Scottie Scheffler suffers injury scare in Round 1 of BMW Championship
US golfer Scottie Scheffler is currently playing at the 2024 BMW Championship at the Castle Pines Golf Club in Denver, Colorado. While he went into the tournament as a favorite, he may have risked injury during the first round on Thursday, August 22.
In a video posted by NUCLR Golf, Scheffler appeared to have winced in pain after hitting a shot. It seems like he may have felt something in his back during the play.
Scheffler has had a very busy 2024 and it has arguably been one of the best seasons of his career yet. The World No. 1 has registered six PGA Tour wins, out of which five were consecutive. He also won the Masters and the PGA Championship. She capped it all with a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It appears fatigue has started to sink in, taking a toll on his body.
However, the American brushed aside serious injury concerns in the post-match press conference. When asked about his back, Scheffler said:
"Oh, yeah, it's fine really. I woke up a little sore this morning. I had trouble kind of loosening it up. With it being a little bit tight, it was hard for me to get through it and I was laboring most of the day to get through the ball. On 17 I was trying to hit a high draw, and that's a shot where I've really got to use a big turn, big motion. Really just felt it a little bit. But other than that, all good."
One can assume that he will be continuing his FedEx Cup campaign at the BMW Championship. The 28-year-old is currently leading the points table going into the championship with 6,533 points.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy disagree on Tour Championship rules
The Tour Championship serves as the finale for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The winner of this tournament is often dubbed the Player of the Season. Scheffler isn't a fan of this rule.
The FedEx Cup series is divided into three events - the St. Jude Championship, the BMW Championship, and the Tour Championship, played within a few days of each other. The top 75 players in the FedEx points table qualify for the St. Jude Championship. The top 50 then advance to the BMW Championship and the top 30 then are selected for the Tour Championship.
World No. 1 Scheffler was quoted saying by the Mirror:
"I talked about it the last few years. I think it’s silly. You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament. Hypothetically, we get to East Lake (host of the Tour Championship) and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at The Players,"
The American had a neck flare in March this year while competing at the Players Championship. Despite the injury, he became the only golfer to successfully defend his title there. Scheffler further added that he doesn't consider the FedEx Cup as a season-long tournament.
"I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament, is that really the season-long race? No. It’s a fun tournament. I don’t really consider it the season-long race like I think the way it’s called. But you’ve got to figure out a way to strike a balance between it being a good TV product and it still being a season-long race,"
"Right now, I don’t know exactly how the ratings are or anything like that, but I know for a fact you can’t really quite call it the season-long race when it comes down to one stroke-play tournament on the same golf course each year,"
However, Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy feels that the PGA Tour rule regarding the Tour Championship is the only way, golfers can have a chance at beating Scheffler.
"I love this format because if it wasn't this format, then none of us would have a chance against Scottie because he's so far ahead. So I really like this format. I think it makes the Tour Championship more exciting from a consumer standpoint,"
However, Scheffler and McIlroy both agree on one thing: Player of the Season cannot be determined based solely on the Tour Championship.
"Is it the fairest reflection of who's been the best player of the year? Probably not. But I think at this point we're not in for totally fair; we're in for entertainment and for trying to put on the best product we possibly can," Mcllroy said.
Scheffler has not been able to win the Tour Championship in the past two years. Last year, Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland took home the title with Scheffler finishing 16 spots behind him. The year before that, he lost his six-stroke lead to McIlroy, who claimed his third Tour Championship title. It will be interesting to see if Scheffler is third-time lucky. Here's hoping he gets to the tournament injury-free.