ATLANTA — A green jacket at the Masters and an Olympic gold medal. Becoming a father for the first time and being arrested for the first time — a year Scottie Scheffler will never forget ended in the best possible way on Sunday when he won the FedEx Cup, capping his best golf season in nearly two decades.

“If you can put it into words, all the better,” Scheffler said after his four-stroke victory at the Tour Championship, his eighth win of the year. “Because I don’t think I can.”

As always, his bats spoke volumes.

Scheffler, who led by seven shots at the start of the final round at East Lake, nearly hit a tee shot out of bounds on the seventh hole, resulting in a bogey. He followed that up with a bunker shot on the reachable par-4 eighth hole, resulting in another bogey, cutting his lead over Collin Morikawa to two shots.

Going into the par-3 ninth, a hole that had produced only nine birdies all week, Scheffler hit a 4-iron to 5 feet for the first of three consecutive birdies that gave him a 4-under-par 67 and the $25 million FedEx Cup, golf’s highest trophy.

“I’m just trying to hit a good shot,” he said. “I’ve been able to do that a lot this year.”

The win increased his season earnings, including bonuses, to nearly $62.3 million.

It was his best year since Tiger Woods won eight in 2006, including six in a row and two majors, all while dealing with the death of his father. Scheffler’s eight victories included the Masters, the Players Championship, an Olympic gold medal and the Tour Championship, which eventually led to him winning the FedEx Cup.

His seven PGA Tour titles are the most since Woods in 2007.

“We look back at 2024 and it is obviously one of the best individual years for any player in a long time,” said Rory McIlroy.

Adam Scott, who finished fourth at the FedEx Cup, turned pro in 2000 when Woods was at his peak and did not shy away from the comparisons Scheffler brought with his consistent performance.

“I think it’s comparable to Tiger’s great years,” Scott said. “I think it’s very hard for anybody today to stand out like Scottie did. I don’t think we’ve seen that in a long time. I think it’s harder to do that today.”

Scheffler kept the final hour light on drama – four of his victories this year have been by three strokes or more – and finally let out a “WOOO!!” as he walked in to sign his card, holding two large trophies, the silver FedEx Cup and his four-month-old son, Bennett.

But it was hard work.

This was the third year in a row that Scheffler came to East Lake as the top seed, meaning he began the tournament at 10 under par and two shots ahead. Two years ago, he lost a six-shot lead to McIlroy in the final round.

He was PGA Tour Player of the Year for the past two seasons, but left the season without playing in the FedEx Cup. “It definitely leaves a bitter taste at the end of the year,” he said.

Scheffler was determined to avoid that, although things got dicey as storm clouds began to gather. The worst was the two-shot swing on hole 8, when Morikawa fisted a birdie while Scheffler’s shot resulted in a bogey.

And then it was over.

After his birdie on hole 9, Scheffler hit a wedge to 3 feet for birdie on hole 10 and then made a 15-foot birdie putt on hole 11, a par 3.

“He’s not just going to start making bogeys after that,” Morikawa said. “He’s going to do the opposite and start making golf shots. It almost brought his concentration back for half a second, and that’s something you can’t teach.”

And just like that, his lead had grown back to five strokes. And when he holed a 15-foot eagle putt on the 14th hole, all he had to do was reach the finish line to celebrate.

Scheffler finished outside the top 10 only three times in his 19 starts. He achieved two second-place finishes and won seven PGA Tour titles.

“He’s the guy to beat every week,” Justin Thomas said. “I think people don’t understand how hard that is when you’re expected to win, when you’re the favorite, when everything you do on the golf course is being watched – good or bad – and how hard it is to get into your own little zone and your own little world and really just shut the noise down.”

Morikawa, seeded seventh and starting the tournament six shots behind, shot 66 for the Tour Championship’s lowest score of 22 under par at 262. He won $12.5 million for his runner-up finish at the FedEx Cup.

“Being six strokes behind was tough against the best player in the world,” said Morikawa. “I tried.”

Sahith Theegala, who received a two-stroke penalty on Saturday for possibly touching a small amount of sand on a bunker shot, shot 64 to finish third, two strokes behind Morikawa and earning a $7.5 million third-place bonus.

And to think, it was just over five months ago that Scheffler was asked about his putting and it had been nearly a year since his last PGA Tour title. (He won the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.)

His season earnings of $29,228,356 represented about 9.2% of the $317.4 million in total prize money from the tournaments he participated in. Woods won $10,867,052 in 2007, about 9.7% of the $112.5 million in total prize money.

Woods won about 11.6% of the total prize money in the tournaments he played in 2000. This season is still considered one of the best of all time.

The $25 million FedEx Cup prize is unofficial, as is the $8 million Scheffler received from the Comcast Business Top 10 for leading the regular season.

The FedEx Cup trophy was valuable in itself and a perfect ending to an amazing season.

“It was a very eventful year,” said Scheffler, “but it was really fun.”