Scottie Scheffler Prepares for Tour Championship, Reflects on Lessons from Tiger Woods

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler spoke with the press before his first round at the Tour Championship. He will be competing to secure his second FedExCup trophy at East Lake. During the conference, Scheffler shared a notable experience from the 2020 Masters with Tiger Woods.

In their sole competitive round together, Woods faced a setback with a career-worst score of 10 on the par-3 12th hole at Augusta National. Despite this, he demonstrated resilience by birdieing five of his final six holes.

Scheffler emphasized the impact of Woods’s mental approach in his speech on Wednesday. ‘When I talk about competitive instincts and about intensity each week, that’s stuff that I learned just by watching Tiger,’ Scheffler explained. ‘I’ve only played with him once in competition — it was at the Masters… I just remember walking up to that first green watching him read his first putt and I was like, ‘Holy smokes, this guy is into it.’ That was my main takeaway, just the intensity that he brought to each and every shot. That’s definitely something I’ve tried to model in my game.’

Scottie Scheffler started the 2026 playoffs strong by winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which placed him at the top of the standings. He followed up with a T12 finish at the BMW Championship last week.

Scheffler is set to tee off at 2 p.m. ET, partnering with Matt Fitzpatrick on Thursday.