Scottie Scheffler didn't just take the lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Friday, he tied the TPC Southwind course record doing it. A second-round 9-under 61, birdies on his first five holes, 11 birdies against just 2 bogeys in triple-digit Memphis heat. The world No. 1 built a 3-shot cushion and made it look like he was playing a different course than everyone else.
That round put the rest of the FedEx Cup Playoffs field on notice. Scheffler didn't need to make anything outside 20 feet to shoot it, which is the scary part for everyone chasing him. But golf has a way of not letting anyone run away clean, and Saturday made sure this one stayed interesting.
Sam Burns answered with a bogey-free 62 on moving day, jumping 17 spots up the leaderboard to plant himself right behind his buddy in the final pairing. Fore Play's cameras caught him rolling in birdie after birdie, including one that pulled him within 2 shots of the lead.
Sam Burns rolling the ROCK 6th birdie of the day. 2 back. https://t.co/fX00SIOdfx
Heading into Sunday, Scheffler sat at 13-under with Burns and Sungjae Im tied for second at 11-under, and it looked like it might actually be a golf tournament instead of a coronation. Then Scheffler got a look at just how cruel this game can be, courtesy of a sprinkler head with terrible timing.
Scottie’s bunker shot lands on a sprinkler head and bounces into the water. His lead is down to one. Absolutely BRUTAL. https://t.co/ijETu6t68R
For a minute there, it felt like the door was cracking open. Tommy Fleetwood spent the weekend lurking a few shots back trying to sneak into that conversation too, and Fore Play kept finding him around the greens making things happen off the fringe.
TOMMY LAD TEXAS WEDGE https://t.co/alP8QYBsgP
Scheffler didn't blink for long. He answered the bad break with 2 straight birdies to push back out to a 5-shot lead, and from there it turned back into the Scheffler show everyone expected after Friday's 61. Reports out of Memphis had him reaching 15-under and a 6-shot advantage over Si Woo Kim as the final round wore on, the kind of gap that makes a Sunday back-nine feel like a formality.
Scottie bounced back with two straight birdies, because of course he did. Five shot lead. https://t.co/a6laBiMuO7
A win here would be No. 21 on Scheffler's career ledger, coming just months after he cracked 20 titles at January's American Express to join Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to hit that mark before turning 30. Burns and Fleetwood gave it a real run this week, but the story out of TPC Southwind was the same one it's been for two years now: Scottie Scheffler decides when these things are actually competitive.