Scottie Scheffler ticked at something other than format ahead of PGA Tour finale
World number one Scottie Scheffler has outlined his frustrations at constantly being asked about Xander Schauffele before the Tour Championship.
Who has had the best year, Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele?
It's a question that has been asked a lot over the past few weeks given we are now closing in on the end of a long and arduous PGA Tour season at East Lake.
Viktor Hovland made it clear that he reckons Schauffele would be a deserved winner of the player of the year title after his two major championship triumphs at Valhalla and Royal Troon.
Whilst Rory McIlroy declared Scheffler's deserves the honour, given he won the Players, his second Masters title, an Olympic gold medal and a bunch of signature events.
But what about the thoughts of Schauffele and Scheffler?
For his part, Schauffele admitted he was nonplussed on the subject.
He's only interested in working hard off the course and executing when it matters, he said.
Scheffler told reporters before the Tour Championship that the topic has slightly annoyed him.
"I think sometimes I get a touch frustrated with the questions people ask," Scheffler said.
"Because [people are like], 'Oh, whose year would you rather have?
"Would you rather have Xander's year or Scottie's year?'"
He added: "It's like, can't we just enjoy some great golf that's been played this year?
"You had a guy win multiple major championships and you had a season like mine where I was able to win a good amount of times.
"I think it's one of those things where we should just sit back and enjoy it.
"And I'm just grateful for the year that I've had. I'm grateful for Xander's year. I'm looking forward to competing for the FedExCup with 28 other guys.
"I think it's something that we should just enjoy instead of focusing on the comparisons all the time."
Scheffler, 28, is looking to win the FedExCup title for the first time in his career.
He will start the Tour Championship with a two-shot lead over Scauffele.
"Golf is golf"
Since the format changed to a staggered start in 2019, no player who has started the Tour Championship has gone on to win it.
The aforementioned Hovland is the reigning champion.
Scheffler has made it clear he does not like the volatility of the current format as he believes it does not reward consistency over the whole year.
He doubled down on that claim on Tuesday.
"If you want to just have a player that's playing the best at the end of the year, I think the Playoffs will definitely identify that player," Scheffler said.
"In terms of the season-long race, it's maybe not always going to be the guy that plays the best the whole season; it's going to be the guy that plays the best in these Playoff events,"
"That's really what you're identifying is the guy that plays the best in these last three events.
"It's a format that's changed a bunch or a few times over the past few years.
"In terms of when it first got started you had a year where I think it was Padraig Harrington won two majors and maybe didn't make the BMW, and I know he didn't make this tournament.
"So arguably it wasn't really a great set-up then."
Scheffler continued: "I think it provides a little bit of volatility, which is good for the fans, and I think it's also good for some players that didn't have their best years leading up to get into the Playoffs, and all of a sudden turn a year that's not their best into somewhat of a career year in terms of winning the FedExCup.
"[There is] a lot of volatility, but at the end of the day, golf is golf.
"The easiest way to solve an issue that you don't like in the game of golf is to play better.
"That's really all it comes down to in our game.
"At the end of the day, if you play good enough golf, it will take care of itself."
