Masters

ATLANTA — Tiger Woods was going for his seventh straight PGA Tour victory when he tied for second at Torrey Pines. He earned $264,000 that day to move to No. 1 in career tour earnings.

That was Feb. 13, 2000, and Woods stayed there ever since — until Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship to capture his second FedEx Cup title and the $10 million prize — now considered official money — to raise his career total to $130,390,661.

Woods had been at $120,999,166 since he made his last cut on the PGA Tour at the 2024 Masters.

This is an entirely different era of golf, and Scheffler finally topping Woods in career earnings was inevitable. That it happened so quickly is a testament to Scheffler’s dominance. He has been No. 1 in the world since May 2023.

The popularity and momentum Woods brought to the sport 30 years ago generated enormous spikes in prize money. And then with the arrival of Saudi-funded LIV Golf in 2022, the PGA Tour responded with even greater increases to keep more players from defecting.

There were 15 prize funds of $20 million or more this season on the PGA Tour schedule. Woods never played for a $10 million purse during his peak years from 1997 through 2009.

Woods won the FedEx Cup twice when it was worth $10 million, all in bonus money. Scheffler earned $23 million in bonus money last week by leading the FedEx Cup in points. The FedEx Cup finale has counted as official the last two years.

Most telling about the rapid increase in money was the 2024 Masters. Woods, at age 48 and trying to recover from multiple back surgeries and a 2023 car crash that shattered his right leg and ankle, finished in last place and made $44,000.

Scheffler won the Masters that year and moved to No. 12 on the career earnings list at $57,658,464. He has earned just over $72.7 million in his last 50 tournaments over two years and four months.

It was a matter of time, and it really doesn’t matter to Scheffler.

“The reason our purses are so large today is because of the influence and impact that Tiger had on the game,” Scheffler said before the Tour Championship started. “I wouldn’t really consider that a Tiger record being broken. I think it just shows one of the many effects he had on the game of golf in a positive way.”

Scheffler indicated last week in St. Louis the Tiger number he cares about his victories. Scheffler won for the 22nd time Sunday at East Lake. Woods shares the PGA Tour record at 82 victories.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

BMW Championship – third-round leaderboard

-17 W Clark (US); -12 R McIlroy (NI), P Cantlay (US); -11 C Gotterup (US), G Woodland (US); -10 C Morikawa (US); -9 S J Im (Kor); -8 M McNealy (US), R Hisatsune (Jpn), E Cole (US), JJ Spaun (US)

Selected others: -5 R MacIntyre (Sco); -4 A Rai (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -1 J Rose (Eng), A Fitzpatrick (Eng); +2 T Fleetwood (Eng)

Full leaderboard

Rory McIlroy struck a five-under 65 to move to joint-second on day three at the BMW Championship.

The Northern Irishman improved from a day two round of 69 that cost him his first-day lead, birdieing four of the last six holes to move up to second spot on 12 under.

American Patrick Cantlay of the United States is level with McIlroy, having shot a 66 on Saturday, while his compatriot Wyndham Clark extended his lead at Bellerive Country Club to five shots with a 65.

Clark double-bogeyed the opening hole but was superb thereafter, birdieing twice and then hitting an eagle on the eighth to go into the turn on two under.

He then birdied four of the next five holes before bogeying the last, returning to the clubhouse on -17 overall.

The home duo of Chris Gotterup and Gary Woodland sit on -11 overnight with compatriot Collin Morikawa on -10 and South Korea’s Im Sung-Jae on -9.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and American world number one Scottie Scheffler struck 68s to finish in a group of eight on -15, with England’s Aaron Rai and Matthew Fitzpatrick a shot behind.

The experienced English pair of Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood both slipped down the field after over-par rounds. Rose shot 73, to leave him on -1 going into the final day, while Fleetwood’s 74 put him on +2.