Scheffler, the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six events on the American Tour before July, avenged his poor performance at the US Open a week earlier and sits atop the list with an average of 17.62 points. His lead is enormous. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is second on 9.31 and Xander Schauffele is third on 8.81.  "It's pretty special," said Scheffler. "It's been a great season. I've been lucky to get some wins and it's been a lot of fun."

Rahm, who has only scored in the majors since moving to the LIV, drops to tenth in the rankings, surpassed by another player from the Saudi circuit, Bryson DeChambeau, winner of the Open, where the Spaniard did not play due to a foot infection, although he returned last weekend in Nashville with a tie for third.

Scheffler, who finished outside the top 10 for only the second time this year at last week's US Open, carded a bogey-free five-under-par 65 for a 22-under-par 258 and kept his composure after Tom Kim birdied the 72nd hole to force a play-off after a period of confusion when a handful of climate protesters ran onto the 18th green with canisters spewing coloured smoke.

"Fortunately for Tom and I, we're great friends, so we were able to sit there and really relax," Scheffler said of the "confusing" protest. "You don't really understand the situation. There are people running around and you don't really know what's going to happen. Luckily the police did a great job and got everything sorted out very quickly.

As the players were sizing up their putts, the protesters, some wearing T-shirts that read "No golf on a dead planet", ran onto the green. They were quickly tackled by police and security and marched off. "It was a lot to go with," said Kim, noting that whatever the protesters sprayed left distracting patches of colour on the greens.

But, Kim added, there was an upside. "Obviously it's a disruption and you don't want it to happen, but for me it kind of slowed things down and I just took my time and felt really confident in myself to give myself that putt to force a playoff." Scheffler stepped up to putt first and, after settling for par, Kim rattled in his birdie putt to level the match. "It's what I train for and I'm glad I did it," said Kim.

They returned to the 18th for the playoff. Both were in the fairway, but Scheffler's second shot threatened the pin, leaving him with an 11-foot birdie chance. Kim's approach was stuck in a greenside bunker and his shot left him 36 feet for par. He missed and Scheffler two-putted for victory.