Scottie Scheffler’s ability to stay in contention, even when he is not firing on all cylinders, stood out again at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scheffler closed with rounds of 67, 66, 65 and another 67 to finish at 15-under par, just one stroke behind Justin Rose and J.J. Spaun.
He had a real opportunity to add an 18th PGA Tour win on Sunday at TPC Southwind, but fell short after failing to convert enough putts around the turn.
The world number one also matched a long-standing PGA Tour record with his T-3 result in Memphis. He has now posted top-8 finishes in 12 straight starts, tying Tom Weiskopf’s mark from 1973.
With his regular caddie, Ted Scott, returning home to address a private family matter, Scheffler had Brad Payne step in for the final round.
It would have been easy for that kind of change to throw him off, but if anything it looked like business as usual. He controlled his game from start to finish and easily could have signed for something closer to a 64.
What cost Scottie Scheffler a win at the FedEx St. Jude against Justin Rose
Smylie Kaufman is always worth listening to when it comes to what is happening during tournament weeks on the PGA Tour.
He played in 93 events and won the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open before moving into media work.
On his Smylie Show Podcast, Kaufman shared his thoughts on why Scheffler did not win the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“I kinda want to talk a little bit more about Scottie’s front nine, and what he was accomplishing on the front. It was so good. He hit every single fairway on the front nine. The only missed shot he hit was a seven iron on the fifth hole right of the green, didn’t get it up and down. Other than that, it was virtually a flawless ball-striking performance on the front nine.
“He hit 50% of his fairways pretty much all week. He had started out the round hitting every single fairway until 12th hole. He missed 12th and 15th fairway, I believe that was all he missed.
“Absolutely put on a stripe show off-the-tee. He was giving himself good look after good look. He missed a six-footer for birdie on sixth hole for birdie coming off of a bogey at fifth, makes great birdie at seven, misses putt from inside 10 feet at eighth and ninth hole.
“So we’re talking about four strokes there. We talk about how Scottie didn’t get in this play-off, he had plenty of opportunities in that stretch of holes. I don’t think he was hitting necessarily bad putts, they weren’t gimmies. I think the putt he would want back is the one at six he missed.
“It just felt like he didn’t make enough of them.”
What the numbers say about Scheffler’s final round at St. Jude
Scheffler made two poor swings in his round on the 12th and 15th holes, but aside from those, he was imperious off the tee and with his irons.
His tee-to-green game on Sunday was exceptional, especially on the front nine.
His day four statistics at TPC Southwind are as follows:
| Stats | Scheffler’s final round ranking |
| Strokes gained off the tee | 5 |
| Strokes gained approach | 17 |
| Strokes gained around the green | 10 |
| Strokes gained putting | 58 |
| Strokes gained total | T-9 |
Despite strong tee and approach play, Scheffler’s putting, though steadily improving – moving to 18th this year from 162nd in 2023 and 77th last season – again prevented him from contending.
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