ATLANTA: The most PGA Tour victories in 15 years. A Masters green jacket and an Olympic gold medal. And now Scottie Scheffler is one round away from capping off this astonishing season with a FedEx Cup title and its $25 million prize.

Scheffler had four birdies over his last five holes Saturday for a 5-under 66 to extend his lead to five shots over Collin Morikawa in the Tour Championship at East Lake.

He also knows the work is not done.

Two years ago, Scheffler finished the third round of a rain-delayed Tour Championship on Sunday morning by building a six-shot lead. He fell apart that afternoon with a 73, and watched Rory McIlroy race past him to capture the PGA Tour’s big prize.

The task for Scheffler is simple.

“Keep doing what I’ve been doing, staying in the moment, staying patient out there,” Scheffler said. I’ve bogeyed the first hole two of the last three days, and both times when I bogeyed the first hole I didn’t make any bogeys after that. So that’s kind of good momentum for me.”

It was even better moment at the end, with Morikawa (67) staying on his heels. Morikawa birdied three of his last four holes, but still ended up falling one more shot behind than the four-shot deficit he faced at the start of the third round.

“Not exactly the moving day that I needed, but I knew this entire week I was going to need something special to come out on top and I’m going to need something very special,” Morikawa said. “But I believe in myself, and hopefully that comes out tomorrow.”

Scheffler, who started at 10-under par and with a two-shot lead — six shots ahead of Morikawa, the No. 7 seed — was at 26-under par.

No one else was closer than nine shots.

Sahith Theegala might have been two shots closer except for calling a two-shot penalty on himself on the third hole for lightly touching the sand with his club out of a bunker. Video was not entirely clear, but Theegala informed officials and his par turned into a double bogey.

“Pretty sure I breached the rules, so I’m paying the price for it, and I feel good about it,” Theegala said. “I’m not 100 percent sure. But I’d say I’m 98, 99 percent sure that some sand was moved.”

He responded with seven birdies on the back nine and shot 66, leaving him nine shots behind.

Morikawa got within two shots of the lead when he holed a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on the par-5 sixth hole. But that was as close as he got.

On the next hole, Scheffler holed a 15-foot birdie putt while Morikawa came up short of the green, lagged a putt to just outside 3 feet and missed it, a two-shot swing that restored Scheffler’s lead to four.

They also played in the final group at the Masters, where Scheffler pulled away to win by four. Morikawa knows by now what to expect.

“Five shots is a lot, but two-shot swings happen. I think I’ve seen a couple over the past few days,” Morikawa said. “Look, I’ve just got to play my game. I’ve got to go low. I know that. I’ve got 18 holes left to the season. I keep talking about that, but I’m going to put everything I have into these next 24 hours.”

His raw score was 17-under 196, one shot better than Scheffler.

Scheffler didn’t hit as many fairways and greens as he did the opening two rounds, but he was ranked No. 2 in the key putting statistic on Saturday. And he has kept his distance over every challenger so far this week.

“I feel like I’ve done a lot of stuff well and played solid, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish off the tournament tomorrow,” he said.

British Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele never got on track. Starting the day five shots behind, he had two bogeys in the opening four holes and failed to birdie the three par 5s in his round of 71. He was 10 shots behind.

He has never hit more than seven fairways each of the three rounds, and it has cost him at a time when he needed to go low to stay in the game.

“I was just not playing well enough to shoot consecutive 7-under pars,” Schauffele said. “You’ve got to be hitting at least 12 fairways to give yourself some serious looks and then obviously do a lot of good after that, but it starts with your ball on the short stuff.”

For everyone else, it’s a race for cash.

The FedEx Cup winner gets $25 million, with second place worth $12.5 million and third place paying $7.5 million.
 

NORTON, Mass.: Haeran Ryu kept making birdies and wanted to post her lowest round on the LPGA Tour on Friday. She accomplished that with a 10-under 62 that gave her a six-shot lead in the FM Championship.

Ryu had a run of four straight birdies on the front nine and the back nine at the TPC Boston with its small targets and firm greens. And she had a simple explanation for them.

“Just an amazing day because my shots, everything next to the hole. And my putts, everything get in the hole,” said Ryu, the 23-year-old from South Korea who was LPGA rookie of the year last season. “Amazing day, yeah.”

Even more amazing was the size of her lead. Ryu was at 13-under 131, with Bianca Pagdanganan, Yealimi Noh and Robyn Choi tied for second at 7 under. Pagdanganan had a 66, and Noh and Choi each shot 68.

Jin Young Ko (67) and US Solheim Cup player Lauren Coughlin (69) were 6 under.

Marina Alex, who had the 18-hole lead after a bogey-free 68, followed that with a 72 that left her nine shots behind.

Birdie runs are nothing new for Ryu, a five-time winner on the Korea LPGA before earning her LPGA card as the medalist at its Q-Series. She won the Walmart NW Arkansas Open last year with a 29 on the back nine.

She started her big run with a birdie on the par-4 fourth and then birdied the next three holes to seize control. She had two birdies in three holes to start the back nine, and then made four in a row starting on the 14th hole.

Ryu was hitting it so well that she thought she might have holed out for an eagle on the par-4 15th because of the cheer. Turns out there was one person in her cheering section that might have been over the top for a ball that settled about 4 feet away.

“My mom’s reaction is almost getting the eagle, but the ball still on the green,” Ryu said. “Just fun facts for today. My mom is really happy ... just the ball is next to the hole. Yeah, just for 10 seconds I just think, ‘Oh, I got an eagle.’ Just birdie.”

The 62 was her low round by two shots on the LPGA. She previously had rounds of 64 on three occasions.

Noh played bogey free on the TPC Boston, the course that previously hosted the PGA Tour for two decades. She managed only one birdie on the par 5s.

Megan Khang, who was born in nearby Brockton, had the biggest cheering section. She had a 71 and was at 4-under 140.

Khang was seen talking to Ryu outside scoring and someone asked if she had given the South Korean any advice about the TPC Boston.

“I didn’t give her any advice. I was like, ‘What did you do?’ That was a super phenomenal round she put together — flawless, I believe. It’s hard to ignore that. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. I might go ask her for some advice after this.”

The FM Championship is in its first year, and the company already raised the prize money to $3.8 million from when it first announced it would sponsor the LPGA event. FM also has offered free lodging to the players and is giving a $1,000 stipend to anyone missing the cut.