Homa, Morikawa Playing Better Than Scheffler but Are Far Behind
Former Cal golfers Max Homa and Collin Morikawa have played some strong golf over the first three days of the Tour Championship -- better, in fact, than Scottie Scheffler. Yet they are still well behind Scheffler, who held a one-stroke lead on the field when third-round play was halted by inclement weather on Saturday.
Homa, who fired an 8-under 62 on Friday, was at 3-under for his third round when play was halted after he had completed 16 holes. That leaves his three-day score at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., of 10-under, while Scheffler, who completed only 12 holes Saturday, has shot 9-under for the three days.
---Play will resume Sunday at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time (6:45 a.m. Pacific time), and the final round is scheduled to start at 11:16 a.m. Eastern time (8:16 a.m. Pacific time).---
And Homa should be a stroke closer than that considering what happened at one hole Saturday when his shot went in the hole -- but somehow really didn't.
But because Scheffler started this event as the FedEx Cup leader, he stepped onto the first tee in the first round of this event at 10 under par, while Homa, who was 16th in the Cup standings, started at 2-under. As a result, Homa is now at 12-under in pursuit of victory in the FedEx Cup playoff and still finds himself seven strokes behind Scheffler, who is at 19-under with 20 holes to go for Homa and 24 holes left for Scheffler.
On Friday, after his stunning 8-under-par round, Homa was asked whether he thought the staggered scoring format was fair.
"Yeah, I don't know," Homa said. "We talk a lot about it. I listen to a lot of what [media] say about it. I've been saying this lately. I don't think it's perfect. I don't know what the answer is, so I'm not going to complain about it."
"I think that we're not football, we're not basketball, we're not baseball. Just because the Patriots are undefeated [in the 2007 NFL season], do we need to then start them with a two-touchdown lead? Because it feels like that year they should have won the Super Bowl; they didn't. That's football, but golf is different."
The football analogy is interesting, if not entirely applicable to golf.
It's a point that will be discussed after this event is over, especially with all the money at stake. The winner of the FedEx Cup gets $18 million. The second-place finisher receives $6.5 million, which is a lot of money but $11.5 million less than the winner.
Finishing third rather than second cost a golfer $1.5 million, and placing fourth instead of third costs another $1 million.
Here is how the prize money breaks down for the 29 players competing in the Tour Championship. (Will Zalatoris withdrew early last week with a back injury.)
Win: $18,000,000
2: $6,500,000
3: $5,000,000
4: $4,000,000
5: $3,000,000
6: $2,500,000
7: $2,000,000
8: $1,500,000
9: $1,250,000
10: $1,000,000
11: $950,000
12: $900,000
13: $850,000
14: $800,000
15: $760,000
16: $720,000
17: $700,000
18: $680,000
19: $660,000
20: $640,000
21: $620,000
22: $600,000
23: $580,000
24: $565,000
25: $550,000
26: $540,000
27: $530,000
28: $520,000
29: $510,000
30: Will Zalatoris, $500,000
Morikawa is in a similar situation as Homa. He completed his third round Saturday, carding a 5-under-par 65. For the three days he has shot 10 under par, but because he started this event at 1-under his 11-under-par score leaves him eight behind Scheffler.
Scheffler has plenty of challengers, partly because he was not having a strong third round when play was halted. He is at even par through 12 holes in the third round, leaving him just one shot ahead of Xander Schauffele, who is at 1-under for the round and 18-under for the FedEx Cup playoff. Lurking at 17-under is Sangjae Im, who completed 14 holes on Saturday at 4-under, while Rory McIlroy is another stroke back at 16-under for the event and 5-under for the round through 16 holes.
Homa is playing the type of golf that could move him up the FedEx Cup money tree on Sunday. He has played the past two rounds in 11 under par with two holes remaining in his third round.
Homa's birdie putt on No. 2
Morikawa is also playing well, making it appear that he can still move up the money chain by a few million dollars. He is one of the few golfers who did have a single bogey on Saturday, finishing the day with five birdies.
It will be interesting to see how things shake out Sunday with a putt on the final hole possibly being worth $1 million or more.
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Cover photo of Max Homa by Adam Hagy, USA TODAY Sports
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