World number one Scottie Schefffler poses with the St Jude Championship trophy in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday. Image courtesy PGA Tour/X.
By Rahul Banerji
Scottie Scheffler spreadeagled the St Jude Championship field to win the opening event of the FedEx Cup finale by eight shots at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday,
The world number one fired a closing 4 under par 66 to total 17 under 263, comfortably ahead of second placed Si Woo Kim (9 under 271) of South Korea for a second win of the season after The American Express.
Scheffler earned $3.6 million from the event prize fund, and an additional $23 million in bonus money for topping the FedEx Cup field ahead of next week’s BMW Championship in St Louis and enough points in the bag to head the final standings.
Sunday’s outcome was his first win from seven starts at TPC Southwind against a previous best of tied third in 2025, the PGA Tour said in its event notes.
“It’s not easy to win out here. I felt like this year, the year I’ve had kind of shows that, how difficult it is,” Scheffler (68-61-68-66) was quoted as saying after his 21st career title. “I felt like a week like this was coming.”
The only blip on his Sunday stroll came when he hit a greenside sprinkler head on the third hole and had to watch as the ball rolled across the green and into the water for bogey.
Five birdies followed against no further shocks and only defending champion Justin Rose of England had a better card — of 6 under 64 — on the day.
Event best
Scheffler’s 8 under margin was also a tournament best, bettering the seven shots recorded in 1996 by John Cook.
Scheffler led the way in Strokes Gained: Putting performance as well, picking up nearly nine shots against the field on the greens alone.
He made three birdies from outside 20 feet on Sunday, the last on hole 13 by which time the result had effectively been decided.
The world no. 1 started Sunday with a two-shot cushion, his first 54-hole lead in more than a year, and it helped him in part endure the wobble on hole 3. It also gave him an 11th straight victory from a 54-hole lead.
“It was nice to come out this week and play some solid golf and really execute when I needed to,” Scheffler said.
“This is a course where that’s really what it comes down to. There’s a lot of holes where there’s not even a correct miss. It’s just a matter of stepping up there and hitting really good shots.
“I felt like I holed a lot of those kind of 15 to 20-footers. I was able to give myself a lot of looks and putt aggressively from there.
Easy going
“Didn’t really feel like I was putting for par a ton over the course of the week, and that definitely helps you feel freer on the greens for sure.”
Scheffler has won 10 of his 21 tour titles by four shots or more and now has two victories, five runner-up finishes and five other top 4s for the year.
Behind him, Kim had cards of 70, 68, 65 and 68 for his runner-up finish which was his third of the season, while Alex Noren (71-66-66-69) and Sam Burns (67-70-62-68) shared third place on 8 under 272.
Sunday’s final standings also guaranteed Akshay Bhatia (15th place), Aaron Rai (37th) and Sahith Theegala (46th) progress to the rest of the FedEx finale and entry to the $20 million Signature events for the next season.
Also read: Scheffler ties Southwind record en route to St Jude C’ship lead
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