaard hangs tough at the Belfry

• Read my European Masters preview here

The best player on the planet, Scottie Scheffler, began the Tour Championship with a two-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele and by as many as 10 strokes over five of the 30-man field.

Trading at around 6/42.50 before the off, Scheffler was a 1.330/100 chance on Friday morning after he'd shot the best round of the day on Thursday and the tournament was as good as over.

By Sunday, Scheffler was five clear of Collin Morikawa and nine in front of the rest. Trading at just 1.091/11, it looked like a done deal.

He may be the best player in the world but having hit a duff off the tee on the 72^nd hole of the Open Championship back in July, Scheffler hit a shank on the eighth hole yesterday which led to his third bogey in four holes and the gap was closed to just two strokes.

Morikawa had birdied the eighth to narrow the gap, but Scheffler put the pedal back down after that, birdying three holes in-a-row.

Ridiculously impressive bounce-back birdie.

Scottie Scheffler extends the lead to 3 @TOURChamp! pic.twitter.com/q5zxhUzUEB

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 1, 2024

An eagle at the par five 14^th sealed the deal and he parred his way in from there for a facile four-stroke victory in what really is, by a country mile, the worst tournament of the year. The format is dreadful as far as I'm concerned but I can't see them changing it, although it's going to be interesting to see quite how bad the viewing figures were.

It really is a dull event and, as highlighted below, Morikawa played the best golf of the week to shoot the lowest 72-hole total. The fact that he didn't win just seems odd. Anyway, whether they change it for next year remains to be seen but that's it for the PGA Tour 23/24 season.

These are the 2024 #TourChampionship FINAL leaderboards ! #OWGR

Scottie Scheffler is the undisputed 2024 #FedExCup champion! @collin_morikawa is the undisputed @TOURChamp winner! pic.twitter.com/vYNhI0UBMO

-- Nosferatu (@VC606) September 1, 2024

The PGA Tour takes a week off this week before the Fall Series kicks off with the Procore Championship (formerly the Fortinet Championship) a week on Thursday.

Nervy looking Norgaard gets off the mark

Over on the DP World Tour, Denmark's Niklas Norgaard began the final round of the British Masters with a four-stroke lead, and I felt he looked vulnerable.

My 40.039/1 pre-event pick, Thriston Lawrence sat second after 54 holes, and I was quietly confident that he might reel in the leader. My confidence was sky high when he got to within a stroke after 11 holes of the final round.

Matched at a low of 2.68/5, Lawrence looked highly likely to heap pressure on the frontrunning Dane, who was seeking his first success on the DP World Tour, but instead of pressurising Norgaard, he put demands on himself with a poor tee-shot on the par three 12th.

Having missed the green, the South African chipped to within three feet to save his par before watching Norgaard drain his birdie putt from 28 feet. Whether that rattled Lawrence or not I don't know but I don't think anyone expected him to miss his par save.

Having got to within one, and having looked poised to pile on the pressure, Lawrence missed for the three, chalked up a four, and the gap was back to three.

Norgaard extended the lead to four with a birdie at the par three 14^th but he endured all sorts of chipping horrors on the par five 15^th to record a double-bogey seven and it was game on again.

Having been matched in-running at just 5.59/2, French outsider, Jeong Weon Ko, saw his challenge end with a bogey at the 15^th but Lawrence was back to within two and it was anyone's guess how Norgaard would respond to the seven at 15.

With his head surely a bit scrambled, Norgaard stood on the tee at 16 and hit a brilliant 350-yard tee-shot and it looked like he might be ok to finish the job off but there was more drama to come.

From just 60 yards out he hit another poor chip shot before blasting a putt eight feet past the hole. With Lawrence looking to make birdie from 18 feet, there was a chance of a two shot swing, but the South African had to settle for par and Norgaard stepped up and popped in the par save.

It looked odds-on that Lawrence would close the gap to one as they played the par five 17^th . But after the South African had rolled his eagle putt to withing tap-in range, Norgaard holed from 11 feet for his birdie four, so he went to the last with a cushion of two strokes and that was the end of the drama.

Both men made regulation pars at the 72^nd hole and the pre-event 70.069/1 chance Norgaard, who had traded at a low of just 1.584/7 in the 2023 edition, had got off the mark.

Hole 15: Double-bogey
Hole 16: Par
Hole 17: Birdie
Hole 18: Par

Niklas Nørgaard bounced back to claim his maiden Tour victory #BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/rJlUr0ZMpv

-- DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 2, 2024

Although he claimed not to be afterwards, he'd looked nervous, and I'm not convinced I'll be in a rush to back him again. Whether down to nerves or not, some of his chipping was decidedly poor and he doesn't look like someone to back with confidence.

Now read my European Masters preview here

*You can follow me at @SteveThePunter