Scottie Scheffler won the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday on a steamy and breezy day in Memphis precisely because he performed like the Scottie Scheffler we all know and his peers undoubtedly loathe, playing flawlessly not only in the final round but throughout the PGA Tour’s opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
Constantly forced to wear a rally cap repeatedly this season that resulted in five runner-up finishes against one victory, Scheffler did what he does best at TPC Southwind, converting a 54-hole lead into his 21st career tour title. It marked the 11th straight time that the World No. 1 converted a third-round lead into a triumph. That he had last accomplished the front-runner task more than a year ago at the Open Championship underscores how long it had been since he got his nose in front on Saturday evening.
With a closing four-under 66, Scheffler—after shaking off a remarkably bad break on the third hole—stretched a two-stroke lead into an eight-shot victory that announced that he is still in the conversation for a fifth straight nod for the Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA Tour Player of the Year. Tour members vote on the honor, and it’s probably even more complicated as Scheffler joined U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Players champ Cameron Young, Chris Gotterup and Matt Fitzpatrick as multiple winners this season. Gotterup and Fitzpatrick lead with three wins apiece.
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Tops in the FedEx Cup standings during the regular season, Scheffler finished at 17-under 263 to become the 36th player in history to record 21 tour titles. The 30-year-old Texan is the third youngest to reach that total following Tiger Woods (24 years old) and Jack Nicklaus (27). In addition to five second-place finishes this year, Scheffler owns two thirds and 12 top-10s that happen to all be in the top five. For the second time in his career he won by eight shots.
Maybe it’s an easier decision that it seems. If consistency is rewarded.
“Yeah, it was good. I felt like I had some close calls this year, so it was nice to finish the tournament off,” Scheffler said after finishing off the field the way a lion finishes off venison. “I played solid golf all day, really all week.”
Yes, all week. Scheffler had gotten off to more slow starts this season than a tortoise with a hangover, but a second-round 61, which tied the competitive course record, vaulted him into the lead. And there he remained.
It didn’t hurt that his nearest pursuers didn’t do much pursuing after Scheffler’s lead momentarily dipped to one stroke when water intervened twice on his third shot from a greenside bunker at the par-5 third hole. Scheffler appeared to execute the recovery shot from the left front bunker as he intended, but the ball landed on a sprinkler head, motored across the green, beyond the hole and into a water hazard. He managed to save bogey. It was his only bogey of the day and sixth all week.
“I told Teddy [caddie Ted Scott] when we were going down there to drop my ball,” Scheffler said, “and I was like, ‘when is this going to stop happening?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t know, man.’ Yeah, got that ball up-and-down and was able to save bogey and then bounce back pretty quick with a good shot at 4 and then a really nice birdie at 5. Just tried to do my best to bounce back really was all that it was. I wasn’t very happy when that ball bounced off that sprinkler head. It cost me a couple of shots.”
But not much else. Scheffler, who made his professional debut at this venue in 2018, the year before it started hosting a playoff event, responded with birdies from 10 and 20 feet, respectively, at the fifth and sixth holes and just kept cruising along.
Sam Burns and Sungjae Im, who began the day just two strokes behind, never threatened. Burns double bogeyed the third while Scheffler was “sprinkling” in his bogey and posted 73 to tie Alex Noren for third at eight-under 272. Noren shot 69 on a day when the field average drifted above par for the only time all week at 70.559.
Im, meanwhile, struggled to 74-273 to end up T-5 but that was still good enough to jump from 53rd to 40th, thereby advancing to this week’s BMW Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis and securing exemptions into all the signature events in 2027 that go to players residing in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings at the conclusion in Memphis.
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Si Woo Kim, who lives in Dallas and apparently has not fared well against Scheffler in home matches, rallied to finish solo second with a 68 that left him at nine-under 271. Scheffler explained it this way when asked if how his preparation went in relation to competing with Si Woo: “[It went] better for me than for Si Woo.”
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Having led the field in putting—in fact, he enjoyed his best putting week of his career while gaining nearly nine shots (plus 8.917)—Scheffler has a commanding lead in the points standings, which doesn’t mean much now that the Tour Championship in two weeks is a winner-take-all affair. But he has found his winning form and formula again, so maybe his dominance there, among other metrics, is enough to sway his peers when they asses their ballots.
Or maybe he runs the tables and leaves no doubt.
Whatever, Sunday’s outcome was a welcome change of fortune. And worth quite a bit, too—$3.6 million to be exact.
“This tournament, I felt like I’ve learned a lot at this tournament over the years,” said Sheffler, who now has multiple victories in five straight seasons. “It was my second start on the PGA Tour, I think back in 2014, and then my first start as a pro in 2018. I’ve played this tournament a number of times now, and definitely proud to be walking away with the trophy this week.”
Scottie Scheffler has learned a lot since he first showed up in Memphis. That much was obvious on Sunday.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
